Charging a few times cost motorist Peter dearly. He thought he could charge his plug-in hybrid car for free in the Lidl car park in Kaatsheuvel, but to his great surprise he received a bill for 500 euros at the end of the month.
This is due to the so-called blocking rate, an extra amount that you pay if your car is still at the charging station after a certain time. At Lidl in Kaatsheuvel the charging rate is 66.6 cents per kilowatt hour. After forty minutes, the more expensive blocking rate of 54.6 cents per minute comes into effect. Peter had not taken this into account.
“It said you could charge here for free. It later turned out that there were two chargers shown in the app at that location. The one with the right, high rates and this free charging station. In reality, however, there is only one charging point: the one with the high rates,” the motorist told the ANWB.
Afterwards it turned out that the old free charging point had already been taken over for a while, but the original operator had not deregistered it.
No exception
Peter’s story is certainly no exception. The ANWB indicates that many motorists are not aware of the extra charging rate in the Netherlands. “Anyone who has ever been to Germany or Austria with their electric car is undoubtedly familiar with the blocking rate, but a blocking rate also increasingly applies to Dutch charging stations.”
However, the ANWB is not opposed to the blocking rate. “After all, there are many more electric cars than public charging points and a blocking charge can be an effective means of combating ‘charging station sticking’. At the same time, we believe that the time frame after which this blocking fee takes effect and its amount should be in proportion to the intended use of the pole and location.”
‘Inform users’
“In addition, we would like to see the blocking rate capped at 3 hours and it would be good to inform users about this blocking rate via a sign or sticker on the pole,” the ANWB said.