Owners of electric vehicles will soon have to pay Rs 15 per unit to charge their vehicles at charging stations operated by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). According to several media reports, the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission has given KSEB instructions in this regard.
The charging stations were first installed last year, and the payment system was supposed to go live in three months. Customers could charge electric vehicles for free for three months, according to officials, and payments would be collected after that.
However, due to bugs in the ‘Electrify’ software, which allows customers to find a charging station, reserve a spot, charge their vehicle, and pay the bill online, the payment was delayed.
The charging stations in Thrissur and Kozhikode consumed more energy, whereas the one in Thiruvananthapuram consumed less. The regulatory commission established LT10, a tariff category that applies only to energy usage at electric vehicle charging stations.
The current fee set by the commission is Rs 5 per unit, plus fixed charges, service charges, and GST, for a total of about Rs 15 per unit. Following the outbreak, Kerala has seen a surge in electric vehicle registrations. This year, 3,313 electric vehicles (EVs) were registered in the state, compared to 1,324 last year.
