Electric vehicle (EV) charging companies have warned that they could be forced to raise prices as they battle 38,000pc increases to their energy bills.
ChargeUK, which represents operators, says charging stations are being squeezed by network charges that have increased dramatically in just a few years.
In one example, major charging provider Osprey said its bills at a site in Wolverhampton had increased from £87 per year to £33,651 per year since 2022 – an increase of 38,579pc.
Rival Fastned said it was now paying £41,000 a year for a site in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, while a third charging provider complained that its network charges had increased by 250pc in just four years and are now "well into six figures".
Network charges are levied to fund the maintenance and expansion of Britain's electricity grid, which is undergoing a once-in-a-generation overhaul as part of plans to reach net zero.
These charges are set by Ofgem, the regulator, based on cost projections provided by network companies such as the National Grid.
The large rise in network charges follows changes to how they are calculated , made in 2023, with greater emphasis now being put on the size of a site's grid connection rather than power consumption.
However, ChargeUK says the system now effectively penalises EV charging companies for "building ahead of demand" even though this is what the Government is urging them to do.
Ministers have set a target of 300,000 public EV chargers by 2030 and a string of reports by Parliament and think tanks have repeatedly identified charger availability as key to tackling so-called "range anxiety".
Some EV charging companies have attempted workarounds, for instance, deploying batteries on site so that they can serve customers using a smaller mains grid connection.
But the surging network charges have hurt the economics of many sites.
Be.EV, another company, said it was reconsidering plans to build a new charging site in North Yorkshire because it would now face network charges of about £30,000 per year there.
Asif Ghafoor, the chief executive, said the dilemma had left providers facing "a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation".
He said: "We need to build enough charging infrastructure so that buying an EV becomes the obvious choice to most drivers.
"But this means there is a period, which we're currently in, where there will be more chargers than cars that can use them."
Mr Ghafoor added: "And these chargers are subject to high standing charges, regardless of how much they're being used. At the moment we simply absorb them, but that is not sustainable."
'Everyone loses'
The company's site in South Yorkshire was "ready to go" but enormous standing charges now meant "it simply doesn't make economic sense for us", he added.
Mr Ghafoor said: "If standing charges increase, we may have no option but to pass them on to customers, meaning everyone loses."
Charging operators are now urging ministers to address the problem in an ongoing review of charging costs that was pledged in the Budget last November.
Addressing the issue is seen as particularly important by industry insiders following the announcement of a pay-per-mile tax on EV drivers that will come into force from 2028, which will erode some of the financial benefits of owning an electric car.
Vicky Read, the chief executive of ChargeUK, said: "We understand that grid operators need to raise revenue to invest in essential upgrades and maintenance.
"But the changes to standing charges have unfairly singled out the charging industry, penalising enterprising, pre-profit businesses for the crime of building ahead of demand – exactly what the Government needs them to do for the mandated EV sales quotas to be met."
She added: "At a time when petrol prices are surging, EVs offer a highly affordable alternative, but only if charging is cost-effective for all drivers and the companies investing billions in infrastructure are not hamstrung by unexpectedly huge bills for grid capacity they aren't using."
A government spokesman said: "Decades of historic underinvestment means our outdated electricity infrastructure is in need of upgrading. We are tackling this with a programme of investment, reform and sweeping change to the grid connections process.
"We are also reviewing the cost of public EV charging and at the impacts of energy prices and looking at how we can lower these costs for consumers."
