Changes To ESB Northern Irish Charging Network
ESB is set to power Northern Ireland towards a cleaner, net zero future. To support more EVs on our roads, the company are investing in and making necessary upgrades to the ESB public charging network across Northern Ireland. As part of this process, a pay for use from 26th April 2023 will come into effect.
There will be two price plans available - Pay As You Go and Membership, the latter designed for drivers who typically use the network more than five times per month. A nominal connection fee of 25p will also be applied for all charging transactions. For instance, if a customer charges up by £10 worth of electricity, the bill will come to £10.25. Local parking fees may also apply. Please refer to local signage at each charger for parking information.
To reduce queuing and to ensure chargers are more readily available for all users, an overstay fee of £8 will apply for charging sessions longer than 45 minutes when using rapid (including AC43 connectors) or high power chargers. The overstay fee will also apply for charging sessions longer than 10 hours on 22kW fast chargers and 22kW sockets on rapid chargers.
Fleet plans will be launched for Northern Ireland fleet customers in the coming months and contactless payment will be made available on all new rapid and high power chargers (>=150kW). A 1p/kWh supplement will apply to all contactless transactions when it is rolled out. Further communication will be issued in advance of these plans.
At present the ESB operates the largest EV charging network on the island of Ireland consisting of more than 1,350 charge points. In 2021, ESB replaced 30 fast chargers (22kW) and five rapid chargers (50kW) in Northern Ireland and are commencing the next phase of the upgrade programme.
This work is part of a £10 million investment, £3.27million of which is from the Levelling Up Fund and will:
• Replace all existing fast (22kW) and rapid (50kW) EV chargers across Northern Ireland. The legacy infrastructure will be replaced with the fastest, most reliable and advanced technology available.
• Double the existing number of rapid chargers and increase the speed of these chargers two-fold from 50kW to 100kW.
• See the introduction of high power (200kW) charging through the delivery of five high power charging (200kW) hubs in strategic locations. These high-power charging hubs can charge multiple vehicles simultaneously and can provide an EV with 60 miles of range in as little as six minutes.
Do drivers need to do anything?
If you are an existing driver and have already signed up to use the public charging network with an address in the UK, your account will be updated allowing for all charging activities to be billed in sterling from 20th April. You do not need to do anything. As the network has been free to use, there are a small number of charge point access cards in circulation which are not linked to a customer account with credit or debit card details. If you are currently using an ESB charge point access card not linked to an account, it is recommended that you sign up by visiting www.esb.ie/ecars/NI. You can then link your current charge point access card to your new account.
If you are an existing customer registered in Ireland and plan to travel to Northern Ireland, your charging in Northern Ireland will be billed in euro. Please refer to the charge point map or the ecar connect app to get specific euro pricing for chargers in Northern Ireland. If you are an existing customer registered in Northern Ireland and plan to travel to Ireland, your charging in Ireland will be billed in sterling. Once again, please refer to the charge point map or the ecar connect app to get specific sterling pricing for chargers in Ireland.
As always the ESB have a dedicated 24/7 help line that can be reached on either number below depending on your region.
Northern Ireland: 0044 345 601 8303
Republic: 00353 1 258 3799
