Network offshoot to roll out 1,000 kerbside EV chargers after regulatory switch, but not everyone is happy

Plus Es promises that its plans for pole mounted roadside EV chargers will make for prettier “street furniture” and much cheaper charging, while a UK company was shaking its figurative head as to why it’s not being used here yet.

So why did it take a waiver from the energy market rule maker to get a fairly innocuous piece of tech — a pole-mounted electric vehicle (EV) charger with a normal meter built into it — across the line in Australia?

The answer lies in Australia’s slow-moving rule making machine.

Under current rules managed by the Australia Energy Regulator (AER) a kerbside charger has to be separate to the meter and needs its own box on the power pole, hence the need for the waiver. And Plus Es owner Ausgrid needed a “ring fencing waiver” to allow its offshoot to go ahead with the plan.

With that now in hand, Plus Es will roll out the first of 1,000 7kW to 22 kW EV chargers on power poles in New South Wales (NSW) and South Australia next week.  

“This innovative trial project will remove the need to have a separate external metering enclosure near the EVC [electric vehicle charger],” Plus Es said in its submission to the AER.

The trial will allow Plus Es to provide another way to deliver cheaper public charging infrastructure, says head of metering Nural Omer.  

“By removing barriers to installation, this decision simplifies the rollout of kerbside chargers, making EVs more accessible for everyone,” she said in a statement.

“Eliminating the need for an external meter box also means less unnecessary infrastructure on our streets.”

Old rules are changing – slowly

Plus Es needed the five-year waiver because new consumer energy resource-friendly (CER) rules are only just being introduced in Australia. 

But it won’t need it for very long.

The AER finally ushered in a series of CER rules in August last year, which specifically include “new in-built metering arrangements” for public EV charging and smart streetlights. 

“[These] could deliver up to $100m in benefits over 20 years as a result of reduced metering installation costs, reduced maintenance costs, reduced wholesale costs, and emissions reductions,” the AER said of its final decision. 

The rules around built-in meters will not be implemented until 31 May 2026, while the full suite won’t be implemented until 1 November 2026. 

Not everyone is happy

The Plus Es kerbside charger trial is not the first in Australia – that gong goes to Intellihub in 2021 which launched a four-year Sydney-based trial with funding from ARENA.

But it is somewhat controversial, based on worried submissions to the AER.

Plus Es’ operations are ring fenced from its owner, network operator Ausgrid.

But charger network Evie, rival pole charger company EVX, and the National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) are all worried the Plus Es devices will hand Ausgrid a big chunk of the charging market once the new CER rules are implemented.

“Evie Networks raises concerns around potential preferential access to infrastructure and resources, which risks creating market distortion and competition inequities,” the AER reported in a summary of submissions in its final decision. 

Each has concerns around the amount of transparency about deals between the two companies, given Plus Es will be leasing pole space from Ausgrid. 

The AER responded that it’s confident that its ring fencing rules prevent collaboration between the parent and the subsidiary it set up. 

But UK charger company Connected Kerb had no such qualms, saying only that the new technology will bring Australia in from the cold and align kerbside charging with technology already being used globally. 

Already pole-mounted chargers like these are used in cities such as London, Oslo and Amsterdam.

Chris Jones, president of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association, is also positive about what new tech can bring — despite the questions about its parentage. 

“AEVA thinks this is a good opportunity to massively increase access to charging,” he told Renew Economy.

“The only genuine concern is that DNSPs might over-invest in charging infrastructure which forms part of their regulated asset base. 

“But with appropriate guardrails it would achieve what the chargepoint operators alone haven’t had the muscle to. In short, more charging = good! But they need oversight.”