Pay for use to be introduced for the ESB public EV charging network in Northern Ireland from 26th April 2023
ESB is undertaking necessary EV network upgrade work in Northern Ireland as part of a £10m investment programme
Drivers based in Northern Ireland who have previously not signed up can do so here today.
Existing drivers who registered with a UK address will have their accounts converted from euro to sterling on 20th April 2023
Charge seamlessly across the island of Ireland using an ESB charge point access card or the ecar connect mobile app, and pay via a single account
Conveniently manage and track your EV charging from your ESB account (Driver website Portal or ecar connect app)
As part of an overall investment programme to meet Northern Ireland’s growing demand for EVs, ESB has today announced the introduction of pay for use for the public EV charging network.
Two price plans introduced
Under the new pay for use scheme, 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.
What are the prices (£)?
| PAYG | Membership | |
| Fast Charging (<22kW, £/kWh) | 49p | 46.2p |
| Rapid Charging (>22 - 100kW, £/kWh) | 57.7p | 54.3p |
| High Power (= to or >150kW £/kWh) | 67p | 63.1p |
| Monthly Subscription | None | £4.99 |
| Charge Point Access Card | Free if you top up by £20 upon sign up. £9.20 for additional card | Initial card is Free. £9.20 for additional cards |
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.
Update on network improvements
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 is commencing the necessary next phase of the upgrade programme.
This work is part of a £10 million investment, £3.27 million 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.