It’s inevitable. The price of electricity will increase drastically in 2023. The question now is to know to what extent this increase in prices will impact the cost of recharging an electric car.
As you may know, the price of electricity will inevitably increase in 2023, and there are several reasons for this. The war in Ukraine is obviously one of the first factors. In addition to the decline in Russian gas exports to European countries, it will also be necessary to deal with the shutdown of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, one of the most productive sites in the world in terms of electricity.
In France, the shutdown of many reactors decreed by EDF for renovation will also have a considerable impact on the price of electricity in 2023. On August 26, we also learned that the electricity prices on the wholesale markets (where energy suppliers get their supplies) exploded.
The price of MWh explodes on the wholesale markets
In France, the megawatt hour has risen to 1000 €, against only €85 in 2021 at the same period. Nevertheless, and thanks to the tariff shield applied by the government, electricity prices for individuals only increased by 4% in 2022, instead of 35.4% without this measure.
According to Bruno LeMaire, the Minister of the Economy, this cap will also be maintained at 4% until the end of 2022. However, we already know that this protection will not be repeated in 2023. In fact, and as specialist Nicolas Goldberg of Columbus Consulting explains, we can expect an increase in regulated prices of between 30 and 40%.
On this point, Bruno LeMaire tried to be reassuring, arguing that these increases will be “contained” between 10 and 20%. Either way, this will represent a significant increase in the electricity bill for individuals. And unsurprisingly, electric car owners will have to adapt to this new realityin particular for recharging their vehicle.
Also read: Electric cars – drivers denounce the dismal state of charging stations
If the price of electricity increases, so does the cost of charging
If you are part of the majority, namely those who recharge their vehicle at home, it will be better to opt for off-peak hours. If you are a customer of a traditional supplier like EDF, the tariffs are regulated, which therefore avoids excessive price increases.
On the other hand, if you are a customer of an alternative energy supplier, the situation can quickly turn sour. Indeed, these structures mostly buy energy on the wholesale markets, and as said before, the price per megawatt hour has never been so high. Unless you signed for an offer indexed to regulated tariffsit will be necessary to check the conditions of the contract and find out about the purchase price of electricity and the future increases envisaged by your supplier to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Another important point, the price of recharging will necessarily increase at terminals with public access. For good reason, the price is set directly by the service provider such as Tesla, Allego or ChargeMap. In fact, an increase in the cost of recharging is inevitable to compensate for the explosion in the price of energy. Tesla is already regularly increasing prices on its Supercharger stations, while Allego has confirmed a sharp price increase as of September 1, with a price set at €0.50/kWh instead of 0.40 on AC terminals .
Source : Capital
