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EV Evidence

Regulation · UK

Public charging roaming costs

An in-scope paid public charging network must connect to at least one external roaming provider from the 2025 boundary. That duty does not make every roaming app or RFID card work, nor does it set a roaming price. Compare only a current user-observed roaming price with a matching direct-payment input.

Office for Zero Emission Vehicles and Department for Transport: Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 guidance

Reviewed

Key facts and evidence

Across the UK, as at 12 August 2026, the roaming duty applies from 24 November 2025 to paid public chargepoints of operators that are not micro businesses and requires at least one external provider. It promises neither universal app or RFID acceptance nor a price level, and EV Evidence holds no admitted current roaming-price observations.

Office for Zero Emission Vehicles and Department for Transport: Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 guidance

Check UK public-charging roaming scope and compare only the exact current app or RFID price you observe, without a default markup.

Keep the legal dates distinct

The Regulations commenced on 24 November 2023, but the third-party roaming deadline was 24 November 2025. Keep those boundaries distinct and do not move the roaming duty back to the Regulations' commencement date.

Check operator and payment scope

The roaming duty concerns paid public chargepoints operated by a business that is not a micro business. Free-to-use points are outside this payment duty, and a point outside the statutory public definition cannot be brought in by assumption.

Compare observed routes only

Record the roaming provider, app or RFID route, account state, maximum p/kWh, point and time. Compare it with a direct route only when those fields match; publish no difference when either current observation is absent.

What to do next

Roaming acceptance does not assess the physical charging equipment or vehicle connection.

Immediate action: Confirm the supported provider and its current displayed price before relying on roaming.

  • Stop if the app or RFID service is not listed as supported for the selected point.
  • Do not compare a roaming price with a direct price from another date, site or membership state.

Checks that stay with this vehicle

  1. Check the operator or site information for the supported third-party roaming service.

    A named supported provider and its current pre-start payment information are visible.

    Support, price or the selected chargepoint cannot be matched clearly.

Professional hand-off

  • Ask the operator which external roaming service is supported and report an apparently covered network offering none to OPSS.

Questions this record can answer

What does the sourced evidence say about keep the legal dates distinct?

The Regulations commenced on 24 November 2023, but the third-party roaming deadline was 24 November 2025. Keep those boundaries distinct and do not move the roaming duty back to the Regulations' commencement date.

What does the sourced evidence say about check operator and payment scope?

The roaming duty concerns paid public chargepoints operated by a business that is not a micro business. Free-to-use points are outside this payment duty, and a point outside the statutory public definition cannot be brought in by assumption.

What does the sourced evidence say about compare observed routes only?

Record the roaming provider, app or RFID route, account state, maximum p/kWh, point and time. Compare it with a direct route only when those fields match; publish no difference when either current observation is absent.

Sources