PUCSL seeks public views on electric vehicle charging station regulation

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) yesterday opened the path for the public to comment on issues pertaining to Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and their users in order to identify and draft the required regulatory tools.

The PUCSL is to establish a register of EVCS at each distribution licensee (CEB and LECO), issue a code of practice for EVCS, determine end-user tariffs, issue safety and other technical standards for EVCS and collect information on a regular basis for monitoring purposes.

Also, approval was granted to introduce amendments to the Sri Lanka Electricity Act enabling regulatory intervention on EVCS, enabling PUCSL to enforce user tariffs, licensing as well as impose safety and technical standards.

The registration of electric motor cars in Sri Lanka has increased from 90 in 2014 to 3,238 in 2015. The total registration of electric motor cars from 2011-2016 was approximately 4,349 in Sri Lanka.

Apart from a large number of electric motor cars, Sri Lanka also has a limited number of electric motor tricycles, motorcycles, dual purpose vehicles and single cabs.

Around 50 privately-owned EVCS are operating in the country, covering all the main towns, catering to the growing number of customers using electric vehicles but remain unregulated due to a lack of proper legislation.

PUCSL invites stakeholder views, suggestions, recommendations, concerns and comments related to the following areas:

a) Requirement of maintaining and updating a register of authorised EVCS at CEB and LECO

b) Code of practice for EVCS

c) Determination of end-user tariffs, safety and other technical standards for EVCS

d) Rights and Obligations Statement for consumers of EVCS

e) Issues faced by EVCS and consumers of such centres

f) Issues related to residential charging facilities

The PUCSL wishes to introduce a regulatory mechanism to safeguard the rights of EVCS and the consumers of such places in terms of economic, technical and safety aspects.

The draft consultation paper is now available at www.pucsl.gov.lk for reference.

 A printed copy of this report is also available at the Information Centre of the commission. Those who are interested can submit their written comments or submissions to the commission by post, fax or e-mail and online via www.pucsl.gov.lk on or before 4 October 2017.

Further, PUCSL plans to hold an oral submission on the same. The venue and the date of the meeting will be communicated to interested parties at an early date.