The Australian Energy Market Commission has released a draft rule backing a federal government program to install approximately 14,000 EV chargers on power poles in high-density city areas and regional charging blackspots, ABC News reported. The program, called the Accelerating EV Charging Program, is scheduled to run until June 2029.
The federal government would fund roughly 30% of the program's total cost, while electricity networks would recoup the other 70% from consumers. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water modelled the cost to households at up to $1.44 per household per year. Chargers are targeted at high-density city areas where residents may lack access to off-street parking, as well as regional blackspots.
Under the program structure, chargers are to sit on power poles, and wherever private charge point operators decline a nominated pole, energy networks are required to step in and install a charger there. The draft rule's public comment period closes on 5 November, with the AEMC's final decision due before the year is out. Subject to the AEMC's final decision, March 2027 is the target date for the program's first kerbside chargers to go in.
The AEMC said the program is designed to improve charging access for renters and apartment residents and to support EV uptake. AEMC chair Anna Collyer said the commission's view was that the program's benefits would exceed its cost to consumers. The AEMC's own analysis found many of the identified sites are unlikely to have dedicated parking, raising the prospect that chargers could be blocked by non-EV vehicles in a practice known as being "ICEd" by an internal combustion engine vehicle.
The National Electrical and Communications Association CEO, Stewart Joyce, said raising electricity bills to fund EV chargers showed contempt for consumers dealing with cost-of-living pressures. Joyce said the rule change would direct millions of dollars to monopoly electricity networks, taking work away from small, family-owned businesses. Charge point operators contend that electricity network operators lack any financial reason to identify the best or busiest potential charger sites, since their revenue comes from power bills rather than from how much any charger is actually used.
Australian electricity consumers, including those who do not own an EV, would contribute to the cost of the charger rollout through their power bills at a modelled cost of up to $1.44 per household per year.
Written by Pick & Scroll News from the reporting and documents linked above.
