How do charging companies make money?

Operators earn from energy sold ad hoc and through roaming, plus time fees and flexibility; providers from the difference between their prices and operators' tariffs, or subscriptions.

Explained in

Business models · Stop 02How does a CPO earn money?Ad hoc sales, roaming sales, time fees and flexibility: the revenue of a charge point operator, and how Europe's operator market is structured.

Operators' prices must be reasonable, comparable, transparent and non-discriminatory, and may not discriminate between end users and providers, or between providers, unless the difference is proportionate and objectively justified. That shapes how an operator can price roaming sessions against ad hoc ones.

From “Rules for the operator's price”, stop 02

Terms

  1. RoamingCharging in another company's network with your own card or app.
  2. Ad hocCharging without a contract, paid directly at the charger, for example by card or QR code.
  1. Why is public charging more expensive than home charging?A public charger adds hardware, a grid connection, the site, operation and payment. The IEA reports public fast charging prices up to 240% above residential tariffs.
  2. Is a charger profitable?It depends on utilisation: fixed costs are the same whether ten or a hundred cars come, so every extra session lowers the cost of every kWh.
  1. EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 (AFIR), Article 5(3) and (5). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1804/oj. Checked 09 Oct 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.