Renting Out a Home Charging Point

Wellnessy

Has anyone recently compared the various websites offering to link owners of a home car charging point to drivers who need somewhere to re-charge?

Which company is offering providers the best deal?

As the charging point is on the outside of my garage and we usually park our one car on our single-lane drive, I am more interested in occasional customers prepared to pay a premium rather than regular users such as neighbours.

Petriix

Wellnessy said:

Has anyone recently compared the various websites offering to link owners of a home car charging point to drivers who need somewhere to re-charge?

Which company is offering providers the best deal?

As the charging point is on the outside of my garage and we usually park our one car on our single-lane drive, I am more interested in occasional customers prepared to pay a premium rather than regular users such as neighbours.

It's highly dependent on how desirable your parking space is. When most people can charge at home for 5p (or latterly 7.5p) per kWh, there aren't many people around who are willing to pay significantly more for AC charging unless there's a convenience factor as well.

If you live close to a venue or tourist destination where people will be spending several hours then you might have a ready stream of customers looking to charge while they're busy. If not then I doubt you'll see much interest.

Grey_Critic

Have had a quick look at some of the sites and they don’t seem to address the question of Insurance - you would have to declare the charge point anyway but that would be for personal/family use, Once you start charging people it becomes a commercial operation - then the council would become involved as you would probably need planning- there may also be something in your house deeds that forbids certain commercial practices.

Wellnessy

Thanks to Grey Critic, I hadn't appreciated the insurance / business angles.

Petriix, my question wasn't about what I could charge, but how much websites take for linking homes with a charging point  to customers.

Petriix

Wellnessy said:

Thanks to Grey Critic, I hadn't appreciated the insurance / business angles.

Petriix, my question wasn't about what I could charge, but how much websites take for linking homes with a charging point  to customers.

Yes, sorry, I was answering a different question like 'will anyone even be interested in paying to use my charging point? Is it even worth listing it on any apps/sites?".

I think you can list it for free on Plugshare. There are some sites which offer a small credit for joining. I've never bothered to list mine because it's vanishingly unlikely that anyone would ever want to use it. 

DrEskimo

Grey_Critic said:

Have had a quick look at some of the sites and they don’t seem to address the question of Insurance - you would have to declare the charge point anyway but that would be for personal/family use, Once you start charging people it becomes a commercial operation - then the council would become involved as you would probably need planning- there may also be something in your house deeds that forbids certain commercial practices.

Declare the charge point to who? An insurance company? I've never been asked or even thought about declaring it to my home insurance?

The charger is registered by the installer under Part P certificate, but not sure I see why any specific insurance company needs to be notified?

Grey_Critic

DrEskimo said:

Grey_Critic said:

Have had a quick look at some of the sites and they don’t seem to address the question of Insurance - you would have to declare the charge point anyway but that would be for personal/family use, Once you start charging people it becomes a commercial operation - then the council would become involved as you would probably need planning- there may also be something in your house deeds that forbids certain commercial practices.

Declare the charge point to who? An insurance company? I've never been asked or even thought about declaring it to my home insurance?

The charger is registered by the installer under Part P certificate, but not sure I see why any specific insurance company needs to be notified?

***Part P states that certain types of work in the electrical sphere should be notified to the building authorities. After work is completed, the building control bodies can then go ahead and issue a Part P certificate to the owner of the home if it is ascertained that the work was done properly.***

The charger is an item of specialised electrical equipment that the insurer needs to be informed has been fitted - failure to do somay negate your insurance.

DrEskimo

Grey_Critic said:

DrEskimo said:

Grey_Critic said:

Have had a quick look at some of the sites and they don’t seem to address the question of Insurance - you would have to declare the charge point anyway but that would be for personal/family use, Once you start charging people it becomes a commercial operation - then the council would become involved as you would probably need planning- there may also be something in your house deeds that forbids certain commercial practices.

Declare the charge point to who? An insurance company? I've never been asked or even thought about declaring it to my home insurance?

The charger is registered by the installer under Part P certificate, but not sure I see why any specific insurance company needs to be notified?

***Part P states that certain types of work in the electrical sphere should be notified to the building authorities. After work is completed, the building control bodies can then go ahead and issue a Part P certificate to the owner of the home if it is ascertained that the work was done properly.***

The charger is an item of specialised electrical equipment that the insurer needs to be informed has been fitted - failure to do somay negate your insurance.

Yes, you absolutely need Part P, but you don't need to specifically inform you home or car insurance.

sheramber

You would be operating a business with customers coming onto your property.

You would need insurance cover in case somebody using the charger was injured on your property.

Grey_Critic

***Yes, you absolutely need Part P, but you don't need to specifically inform you home or car insurance.***

Part P is only required to confirm that the installation/equipment is installed/complies with Part P regulations.

If you do not inform your Home insurer that you have fitted a charger for electric vehicles and there is a fire that is due to the charger the insurers will not pay out.

It is in effect a modification - If you buy a car and fit a turbo then you have to inform the insurance company otherwise it is void. Same thing.

ComicGeek

Grey_Critic said:

***Yes, you absolutely need Part P, but you don't need to specifically inform you home or car insurance.***

Part P is only required to confirm that the installation/equipment is installed/complies with Part P regulations.

If you do not inform your Home insurer that you have fitted a charger for electric vehicles and there is a fire that is due to the charger the insurers will not pay out.

It is in effect a modification - If you buy a car and fit a turbo then you have to inform the insurance company otherwise it is void. Same thing.

Nonsense - it's no different to fitting an extra power socket inside, or fitting an external light to the house. While Part P compliance is required (and the insurers may not pay out for a faulty installation) it is certainly not required to inform the insurers.

I've just renewed our home insurance and asked the question about our PV panels and charger, and they were only interested in making sure that the total replacement cost for the building and contents would cover these as well.