TapTechNews June 20th, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission and the General Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation today issued the 'Notice on Regulating the Charging Fee Behavior for Electric Bicycles' (hereinafter referred to as the 'Notice').
The 'Notice' stated that electric bicycles are an important means of daily travel for the masses. Guiding outdoor charging of electric bicycles is an important measure to eliminate potential safety hazards and ensure power usage safety. However, at present, the charging fee behavior in some areas is not standardized, and the charging cost is relatively high, which affects the enthusiasm of the masses for outdoor charging.
In order to implement the relevant requirements of the State Council on doing a good job in the rectification of potential safety hazards of electric bicycles, regulate the charging fee behavior, guide the rational formation of the charging service fee standard, and promote the reduction of the charging burden of the masses, the following matters are now notified as follows (TapTechNews highlights in red):
First, the charging fee implements the separation of price and fee, and strict marking of clearly priced. The charging fee for outdoor charging facilities of electric bicycles mainly includes the charging electricity fee and the service fee, and the charging electricity fee and the service fee should be indicated and priced separately. For charging facilities that do not currently have the conditions for separate metering of electricity quantity, the local development and reform departments should jointly with relevant departments clarify the time node for upgrading and transformation in combination with the actual situation, and require the charging facility operation units to basically realize separate metering of the charging electricity quantity in full as of January 1, 2025.
The charging facility operation unit should mark the charging electricity price, service items and charging standards at the prominent positions such as the charging place, mobile application programs, and WeChat official accounts in accordance with the relevant regulations on clearly priced marking, and not charge any unmarked fees. Encouraging the charging facility operation units to use vivid and easy-to-understand ways such as pictures and animations to display the charging mode and level to facilitate the users to quickly and accurately understand.
Second, strictly implement the relevant electricity price policies. For the electric bicycle charging facilities in residential communities, both the power grid enterprise to the charging facility operation unit and the charging facility operation unit to the user should charge the charging electricity fee according to the electricity price for resident combined meter users; in the case of non-direct power supply from the power grid, for the electricity consumption of electric bicycle charging facilities, the power grid enterprise to the non-power supply entity from the power grid, the non-power supply entity from the power grid to the charging facility operation unit, and the charging facility operation unit to the user should also charge the charging electricity fee according to the electricity price for resident combined meter users. For the electric bicycle charging facilities outside of residential communities, the electricity price policy of the place where they are located should be implemented.
Third, the charging service fee is regulated by the market. The charging facility operation unit should fully consider the public service attribute and livelihood attribute of outdoor charging facilities, and rationally formulate the charging service fee standard in accordance with the principles of covering costs, reasonable profits, and good faith, and in combination with the market supply and demand situation. After the single charging is comple ted, the charging facility operation unit should push information such as the billing mode, charging duration, and charging amount to the user through methods such as WeChat official accounts and mini-programs. Local regions should encourage market competition and not designate the charging facility operation unit by administrative means.
Fourth, promote the reduction of the charging service fee. Neighborhood offices, residential (village) committees, property rights units of the community, homeowner committees and property service enterprises entrusted by them that have the operating capacity can build their own charging facilities and determine the charging service fee from a low level. For the charging facilities built and operated by third parties, it is advocated that the property rights units of the community, homeowner committees, property service enterprises and other entities do not charge or charge little for site leasing fees, do not participate in or reduce income sharing, and use the concession space for reducing the charging service fee. When property service enterprises and other management units accept the entrustment to sign an operation cooperation agreement with the charging facility operation unit, they should communicate fully with the owners, select high-quality charging facility operation units, and reasonably determine the charging service fee standard. Property service enterprises and other management units should actively assist in doing a good job in the site selection, construction and installation, and connection and reporting for the charging facilities.
Encouraging local regions with conditions to reduce the construction and operation cost of charging facilities through giving construction and operation subsidies for charging facilities, giving better play to the role of state-owned enterprises, etc. When relevant parties sign operation cooperation agreements, the signed operation term can be appropriately connected with the equipment depreciation term, and it is advocated to sign operation cooperation agreements for 5 years and above to stabilize the investment expectations of the charging facility operation unit and amortize the asset depreciation cost, creating conditions for reducing the charging service fee.
Fifth, promote the charging facilities being directly powered by the power grid. The power grid enterprise should, in accordance with the principle of 'able to reform as much as possible', accelerate the transformation of charging facilities with conditions and realize direct power supply to the electric bicycle charging facility operation units as soon as possible. Where the existing residential communities have not yet realized direct power supply from the power grid, it is encouraged that the property rights units hand over the power supply facilities to the power grid enterprise as a whole, creating conditions for the power grid enterprise to directly power the charging facilities; for the charging facilities in the new residential communities built after January 1, 2025, in principle, they should be directly powered by the power grid to avoid pushing up the charging cost due to transfer supply.
Sixth, strengthen supervision in accordance with the law. Local regions should combine the local actual situation to timely formulate and improve relevant price and fee policies, increase the guidance on the charging facility operation units to reasonably determine the service fee and the work of property rights units, property service enterprises and other management units to take the initiative to make concessions, etc., and pay attention to using combined methods such as joint interviews and reminders to continuously regulate the charging fee behavior. The market supervision departments should, in combination with relevant complaints and reports and the reflections of the people, increase the intensity of supervision and inspection, and strictly investigate and deal with violations of government pricing and fa ilure to clearly mark prices in accordance with regulations and other illegal behaviors. The relevant industry associations should strengthen industry self-discipline, consciously regulate the charging fee behavior, and jointly maintain a good market order.
Local regions should attach great importance to the important role of regulating the charging fee behavior of electric bicycles and promoting the reduction of the charging cost in guiding the masses to charge outdoors and ensuring the safety of power usage, strengthen organizational leadership, strengthen the implementation of policies, and do a good job in policy publicity and interpretation. The relevant departments of local regions should strengthen coordinated linkage and study and adopt effective policy measures to promote the reduction of outdoor charging service fee, so that the masses can afford and are willing to use it.