Gridserve dials back exclusivity rights for motorway EV chargers

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has agreed on a new commitment with electric car charger provider Gridserve to help promote investment and allow for competition in the market.

The legally-binding commitments were made following an investigation launched to look at the Electric Highway network which was acquired from Ecotricity by Gridserve. At the time, there were concerns that the company would dominate the UK’s motorway charging network and put off the possibility of additional suppliers gaining access.

This new agreement means that Gridserve won’t be able to enforce exclusive rights in contracts with Extra, Moto or Roadchef services after November 2026. These current cover around two-thirds of motorway service areas in the UK. In addition, Gridserve has agreed to reduce the length of these exclusive rights in current contracts by around two years with Moto and by around four years with Roadchef. Its contract with Extra is due to end in 2026.

On top of these agreements, Gridserve won’t be allowed to enforce exclusive rights at any Extra, Moto or Roadchef site that is granted funding under the Government’s Rapid Charging Fund (RCF). In these instances, competitor companies will be allowed to install chargers regardless of any existing exclusivity contract.

Ann Pope, the CMA’s Senior Director of Antitrust, said: “We need a combination of investment now and healthy competition going forward to make sure chargepoints are installed at scale where people need them, for a fair price.

“Today’s commitments strike the right balance. Gridserve will continue to invest in the much-needed roll-out of chargepoints across the country but the exclusivity linked to its investment won’t be an undue barrier to others competing in the near future.”

The CMA says that this agreement will allow the RCF to be rolled out ‘as planned’, though it is expected that this fund will only be available for sites with more than one charge point operator. Therefore, without this new agreement, Gridserve would have held onto exclusive rights at many sites and prevented the use of the RCF.