The following tariffs will be introduced on 1 November:

• 7kW/22kW charge points – £0.27 per kW
• 43/50kW charge points – £0.40 per kW with a £30 overstay fee for exceeding 60 minutes

The overstay charge is in place for rapid chargers to allow other vehicle users to access to them rather than people using them to park all day. Any overstay charges will be automatically applied by ChargePlace Scotland to the users account.

The tariff levels align with the average costs to use EV charge points within Scotland.

Chair of the council’s Community and Enterprise Resources Committee, Councillor Robert Brown, said: "The council has always been keen to encourage more people to use electric vehicles. That was the reason why it was free for vehicles to charge their cars at our EV units.  

“However, the use of electric vehicles has now taken off and it is no longer appropriate that electricity be provided without charge. 

“As more people own electric vehicles, the costs have increased substantially year-on-year.

“This means the pressure on the council budget becomes even more significant and this is a cost that we can no longer afford to foot the bill for.

“The tariffs being levied from November 1 will cover the running costs of the infrastructure as well as end of life replacement costs.”

There are now 133 dual charging points across the area, with a further six due to be completed in the next few weeks.

During the initial phase of installing charging points, there was an expectation from Transport Scotland that there would be no tariffs.

However, with increased electric vehicle ownership and the Scottish Government pledging to phase out the need for new petrol and diesel cars and vans across Scotland by 2032, councillors at the Executive Committee agreed to introduce a tariff.