NEW fees for using electric vehicle charging points in Glasgow will be introduced from May.

Glasgow City Council has approved plans to introduce charges for the public network.

The move comes after the bill for running the city’s 218 charge points reached more than £215,000 over the past year.

This included staff costs, annual maintenance and £93,000 on electricity.

The rates will be 16p per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for slow (7kW) and fast (22kW) chargers and 20p per kWh for rapid (50kW) units.

An overstay fee of £1 per minute, which will be charged once a driver is over 15 minutes late returning to their car, was also agreed by councillors.

Transport accounts for around 25% of the city’s CO2 emissions, the council reported, and Glasgow is targeting becoming a carbon neutral city by 2030.

Subsiding the public charging network “becomes an ever-increasing financial burden” as “demand grows”, a council report added.

The tariff will “mitigate this burden in the short-term” while the medium-term goal is to make the network self-sustaining.

Councils are not allowed to profit from the charges, with income restricted to the cost of providing the service.

Any additional money will be reinvested into the network.

One-hour stays will be allowed at rapid chargers, with two-hour stays at fast or slow chargers on streets or in leisure centre car park.

No overstay fees for fast or slow chargers will be set in City Parking car parks, but the rate will increase to 20p per kWh after eight hours.