Gridserve, which owns the Electric Highway charging network, has agreed to end exclusivity agreements with major motorway service operators following a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation.
The Electric Highway network was acquired from Ecotricity and provides around 80% of all chargepoints at motorway services in the UK, while its long-term exclusivity agreements, lasting between 10 and 15 years, cover around two-thirds of all motorway service stations.
Concerns were raised by the CMA last year, with the watchdog worried that exclusivity agreements with three motorway service operators – Moto, Roadchef and Extra – are making it difficult for other companies to provide competing chargepoints.
Following the investigation, Gridserve agreed not to enforce exclusive rights in contracts with the three service operators after November 2026. In doing so, the company has committed to reducing the length of the exclusive rights in the current contracts with MOTO by around 2 years and Roadchef by around 4 years (the contract with Extra is due to end in 2026).
Additionally, Gridserve has agreed not enforce exclusive rights at any of the three operators’ sites that are granted funding under the UK government’s Rapid Charging Fund (RCF), ensuring competitor chargepoint operators will be allowed to install chargepoints regardless of any exclusivity agreements.
The fund, which will launch in early 2023, will provide a one-off investment to motorway service areas and major A road service areas in England to encourage the installation of chargepoints.
It is, however, expected to only be available for sites with more than one chargepoint operator meaning without Gridserve’s commitments, it would have retained exclusivity at the vast majority of motorway service areas and wide take-up of the RCF would not have been possible.
Each of the motorway service area operators and Gridserve have also promised not to take any action that would undermine these commitments.
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.”
A spokesperson for Gridserve said in order to retain focus on delivering charging infrastructure the company “pursued a path towards offering commitments to the CMA at a very early stage in proceedings, which we are pleased have now been accepted”.
They added: “The commitments were accepted and the investigation closed without any decision or admission of a breach of competition rules.”