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Charging and Information - OU Staff

Charging and information Chargemaster Charging Post

There is a wall-mounted post at the Cardiff office for staff to use. The OU run an up-front annual fee for membership to cover the cost of the electricity used. A set annual fee (see below) was considered the most practical.

Band Options

Band Costs

Indicative kWh usages per annum

Expected kWh utilisation per annum

Band No 1

£40.00

kWh utilisation p.a

1.0 kWh – 351.0 kWh (Top Up only ± 13 kWh)

Band No 2

£75.00

kWh utilisation p.a

351.0 kWh – 658.0 kWh

Band No 3

£150.00

kWh utilisation p.a

659.0 kWh – 1,316.0 kWh

Band No 4

£200.00

kWh utilisation p.a

1,371.0 kWh – 1,810.0 kWh

Band No 5

£350.00

kWh utilisation p.a

1.811.0 kWh – 3,146.0 kWh

Any members of staff wishing to use the electric vehicle charging facilities will need to join the Electric Vehicle Membership Scheme by completing the application form You will need to make an indicative kWh usage estimate and your payment for membership at the time of applying.

EV Charging bays

The electric charging bays are denoted with a green ‘E’ and signage. You will need your membership card for access to the charging posts. Near most of the charging posts there are additional bays next to each charging post where users may park their vehicles whilst waiting for the post to become available for charging. They are not available for general parking. 

EV Salary Sacrifice Scheme

The Travel Advice Team have been in contact with our VAT and Payroll teams to enquire about starting an EV salary sacrifice scheme. An EV salary sacrifice scheme sounds like a favourable one for all parties but the government regularly changes the rules meaning there are many risk factors the OU would be vulnerable to.

The values involved with the purchase of an EV would mean a greater OU risk should non-payment take place and also a significant reduction to an individual’s take home wage. In addition, this type of scheme is very expensive for an employer to run due to the Class 1a - NI and administrative costs, unlike most salary sacrifice schemes, which saves employer NI, this scheme does not, as its charged as class 1a instead via P11ds.

The decision has therefore been made at this time not to proceed with the scheme.  However we are continuously looking at other factors to encourage electric vehicle ownership for staff, so if you have any queries, please let contact travel-advice@open.ac.uk  

FAQ logo

Useful information 

Please visit the Open University specific FAQ's

Members of the EV scheme may also wish to subscribe to the EV Users mailing list estates-ou-ev-users-list@open.ac.uk as members use this route to communicate with each other regarding where they are charging, when they are likely to be finished, and any problems with the posts.  It is also the forum where the Travel Advice team can communicate with all members. To get added to the mailing list, please contact travel-advice

For any enquiries about the Electric Vehicle charging facilities contact travel-advice