The Royal Decree Law 15/2018 eliminates the role of the Charging Manager.

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The government has approved the repeal of the Charging Manager role. It has been approved by Royal Decree Law and was published this Saturday in the Official State Gazette.

This is established by the Single Repealing Provision. Repeal of Regulations, as follows:

Royal Decree 647/2011, of May 9, which regulates the activity of charging managers in the system for providing energy charging services, except for its additional, transitional, and final provisions.

Thus, the role of “Charging Manager” as such disappears. It will never be called that again.

On the other hand, it leaves open the possibility in the Law 24/2013 of the Electricity Sector, allowing consumers themselves to offer charging services, both individuals and companies.

Consumers, who are natural or legal persons that acquire energy for their own consumption and for the provision of energy charging services for vehicles.

Another novelty is that it empowers distribution companies to manage charging infrastructure.  This means that the owners of the low voltage network that runs through cities (Iberdrola distribution, Endesa Distribution, local cooperatives…) will be able to install infrastructure, and not only that, the government opens the possibility of what can be awarded to them, with the corresponding payment.

On the other hand, it adds the following:

Energy charging services may be provided by any consumer, provided they meet the requirements established by the Government through regulations. The provision of charging services at one or more locations may be carried out directly or through a third party, aggregated by a holder or by several holders through interoperability agreements.

This is the most important point as we will have to wait for a regulation (Royal Decree) to know the requirements to be met.

Finally, regional registers will also be created where installations must be registered. The ministry will establish what information must be sent and which are exempt from sending information.

Conclusions:

Currently, we find ourselves in a legal limbo until the decree regulating the new role is published in the BOE. This law seems to allow any natural or legal person to resell energy for charging services. It will only be necessary to inform a regional register. We will see how the new decree turns out, but the law seems promising.