Can You Legally Bill Guests for EV Charging? Meter Rules for Hosts in the UK, US, Canada, Australia & New Zealand

This article is general information, not legal advice. Rules change — links to the primary sources are at the end so you can verify the current position.

Why a $4 charging fee can put you under petrol-pump law

Every developed country regulates instruments used to determine the price of a transaction. A butcher’s scale, a taxi meter, a petrol pump — and an electricity meter used for billing — must be an approved, tested design, because the buyer has no other way to know they got what they paid for.

EV charging at accommodation blurs a line that used to be clear. Your utility’s main meter is approved and sealed — but it measures what you buy. The moment you re-sell that electricity to a guest based on a measured quantity, the measuring instrument is your charger (or a sub-meter behind it), and it needs its own approval. The manufacturers of most popular domestic wallboxes are explicit that their built-in energy readouts are for information and load management, not billing.

Two things follow from that, everywhere in this guide:

• Billing by kWh puts you inside the metrology rules of your country.
• A flat fee (per stay or per night) or free-with-the-room keeps you outside them, because no measurement determines the price.

Now, country by country.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

The rule. The Measuring Instruments Regulations 2016 (implementing the EU Measuring Instruments Directive, “MID”) cover active electrical energy meters in use for trade. “Use for trade” means the meter’s reading determines how much money changes hands — exactly what happens when you bill a guest per kWh. UK government guidance is explicit that this applies to landlord/secondary billing, not just licensed suppliers, and that sub-meters must meet the same standard as primary meters (GOV.UK: national regulation of gas and electricity meters).

What an approved meter looks like. Three markings, together:

1. CE or UKCA conformity marking — both are currently accepted in Great Britain; the government has extended recognition of CE marking indefinitely (GOV.UK: MIR in Great Britain).
2. A metrology “M” mark with the year of manufacture (e.g. M24).
3. The 4-digit identification number of the notified body (CE) or UK approved body (UKCA) that certified it.

Accuracy classes come from EN 50470: Class A (±2%), Class B (±1%), Class C (±0.5%). Class B is the accepted standard for billing at domestic charging powers.

Enforcement. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) enforces the regulations, with compliance notices, civil penalties and criminal referral available. The practical risk for a host is more immediate: a guest billed from an unapproved meter can dispute the charge, and you have little to stand on in a small-claims or Trading Standards process.

What’s coming. Under the Smart Secure Electricity Systems programme, the government intends to lay first-phase regulations before Parliament in early-to-mid 2026, with device-level metering requirements taking effect from 31 December 2027 (subject to parliamentary approval). The direction of travel is clear: new charge points will increasingly ship with billing-grade metering as standard, and a February 2026 consultation response opens the door to app-based displays instead of physical ones.

Grants. The EV chargepoint grant pays up to £500 per socket from 1 April 2026 (up from £350) for eligible landlords and renters — but properties used only as holiday accommodation are excluded (GOV.UK: chargepoint grant changes). Mixed-use properties may qualify; check the eligibility rules before assuming either way.

🇺🇸 United States

The rule. EV charging sold by the kWh falls under NIST Handbook 44, Section 3.40 (Electric Vehicle Fueling Systems) (NIST HB44 §3.40). Handbook 44 isn’t a federal mandate — each state adopts and enforces it — but most states now apply it, with device certification through NTEP (national) and CTEP (California’s own program).

When it applies. Only when the price is based on measured kWh. Free charging for guests needs no certification. California is the strictest and has had its own timeline since 2021: new commercial AC chargers needed CTEP compliance from January 2021 and DC from January 2023, with retrofit deadlines for older units in 2031/2033.

What compliance looks like. An NTEP/CTEP-certified measuring system, price and quantity displayed to the customer (total kWh, price per kWh, total cost), and a receipt available. If you’re buying hardware for a US property and intend to bill by energy, ask the vendor for the NTEP Certificate of Conformance number — in writing.

One more US wrinkle: in some states, re-selling electricity can raise public-utility questions. Most states have carved EV charging out of utility regulation, but the carve-outs are state-by-state — worth a check with your installer or state weights-and-measures office if you plan per-kWh billing.

🇨🇦 Canada

The rule. Electricity sales are federally regulated by Measurement Canada. Historically that made per-kWh billing at EV chargers effectively impossible (no approved EVSE meters existed), which is why Canadian public charging was priced by time for years.

What changed. On 20 February 2023 Measurement Canada issued temporary dispensations allowing kWh-based billing at charging stations, subject to registering with Measurement Canada and providing evidence the equipment measures within acceptable error (display resolution of 0.001 kWh required) (Measurement Canada: EV charging stations). The dispensations run while permanent device specifications are finalised (the Level 3+ dispensation contemplates the end of 2029), and a separate consultation covers Level 1/2 devices in non-commercial settings such as condos and workplaces.

For a host: kWh billing is now possible, but it is an opt-in, registered activity, not something you can quietly do off a wallbox’s app reading. Flat-fee or bundled pricing remains the simple path.

🇦🇺 Australia

The rule. Meters used for billing must hold pattern approval from the National Measurement Institute (NMI) under the National Measurement Act, assessed to NMI M 6-1 for electricity meters.

The EV-specific gap. There is currently no NMI pattern-approval pathway for EV chargers themselves — the Electric Vehicle Council’s submission to NMI notes that no approval document exists for DC charger metering at all, and time-based or flat pricing carries no metrology requirement. In practice, an Australian host who wants defensible per-kWh billing puts an NMI pattern-approved sub-meter on the charger’s circuit; plenty of approved DIN-rail units exist.

Re-selling rules. Selling energy to guests can also intersect with “exempt selling” frameworks (the AER’s Retail Exempt Selling Guideline in NEM states; the ESC in Victoria; the ERA in WA). Short-stay charging bundled into accommodation generally sits comfortably outside retailer obligations; itemised per-kWh sales are where classification questions start.

🇳🇿 New Zealand

New Zealand has no EV-specific metering approval regime equivalent to MID or NTEP today. The live question for hosts is different: whether charging guests for electricity as a separate, itemised service makes you an electricity “retailer” under the Electricity Industry Act, which triggers the Electricity Authority’s Consumer Care Obligations. The Authority’s guidance distinguishes recovering costs through standard accommodation charges (generally not retailing) from selling electricity as a separate identifiable service (potentially retailing). For holiday accommodation, bundled or flat-fee pricing keeps you clearly on the safe side; if you want itemised per-kWh billing at scale, take advice.

The pattern across all five countries

	Billing by kWh	Flat fee / bundled
🇬🇧 UK	MID/UKCA Class B approved meter required	✓ Outside metrology rules
🇺🇸 US	NTEP/CTEP-certified system (most states)	✓ No certification needed
🇨🇦 Canada	Allowed via Measurement Canada dispensation + registration	✓ Simple and unregulated
🇦🇺 Australia	NMI pattern-approved (sub-)meter; no EVSE pathway yet	✓ No metrology requirement
🇳🇿 NZ	No metrology regime, but retailer-classification risk if itemised	✓ Clearly outside retailer rules

The regulatory logic is identical everywhere: measurement-based pricing is regulated; measurement-free pricing is not. That’s why the pricing model you pick matters as much as the hardware you buy.

A practical checklist before you bill your first guest

Further reading

• How much should you charge guests for EV charging? — the pricing numbers behind both models
• Choosing an EV charger for your holiday let, B&B or small hotel — including the billing-meter question at purchase time
• The 3-pin problem — what happens when guests charge from your wall sockets instead

Sources

• Measuring Instruments Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/1153)
• GOV.UK — National regulation: gas and electricity meters
• GOV.UK — Measuring Instruments Regulations 2016: Great Britain (markings, CE/UKCA)
• Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/1467)
• GOV.UK — SSES Programme: first phase energy smart appliances regulations
• Ofgem — Reselling Gas and Electricity: call for input (October 2025)
• GOV.UK — Changes to EV chargepoint grant schemes from 1 April 2026
• NIST Handbook 44 §3.40 — Electric Vehicle Fueling Systems
• Measurement Canada — Electric vehicle charging stations
• Electric Vehicle Council — submission to NMI on EV charging metrology
• AER — Retail Exempt Selling Guideline v6
• NZ Electricity Authority — Consumer Care Obligations: retailer guidance

Nothing here is legal advice. Regulations were checked against the sources above on 6 July 2026; verify the current position before relying on any specific claim.