European Parliament (TRAN) policy study on OPS
Sustainable Ships supported an independent study assessing the fairness and transparency of EV charging and shore power pricing under EU regulation.
Project summary
As part of a European Parliament study led by FIER Sustainable Mobility, Sustainable Ships co-authored an assessment of pricing and price transparency for e-charging and onshore power supply (OPS), contributing the analysis of shore power pricing in EU ports. The work examined how OPS tariffs are structured across European ports under AFIR and FuelEU Maritime, finding that shore power is typically supplied under monopoly conditions with no common EU pricing standard, which creates a clear risk of unreasonable and hard-to-compare tariffs.
The study sets out recommendations for transparent OPS pricing and fair cost-recovery models that do not penalise early adopters or short-stay vessels, helping preserve the competitiveness of EU ports as shore power use becomes mandatory from 2030.
The study was prepared for the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN), reference PE 759.345. Sustainable Ships led the onshore power supply analysis, covering how OPS is priced across EU ports, why the natural-monopoly character of ports and the absence of an EU pricing standard create a risk of unreasonable and poorly comparable tariffs, and how shipowners weigh OPS against onboard generation when regulatory costs such as EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime are not fully internalised. The result is a set of concrete policy recommendations for transparent, comparable OPS pricing as shore power use becomes mandatory for many vessels from 2030.
Key highlights
Average disclosed price around €0.25/kWh, with a wide spread. Across EU sites that publish a volumetric tariff, shore power averages roughly €0.25/kWh and ranges from €0.18 to €0.51/kWh.
Three pricing models dominate. Where the tariff structure is disclosed, OPS pricing splits into volumetric (63%), fixed-plus-volumetric (27%), and long-term contractual (11%).
Nearly 80% of sites publish no pricing at all. Pricing structure is undisclosed at 79% of the 200+ shore power connection points catalogued, the exact transparency gap the European Parliament study flags as a risk of unreasonable pricing.
“[The study] identifies policy options to improve consumer protection, fairness and investment conditions.”