Who controls your charging data? One year of the Data Act

Since 1 January 2026, every kWh you charge at home is worth money. That means something new: whoever controls your charging data controls your earnings. And that is exactly where things still regularly go wrong in the charging market.

Since last year it is simply your right

On 12 September 2025, the EU Data Act took effect. It gives you, as the user of a connected product, the right to the data that product generates about your use. A charger is such a product. You may request that data and have it forwarded to a party you choose. Since 21 November 2025, the ACM (the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets) supervises this in the Netherlands. For personal data, this right has existed for longer through the GDPR.

The law has now been in place for a year. Practice lags behind. These are the patterns to watch for.

Pattern 1: tied selling

Some providers tie your ERE payment to their own ecosystem. You only get the payment if you also take their charger, their charging subscription, their energy contract and their app.

None of that is prohibited. But call it what it is: a payment that legally belongs to your connection is used to tie you to a bundle. Switch away from one part, and you lose everything.

Pattern 2: the multi-year contract

A second pattern: a lower fee in exchange for a longer term. Some registration providers charge 25 to 27.5% in year one. They only give a lower rate if you commit for three or even five years. That sounds like a discount, but you pay with your right to cancel. You lock in your EAN, your authorisation and your data for that whole period. And that while the ERE market is one year old and rates are still moving a lot.

We think it should be the other way round: a good service does not need to lock you in. That is why Joulo is cancellable annually, and why our fee drops the longer you choose to stay. You can see which provider uses which term in our comparison overview.

Pattern 3: one door

The third pattern appears at charging platforms that book sessions themselves or have one fixed registration partner. On paper you may choose. In practice there is only one party the platform connects with. A connection you gave to another registration provider then suddenly stops working, for example after a mandatory password reset.

That clashes with the Data Act. You decide who works with your charging data, not the platform your charger happens to run on. That is what we call an open charging market.

Pattern 4: a price on your data

The newest pattern comes from manufacturers. A brand charges the registration provider an amount per charger per month for access to your charging sessions. Through your provider's terms, that amount ends up on your statement, even in months when you charge nothing.

The Data Act says that sharing with the party you choose is free for you. A fee charged to a small business as the data recipient may not exceed the direct costs. That is why we offer every brand the same standard agreement: public, equal for everyone, and with no price on your data.

What you can do yourself

1. Request your data. Session history, kWh, timestamps. Since September 2025 that has been your right, not a favour. If you do not get it, you can file a report with the ACM.
2. Before you buy a charger, check whether it opens up its data. Our compatibility check shows for each brand whether there is an open connection.
3. Always recalculate a multi-year discount. What does it cost you if the market moves and you are locked in for three years?
4. Compare providers on freedom, not just on fee. See our comparison overview.

Choose this autumn

Your authorisation applies per calendar year, per connection. Do you want another registration provider to book your 2027 charging sessions? Then arrange it this autumn. Pay special attention to your notice period: it often runs out before 1 January.

Where we stand

Our starting point is in Your charging data is yours: an authorisation is not a transfer of ownership. At Joulo you export your sessions whenever you want (CSV or PDF). You load your data into your own systems through a personal API. You can cancel annually, and you take your data with you when you leave. That is how it should be, and since the Data Act it is also how it must be.

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Sources: ACM on supervising the Data Act • European Commission on the Data Act