The AMB approves the new regulation for electric charging points

The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) has definitively approved the new Regulation of the metropolitan service of charging points for electric vehicles, along with a change in the management method of the service. The agreement, adopted by the Metropolitan Council in the ordinary session of May 26, 2026, is published in full in the Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona (BOPB) on August 27, 2026, with the official reference CVE 202610134935 and file 903266/26.

A regulation that renews a ten-year service

The metropolitan charging point service was definitively established on December 22, 2015, and its regulation was published in the BOPB on May 4, 2021. Between 2015 and 2017, the first ten charging stations were installed, distributed across ten metropolitan municipalities, with a service that was initially free for users. During 2023 and 2024, the network was expanded with forty-five new charging points, the improvement of equipment at the ten initial charging stations, and an increase in the supplied power.

The new text, which consists of twenty-seven articles distributed across six titles, in addition to one additional provision, one repealing provision, and one final provision, adapts to the current state and European regulatory framework, among which Regulation (EU) 2023/1804, Royal Decree 184/2022, and Law 9/2025 on sustainable mobility stand out. The regulation repeals the previous one, approved in 2015, once it enters into force.

Change of management and interoperability

The agreement also approves the change in the management method of the service, which will take effect once the contract with the current operator, IBERDROLA CLIENTES, SAU, expires and the procedures to execute the service in the new planned form are completed. The text incorporates the conditions of access and use, which until now were in a separate document, and advocates for the interoperability of the network with other electric mobility providers.

Users will be able to access the service in several ways:

• Without prior registration, through the physical or virtual payment terminals of the station.
• With prior registration, via the AMB Electrolineres mobile application, the website, in person, or with RFID cards.
• In all cases, a valid means of payment (credit or debit card) must be provided.

The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and each piece of equipment has a maximum usage time to guarantee its availability. When the manager signs interoperability agreements with other networks, users will be able to use these points with the same mobile application.

A renewed sanctioning regime

The regulation establishes a sanctioning regime with three degrees of infractions. Minor infractions include, for example, exceeding the maximum charging time or occupying a space without starting the charge; serious infractions include the improper handling of equipment or the transfer of the RFID card; and very serious infractions include acts of vandalism, sabotage, or manipulation of the stations’ software.

Financial penalties range from 100 to 3,000 euros:

• Minor infractions: fine from 100 to 750 euros.
• Serious infractions: fine from 751 to 1,500 euros.
• Very serious infractions: fine from 1,501 to 3,000 euros, with the possibility of permanent removal from the service.

As precautionary measures, the offender’s account may be blocked, temporarily or permanently, and the vehicle may be removed from the public road by tow truck in case of improper occupation.

Impact on metropolitan mobility

The agreement has been forwarded to the 36 metropolitan city councils and to IBERDROLA CLIENTES, SAU, for their information. The new regulation, which will enter into force the day after its publication in the BOPB, reinforces the regulation of a key service for the electric mobility of millions of users in the metropolitan area, in a context of growth in the electric vehicle fleet and the expansion of low-emission zones.

Fuente: Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona, no. August 27, 2026, local administration section, pp. 1-22 (official reference: CVE 202610134935, file 903266/26).