Charging at your holiday cottage: free, flat fee or per kWh?

One Friday evening, a couple from Ghent pulls up at your holiday cottage in an electric car. They ask whether they can plug in, you say yes, and on Sunday they leave with a full battery. The electricity stays on your bill. Nobody wants to talk kilowatt-hours while handing back the keys, so the same question comes back with every stay: should you give charging away, add a flat fee, or bill it per kWh?

Here are the figures to decide, then how to bill every kWh, even when your charger measures nothing.

How much does free charging cost you?

Start from the price of your electricity. Every quarter, the Belgian Federal Public Service Finance publishes an average all-in price for charging company cars at home. For Wallonia, it is 37.79 cents per kWh including VAT for the fourth quarter of 2026. In Flanders, it is 32.25 cents. Your own bill may differ by a few cents, but that is the order of magnitude.

Guests rarely run their battery flat before charging. Over a weekend, they often charge enough to get home and a bit more: 20 to 40 kWh. A large battery that arrives nearly empty can take 60.

A single charge does not weigh much. Ten stays a year by electric car, at 40 kWh each, still add up to about €150 of free electricity. And that share will grow: according to FEBIAC, 53.1% of company cars registered in Belgium in 2025 were electric, against 8.9% of cars bought by private buyers. Your guests in company cars more and more often arrive with a plug rather than a fuel tank.

Giving charging away

It is the simplest option, and it has real commercial value: many drivers pick where to stay based on whether they can charge on site, and a free charger looks good in a review.

The cost, though, is spread over all your guests, including those who arrive in a diesel. It rises with the share of electric cars, and you cannot plan for it. A 15 kWh charge every evening for a week comes to about €40 of electricity.

The flat fee

A flat fee of €10 or €15 per stay, added to the booking or paid on departure, sounds fair. It rarely is. The guest who charges 10 kWh pays as much as the one who takes 60: the fee is too expensive for one and loses you money on the other. You also have to ask for it, often on the morning of departure, while the keys change hands. Nobody enjoys that conversation.

Including charging in the nightly rate amounts to the same thing, less visibly: guests who don't charge pay for those who do.

Billing per kWh

It is the only option where everyone pays for what they use. The idea is familiar: the Gîtes de Wallonie booking platform even offers an extra fee called "Borne de recharge (prix par kWh)", a charger priced per kWh. What is usually missing is the measurement.

A connected, remotely controlled charger counts the kWh of each charge. Many cottage chargers are not connected: they charge perfectly well but report to nobody. To know what a guest used, you would have to read a sub-meter before and after their stay, do the maths and present the bill. Few owners keep up that routine.

Billing per kWh with an unconnected charger

PotatoCharge starts from the car rather than the charger. An electric car shows its battery level, and its battery capacity is known. Your current charger is therefore enough, whatever the brand (Wallbox, Easee, Zaptec, Alfen, ABB or another), even if it is connected to nothing.

For your guest, a charge goes like this:

1. they install the PotatoCharge app, create an account, then add their car and a bank card;
2. they book a time slot on your charger. Before confirming, the app shows an estimate with the expected energy, your price per kWh, the service fee and the total;
3. you receive the request and accept it from your phone. If you do not reply within 24 hours, it is cancelled and nothing is charged;
4. when plugging in, they enter in the app the battery level shown by the car, and take a photo of it;
5. before leaving, they do it again. The app works out the kWh from the difference and the battery capacity, then charges their card the exact amount.

The full flow is described in Charging between neighbours: how it works.

An example. The battery of a 77 kWh car goes from 30% to 80%: it received half its capacity, so 38.5 kWh. At €0.40 per kWh, your share is €15.40. The service fee is added to what your guest pays, and you receive your full price.

The photos serve as proof. The start and end of the charge are recorded with their time, and at the start the app checks that your guest is actually near the charger. If you disagree on an amount, you or your guest can dispute the charge within 7 days, and the PotatoCharge team decides.

If your guest forgets the final photo

The charge closes on its own two hours after the end of the booked slot. It is then billed as if the battery had reached 100%. Your guest is notified when their slot is over, and can dispute the amount within 7 days if they think they charged less.

What stays in your hands

• Your price per kWh, set freely for each time slot.
• Your time slots: you open the charger when you decide, for example only during stays.
• Every request, which you accept or decline.
• Your revenue: with an unconnected charger, you receive your full price. The service fee is paid by your guest.

You do not need to be there while they charge. If your charger unlocks with a badge, leave it with the cottage keys.

Your charger also appears on the PotatoCharge map, and other drivers can send you a request. You are free to decline, or to accept so the charger earns its keep between stays. For now, it cannot be restricted to your guests only: with an unconnected charger, your approval does the filtering.

What if your charger is connected?

A remotely controlled charger goes further. It measures the kWh itself, bookings are confirmed without you having to reply, and your guests can even charge without booking: they scan the QR code on a poster written in French, Dutch and English, and start from the app. It is all explained in our article on the open-access charger. In exchange for this remote control, a commission is deducted from your share.

Most recent chargers can be connected. So can a Powerdale Nexxtender, with a small box.

Guests driving a company car

An employee who charges their company car away from home can usually claim the actual cost back from their employer, with proof. Paying per kWh gives them a clear amount, separate from the price of the stay, and their history in the app keeps each charge with the energy delivered and the amount charged. What their employer accepts as proof is between them, but you spare them a flat fee they could never justify.

What price should you set?

Start from what a kWh costs you, around €0.38 in Wallonia, then add a margin for charging losses and wear on the charger. Then compare with the public network: around Namur, a slow public charger costs between €0.42 and €0.58 per kWh depending on the operator. Keep in mind that your guest sees a total price, service fee included, on your charger's page.

The right price covers your electricity without making your guest hesitate in front of the screen. You can adjust it slot by slot.

Before you start

• Your guest needs to install the app. It is available in French and English, not yet in Dutch. Let them know when you confirm the stay, or add a note to your welcome booklet, so they create their account before they arrive.
• Check with your insurer that the charger stays covered when a guest uses it.
• Charging revenue is income. How to declare it depends on your situation, in particular whether your cottage business is registered for VAT: ask your accountant.

Offer charging to your guests

Create your host account, add your charger, set your price and open your time slots. Your next guests in an electric car will pay for their charging per kWh, without you having to bring it up on departure day. Do you run several cottages, or is your charger connected? Discover the offer for business hosts, or get in touch.

Become a host

Frequently asked questions