Randomised delay is a requirement in Great Britain’s Smart Charge Points Regulations. When a smart charge point is due to start charging, or to change its charging rate, it first waits for a randomly chosen delay of up to 600 seconds, picked fresh each time. The pause spreads thousands of chargers across minutes instead of one simultaneous switch-on. The owner can cancel it to charge straight away.
Key Takeaways
- Randomised delay makes a GB smart charge point wait a random period of up to 600 seconds before starting or changing rate.
- It exists so mass off-peak starts spread over minutes instead of landing on the grid in the same second.
- The owner can cancel it; it also steps aside during demand-side response services.
- It is built in by the manufacturer — verify it through the seller’s statement of compliance, not at installation.
Why the Delay Exists: the Stacked-Start Problem
Smart charging coordinates drivers: off-peak tariffs start at the same minute for everyone, and charge points come with a default schedule avoiding the peak hours the regulations define (weekday mornings and evenings). The problem: if a whole street’s chargers begin at the exact moment the cheap period opens, the local network sees one sudden step in demand rather than a gentle ramp.
Randomised delay is the fix written into the same rules. Each charge point draws its own delay, to the nearest second, so a thousand chargers “due” at once start across a window of up to ten minutes. No driver notices a few minutes on an overnight charge, but the grid sees a slope instead of a cliff. The regulations attach the delay to rate changes as well as starts, for the same reason.
What the Regulations Actually Require
The rule sits inside the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021, which govern private charge points sold in Great Britain. As of October 2026:
| Point | What the regulations say |
|---|---|
| Applied delay | The charge point operates with a delay of up to 600 seconds, of a random duration determined to the nearest second. |
| Built-in capability | Capable of up to 1,800 seconds, with that maximum adjustable remotely over a communications network. |
| Relevant moments | When electricity would start flowing, or its rate would change. |
| Owner’s escape hatch | The owner must be able to cancel the delay. |
| When it does not apply | Where the delay has been overridden, where an equivalent delay has already been applied, or during demand-side response services. |
Two details matter for buyers. The delay is built into the charge point at manufacture and sale — not something an installer wires in or an app adds later. And it works alongside the separate default-charging-hours rule, which the owner can edit or remove: the defaults aim the starts, the delay smooths them.
What You Notice as a Driver
In daily life the feature is almost invisible. You plug in, or your schedule reaches its start time, and charging begins a few minutes later than the clock time you set; the car still finishes inside an overnight window.
When you need power now, use the override: a boost or “charge now” control in the app, or the cancel the regulations require. Overriding once does not disable the feature. A charger that regularly waits far longer, or never starts, is faulty, not delayed — contact the manufacturer. Our comparison of smart versus non-smart EV chargers explains the wider set of behaviours the GB rules assume.
Buying a Charger for a GB Home
Because the delay is configured by the manufacturer, the buyer’s job is verification, not setup. A charge point sold for a GB home should come with the seller’s statement of compliance, covering the randomised delay. EVDANCE’s EV-ACT3204PE 22 kW wallbox (three-phase, Type 2, RFID and app, CE) and the EV-ACS3210E 32A Type 2 portable charger are app-controlled units of the kind these rules cover, but no EVDANCE product page states compliance with the Smart Charge Points Regulations. Before buying for the GB market, ask the seller in writing whether the exact model and firmware, as sold in Great Britain, meets them — and keep the statement of compliance. The marking side of the same purchase is covered in our guide to UKCA versus CE for chargers sold in Great Britain.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the delay always ten minutes?
No — 600 seconds is the maximum. The delay is random each time, to the nearest second: one start may wait twenty seconds, the next seven minutes.
Can I turn randomised delay off?
You can cancel or override it when you need an immediate charge — the regulations require that ability. Permanent disabling depends on the model; check the manual.
Does randomised delay apply to public chargers?
No. The regulations govern private charge points sold in Great Britain. Public charging sits under a different framework.
Related Reading
- Smart vs Non-Smart EV Chargers: What Installers Actually Want
- UKCA vs CE for EV Chargers Sold in Great Britain
- EV Charger Certifications Explained: CE, UKCA, UL, ETL, CB and What Buyers Should Ask For
