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1. Introduction to Flexible Pricing

CPO XYZ wants to price charging sessions at his charging points based on the following scenarios:

  • Scenario 1 -Time-based Pricing
  • Scenario 2 -Charging Facility based (i.e. maximum charging power related) Pricing
  • Scenario 3 -Location-based (EVSE-specific) Pricing
  • Scenario 4 -Location-and Time-based Pricing

By following the steps detailed below, CPO XYZ should be able to setup Authorization service offers with flexible pricing for EMPs:

General steps to be performed

Step 0: Preconditions:

  1. To be able to push pricing data to the HBS over webservice communication,CPO XYZ must implement the eRoamingDynamicPricing V1.0 webservice as specified in OICP 2.2.

    Note: the HBS 2.0 platform also provides the possibility for CPOs to upload pricing data over the HBS portal GUI. Thus, partners can alsoupload and downloadpricing data through the portalin case they have not implemented the OICP 2.2Dynamic Pricing webservice.

  2. CPO XYZmust define tariffs (referred to in the OICP as pricing products) in accordance with the OICP 2.2 specification for the operation "PushPricingProductData" (see chapter 3.5.1 of the OICP 2.2 Specification document).

Examples of how CPO XYZcan capture his tariff models in the "PricingProductData" payload structure required for transferring pricing data to the HBS using the eRoamingDynamicPricing service are provided below. These examples cover the various flexible pricing scenarios that can result from the above-mentioned use casesand combinations thereof (see the section "Samples -Operator tariff conversion into OICP Pricing Data payload" below).

Step 1: Create a service offer with the following characteristics in the HBS Portal (see https://support.hubject.com for a user guide on how to create service offers on the HBS Portal):

  • Service Type: Authorization
  • Offer Type: Offer-to-All
  • Pricing Model: Flexible/Dynamic (Please note that as per the eRoaming Contract, price changes need to be communicated 42 days in advance. Consequently, it is recommended that only flexible pricing is used for Offer-to-All service offers (i.e. Offer-to-All pricing cannot bechangeddynamically).

Step 2: Attach pdf file with offer details such as the business and legal terms and conditions (i.e.information to help EMPs understand the CPOs flexible pricing approach can be included. Actual prices and pricing products should not be included here but rather provided through the approach described in step 3 below).

Step 3: Decide on which HBS interface to use in uploading the pricing data. The options available are:

  • 3.1 Webservice upload: use the eRoamingDynamicPricing webservice to upload the pricing data by sending a "PushPricingProductData" request to the HBS (see the OICP 2.2 Specification document onhttps://www.hubject.com/downloads/oicp/for message details and structure)

    Note: to use the eRoamingDynamicPricing webservice for uploading pricing data, a service offer must have been created with Authorization as service type (i.e. Step 1 must be completed before step 3.1 can be performed).

  • 3.2 Portal GUI upload: upload the pricing data using the respective service offer created in Step 1(seehttps://support.hubject.comfor a user guide on how to create service offers with Flexible/Dynamic pricing as the chosen pricing model). The portal upload option supports csv files which must meet a specific format. Templates can be downloaded during the upload process in the portal to assist with the creation of files of the appropriate format (also, see the section "Pricing Data transfer through the HBS Portal"below for details ofthe required structure for csv files).

Note: irrespective of the upload interface used in Step 3, the precondition (ii) stated above in Step 0 must be met to enable a successful upload of the pricing data.

Step 4: For the initial pricing data upload, use the Action Type "FullLoad" or "Insert". In case the initial upload had data errors, the action type "update" can be used for corrective modifications of the data. The action type "delete" can also be to delete incorrect or outdated data records.For Flexible Pricing, the action types “Update” and “Delete” can only be used as long as the service offer has no subscribers. After the first subscription to the offer, prices can no longer be updated or deleted.

 The above steps can similarly be used to create a bilateral service offer (i.e. OfferTypein Step 1 above would be “Bilateral”instead of “Offer-to-all”) with flexible pricing. In this case, only the specific EMP(s) chosen by CPO XYZ as recipient(s) of the offer will be able to view and download the pricing data uploaded by CPO XYZ.

 With the above 4 steps, CPO XYZ would be able to create either an offer-to-all or bilateral service offer with flexible pricing of charging sessions. EMPs on the other hand will be able to view the offer and download the pricing data uploaded by the CPO.

EMPs can download the pricing data in the HBS Portal before subscribing to the offer. EMPs can however also use the eRoamingDynamicPricing webservice to pull (download) the data by sending a "PullPricingProductData" request to the HBS (see the OICP 2.2 Specification document for message details and structure). If an EMP wishes todownload the pricing data with a webservice request, then a subscription to the service offer by the EMP must be made prior to sending the webservice request. In other words, to be able to pull the pricing data uploaded by CPOs with a webservice request, EMPs will have to subscribe to the respective CPO’sflexible pricing service offer in the HBS portal.Without a valid subscription, the webservice request will not be processed by the HBS.

 

 

 

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