Electric car owners can currently charge their vehicles for free, however the ESB is introducing charges starting in January.
The issue was raised at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications and Transport today.
The Irish Electric Vehicles Owners Association said that once all the planned charges are introduced, electric cars could be as expensive to run as Diesel ones.
Denis O’Leary, Innovation Manager with the ESB, told Newstalk Lunchtime today that: "We actually have more cars now than we have charging posts.
"A lot of this had to be developed from scratch, there isn't any country that we could just copy because this reasonably new technology.
"It costs money to keep this thing up and going, to maintain and repair it," he added.
From January 2016, all new owners will be charged a monthly fee of €17. However, the same charge will kick in for existing owners from April.
"For that €17, you get access to all 800 standard charging points and the charging is free," Mr O'Leary explained.
"You also get access to the 60 or 70 fast chargers and the charger is 30 cent per minute."
