PSP & clearing: who counts and processes the charging sessions?

The numbers you can't see, but which pay for every charging stop

The PSP and the clearing house are the invisible part of your charging session: a payment service provider for your debit/credit card at the station (CPO role) and a settlement system that keeps the accounts of everyone involved in the background.

1. What a PSP (Payment Service Provider) does

The PSP (Payment Service Provider) is what runs in the background as soon as you plug a credit or debit card into the station — or pay contactlessly: it handles the financial transfer of money from your account to the charging-infrastructure operator's account.

There are mainly three providers common in Germany and Europe:

2. How a PSP participates in a charging session

When you charge at a station with direct card payment (e.g., at an IONITY station), the following happens:

  1. Card input: you insert your Visa/Mastercard into the card reader at the station.
  2. Authentication by the PSP: the station transmits the card data via a backend to the PSP for a short time, in order to guarantee that your account is active and has enough funds.
  3. Synchronizing the charge: when you are charging, the PSP receives the current power in real time. It briefly stores how much electricity was charged.
  4. Payment instruction after the charging session ends: at the end of the charging session the station sends an end-of-transaction instruction to the PSP — the amount is charged.

3. The difference between a PSP and a CPO

Aspect The CPO of the station is A PSP is a payment service provider
Task Operates the station (hardware/software/maintenance), sets the price of the charging point. Settles charging-session payments via credit/debit or mobile wallets (Visa, Mastercard).
Visibility At the station — on the screen in the charge point. Never: it works in the background and is invisible to you as a user.

4. What a clearing house does

A clearing house is the "computing center" behind e-Roaming connections between a CPO and an eMSP: it simplifies settlement for both sides. This happens in the background when, e.g., you charge at an IONITY station with an EnBW charging card:

  1. You have a contract with the same roaming platform and the connection is valid.
  2. The eMSP passes the charging session via the clearing house to the CPO. e.clearing, in English, for the German market: it counts the charging sessions of all stations between the respective CPOs and eMSPs and bundles them into a settlement that you see as one electricity cost (e.g., "EnBW" or "ADAC") in your bill.
  3. e.clearing settles the electricity: how much did the eMSP charge at the CPO's stations? E.g., 10 kWh at 24 ¢ per kWh — that is 240 ¢ for you, the end customer. The eMSP is paid (or charged) for it.

5. Summary: PSP & clearing at a glance

Term Keyword Do you see it?
PSP Payment No — invisible behind your bank account.
e.clearing Settlement / clearing for CPO and eMSP transactions in Germany No — it only appears on the interim statement as a total.
CPO Charging-point operator Yes, at the stations at the wallbox.
eMSP Charging-card provider (your contract) Yes: in your app and on your monthly bill.

6. To read next

CPO & eMSP explained simply (Part 1) · What is OCPP? · e-Roaming: how charging cards connect all networks · Next: What does ad-hoc charging mean?

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Sources

  1. Bundesnetzagentur: price-transparency obligations and e-Roaming without extra cost.
  2. National charging-infra service: glossary of the roaming platforms.
  3. e.clearing GmbH: the German clearing house for the background electricity settlement.