Best EV Tariffs UK: EV Energy Rates and Savings Compared

An EV energy tariff gives you a heavily discounted electricity rate overnight, typically around 8p per kWh against a standard rate of 26.11p, in exchange for a daytime rate that is the same as or higher than normal. For a driver covering 8,000 miles a year, shifting charging into that window saves roughly £400 a year on the electricity used by the car.

The catch is that the saving depends entirely on how much of your usage you can move overnight. This guide compares the tariffs available, shows what charging actually costs, and is honest about who should not switch.

What Is an EV Energy Tariff?

An EV energy tariff is a time-of-use tariff: the price you pay per unit of electricity changes depending on the time of day. It gives a cheap rate during an overnight window, usually four to six hours between about 11pm and 7am, and a standard or elevated rate the rest of the time.

The trade is straightforward. You get a very low overnight rate, and in return you accept a higher daytime rate than you would pay on a standard tariff.

Two things follow from that, and both are commonly misunderstood:

• The saving comes from shifting load, not from being on the tariff. If you cannot charge overnight, an EV tariff will cost you money rather than save it.
• On most EV tariffs, the cheap rate applies to your whole home, not just the car. Running the dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer inside the window adds to the saving.

EV Tariffs Compared

The table below covers the main EV tariffs available in the UK, ordered by estimated annual saving rather than by headline off-peak rate, because those two things are not the same, as the figures show.

Rates correct as of August 2026. Estimated annual savings assume all EV charging takes place inside the off-peak window; your actual saving depends on your mileage, your total household electricity use and how much of it you can shift overnight. Standing charges shown are for electricity. EV tariffs change frequently, always confirm the current rate with the supplier before switching.

Note also that several tariffs specify their window in GMT. When the clocks go forward for British Summer Time at the end of March, the cheap window shifts an hour later in clock time, so a 12am–5am window becomes 1am–6am. If your charger runs on a timer rather than smart dispatch, check this with your supplier each spring, or you will spend part of the summer charging at the peak rate.

What to compare, and in what order

The peak rate matters as much as the off-peak rate. Every EV tariff charges above the price cap during the day, but by very different margins, the table above ranges from 27.16p to 34.32p per kWh against a capped 26.11p. On a household using 2,500 kWh a year outside the window, the difference between the best and worst peak rate is around £180 annually, which can swallow a large part of the charging saving.

Smart dispatch versus a fixed window. Smart tariffs let the supplier schedule charging inside the cheapest half-hours, and can add bonus cheap slots when the grid is greener. They require a compatible car or charger. Fixed-window tariffs generally work with any EV and charger because you control the timing yourself, although the supplier may still impose eligibility and smart meter requirements.

Whole home or car only. Most EV tariffs apply the cheap rate to everything you use in the window. A few apply it only to the car. The whole-home version is considerably more valuable if you can move appliance use overnight.

Standing charge and exit fees. Both vary, and both are easy to overlook when the headline rate is doing the talking.

How Much Does It Cost to Charge an EV at Home?

The calculation is simply battery size multiplied by your unit rate. The figures below use an off-peak rate of 8p per kWh against the current capped rate of 26.11p.

Range assumes 3.5 miles per kWh, a realistic real-world average for UK mixed driving. Efficient cars in mild weather do better; large cars in winter do worse.

Cost per mile

This is the number worth remembering, because it makes every comparison easy.

Petrol figure assumes £1.35 per litre. Public charging rates vary widely by network and speed; slower public chargers are considerably cheaper than rapid ones.

Two things stand out. Home charging on an EV tariff is roughly a tenth the cost of public rapid charging, which is why home charging is the single biggest factor in EV running costs, far more than the choice of car. And an EV on a standard tariff still beats petrol comfortably, so the tariff is an optimisation rather than the thing that makes an EV cheap to run.

How Much Could You Save on an EV Tariff?

Saving on charging alone

Every kWh you move from the capped rate to an 8p off-peak rate saves 18.1p.

Assumes 3.5 miles per kWh and all charging done at home inside the off-peak window.

The part most guides leave out

Those figures are only half the sum. If your EV tariff charges more than the cap during the day, you also pay a penalty on all your normal household electricity.

Take a tariff with a 33.72p peak rate against the capped 26.11p, a premium of 7.6p per kWh. A household using 2,500 kWh a year outside the window pays about £190 more for that ordinary usage.

Put the two together:

The breakeven rule

Most EV drivers clear that easily, charging a car is a large load. Plug-in hybrid owners, low-mileage drivers and households that cannot shift appliance use overnight often do not.

How to improve the odds

• Choose a tariff with a peak rate close to the cap. The best peak rates on the market sit around 27–28p rather than 34p, which substantially reduces the penalty. If your household uses a lot of daytime electricity, this matters more than the headline off-peak rate.
• Move appliances into the window. On whole-home tariffs, running the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer overnight adds meaningfully to the off-peak share.
• Check the window length. A six-hour window at 7kW delivers around 42 kWh, enough to fill most batteries from near-empty. A four-hour window delivers 28 kWh, which may not be enough.

Do You Need a Smart Meter for an EV Tariff?

The reason is mechanical rather than commercial: charging you different rates at different times requires half-hourly readings, and only a smart meter produces those.

SMETS1 and SMETS2 meters

SMETS2 is the current generation and is designed to remain smart when you switch supplier. It will normally support time-of-use tariffs, provided the supplier can communicate with it and receive half-hourly readings.

SMETS1 is the earlier generation, installed up to around 2019. Many have since been enrolled into the national Data Communications Company network and now function like SMETS2 meters, but some do not support the half-hourly settlement that EV tariffs need. If you have a SMETS1 meter, ask your supplier whether it has been enrolled and whether it supports time-of-use tariffs before you commit.

If you do not have a smart meter

Contact your supplier and request an installation. It is free, and most suppliers will book it directly through their app or website. Waiting times vary by region and supplier but are commonly a few weeks.

If you are about to take delivery of an EV, start this early, the meter is the long pole, not the tariff switch.

Single Rate vs Time-of-Use: Which Suits You?

An EV tariff is one example of a broader category, and understanding the category helps you judge whether it fits.

A single rate tariff charges the same price per unit whenever you use it. Simple, predictable, and what most households are on.

A time-of-use tariff varies the price by time of day, rewarding you for using electricity when demand on the grid is low. EV tariffs are the most aggressive version of this, but they are not the only one.

Economy 7 is the original

Economy 7 has offered cheaper overnight electricity since the 1970s, designed originally for storage heaters. It still exists and still works on the same principle.

The differences from an EV tariff are worth knowing:

• Economy 7 off-peak rates are much less aggressive — typically around half the day rate rather than a third of it
• Economy 7 windows are longer, usually seven hours, but fixed by the meter rather than the supplier’s app
• Economy 7 raises the day rate substantially, which is why it suits homes that use most of their electricity overnight and punishes those that do not

See our guides to Economy 7 and Economy 10 for more.

Where this is heading

The same logic that makes an EV tariff work applies to anything with a large, shiftable load:

• Heat pumps, which can pre-heat a well-insulated home overnight
• Home batteries, which charge cheaply overnight and discharge during the day
• Solar with export, where time-of-use rates interact with what you are paid to export

If you are considering any of these, an EV tariff is often the entry point to a wider set of savings, and worth choosing with that in mind rather than for the car alone.

How to Switch to an EV Tariff

1. Check your smart meter first. No smart meter, no EV tariff. If you do not have one, request installation before you do anything else.
2. Check compatibility if you want a smart tariff. Smart-dispatch tariffs require a specific list of compatible vehicles or chargers — commonly Ohme, Hypervolt, Zappi, Indra, Easee and some others. If yours is not on the list, a fixed-window tariff will work with any hardware.
3. Compare both rates and the standing charge. Work out your likely split between off-peak and peak usage, then run the numbers for each tariff with our EV tariff calculator. The cheapest overnight rate is frequently not the cheapest annual cost.
4. Check the exit fee and contract length. Some EV tariffs have no exit fee; others charge £50 or more per fuel. This market moves quickly, so flexibility has real value.
5. Apply directly with the supplier. EV tariffs are not available through comparison sites, so you go to the supplier to sign up. Some are open only to existing customers, which means joining them on a standard tariff first and then requesting the move, allow a few extra weeks if that applies. Your supply is never interrupted at any point.

FAQs

What is the cheapest EV tariff in the UK?

The cheapest off-peak rates currently sit around 7–9p per kWh, with Octopus Energy, Utility Warehouse and So Energy among the most competitive on the overnight rate. The cheapest headline rate is not always the cheapest overall — a tariff with a higher peak rate can cost more annually if you use a lot of daytime electricity.

How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

On an EV tariff at around 8p per kWh, a full charge costs roughly £3 for a small car, £4.80 for a mid-size one and £6 for a large one. That works out at about 2.3p per mile. On a standard capped tariff at 26.11p per kWh, the same charges cost around £10, £16 and £20.

Do I need a smart meter for an EV tariff?

Yes. Every EV tariff in the UK requires a working smart meter, because charging different rates at different times needs half-hourly readings. A SMETS2 meter works with all suppliers. Some older SMETS1 meters do not support time-of-use tariffs, so check with your supplier first.

Are EV tariffs worth it for low mileage drivers?

Often not. A driver covering 5,000 miles a year saves around £259 on charging, but if the tariff’s peak rate sits well above the price cap, the penalty on normal household usage can exceed that. Look for a tariff with a peak rate close to the cap, or stay on a standard tariff.

Can I get an EV tariff with a plug-in hybrid?

Usually yes, but the saving is much smaller. A plug-in hybrid has a battery of around 10–18 kWh and covers far fewer electric miles, so less of your usage shifts overnight. Check whether you would clear the roughly 30% off-peak threshold before switching.

What happens if I use electricity outside the off-peak window?

You pay the tariff’s peak rate, which on many EV tariffs is higher than the standard price cap. This is the trade-off that makes the cheap overnight rate possible. On most EV tariffs, the off-peak rate applies to your whole home, so moving appliance use into the window reduces how much you pay at peak.

Conclusion

Every EV tariff makes the same trade: a very cheap overnight rate in exchange for a more expensive daytime one. Whether that works for you depends on two things — how many miles you drive, and how much of your household electricity you can move into the overnight window.

For a driver covering 8,000 miles a year with average household usage, the net saving is around £220 a year, and considerably more at higher mileage. For a low-mileage driver with heavy daytime usage, it can be a net loss.

Work out roughly how much of your electricity would fall in the window. If it is comfortably over 30%, an EV tariff is almost certainly worth having. If it is marginal, choose one with a peak rate close to the price cap so the downside is limited.

EV tariffs are arranged directly with the supplier rather than through a comparison journey, so the useful preparation is knowing your numbers before you apply. Our EV tariff calculator will tell you whether a single rate or an EV tariff works out cheaper for your usage, and the electricity cost calculator shows what your household appliances cost to run and when.

Most EV tariffs are electricity-only, so if your home has gas you will still need a separate gas tariff — and that one you can compare in the usual way.

Last updated: 3 August 2026. Standard rate comparisons use the Ofgem price cap for 1 July to 30 September 2026 (26.11p per kWh). EV tariff rates change frequently and are reviewed monthly.