Best EV tariffs in the UK, compared

The tariffs compared, cheapest off-peak rate first

Every rate below was read on a supplier page, a tariff label or the supplier’s public API on 10 October 2026. The table only lists tariffs that publish an off-peak rate.

A few rows need a health warning. Pod Power (6.18p) is only for Pod charger owners, and the Octopus EV Saver (6.6p) only for people who lease their car through Octopus EV. Good Energy’s 8.00p is derived from its 15 September label price of 8.40p including 5% VAT, at today’s 0% VAT. E.ON Next Drive Smart’s 8.1p is 8.095p exactly. ScottishPower (8.5p) and So Energy (7.5p) do not say which VAT basis they quote. OVO’s 13.33p is an add-on credit for the car, not a whole-home rate. The variable Octopus Go row (8.21p) is still in Octopus’s API, but Octopus says it is only selling fixed rates now. Ecotricity is missing because its night rate varies by region, from 7.66p to 8.39p.

Outfox, Fuse and Sainsbury’s Energy publish no off-peak rate on pages we could read. Agile Octopus and the Octopus Power Pack are not fixed-rate products; our Octopus EV tariffs comparison covers both.

Which tariff suits your situation

You have a charger or car that works with Intelligent Octopus Go

Intelligent Octopus Go is the cheapest tariff that most drivers with a smart setup can join, at 7.6p for the car whenever Octopus schedules it. Octopus lists over 280 cars, and chargers including Ohme, Hypervolt, myenergi zappi, Andersen and Indra. If both car and charger qualify, Octopus connects to the car by default because it reports the real battery level. Octopus says typical customers on the fixed version saved £771 between May 2025 and April 2026 against its standard variable tariff. That is Octopus’s figure, not ours, and your saving depends on your own use.

You have no smart integration

Choose a fixed-window tariff and set the timer yourself. EDF GoElectric has the lowest rate and the longest window. Octopus Go costs 9.5p for five hours (00:30 to 05:30), and Octopus’s Go page says no charger is needed. E.ON Next Drive is 9.53p for six hours with no exit fee. British Gas EV Power is 9.5p from 00:00 to 05:00, but British Gas does not publish its day rate, standing charge or exit-fee amount without a quote.

You drive a Tesla

Tesla sits in the “Universal” group on Octopus’s list, so Intelligent Octopus Go pairs with the car directly and allows several cars. E.ON Next Drive Smart lists Model 3, S, X and Y. EDF needs nothing: set the Tesla’s own schedule to 23:00 to 06:00. Tesla’s own energy arm has reportedly been licensed to supply (March 2026), but we found no UK tariff launched.

You have solar and a battery

Intelligent Octopus Go bills what your smart meter imports, so solar that charges the car is not billed, and Octopus works with Outgoing Octopus and the Smart Export Guarantee. Octopus advises letting surplus solar export rather than diverting it to the car, and “blinding” a home battery to the charger. The trade-off is that IOG enrols you in a flexibility service, so you cannot join a second one for your battery. Octopus says IOG usually beats its Flux tariff if you have solar, a battery and an EV. Our solar EV charging guide covers the charger side.

You drive a lot

Six hours at 7.4kW is about 44 kWh, or roughly 148 miles at 0.301 kWh a mile, inside Intelligent Octopus Go’s cap. Octopus says over 80% of charging sessions take under six hours. Beyond six hours, or on a “boost”, the car reverts to the day rate. EDF’s seven hours at 7.4kW gives about 52 kWh (172 miles). If you cannot charge at home, public rapid charging at 79p/kWh is 23.8p a mile, dearer than petrol at 19.9p.

You are home in the day, or your window is short

Low mileage and daytime use are where EV tariffs backfire. The window length also matters with a slow charger: five hours on a 3-pin socket at about 2.3kW is roughly 11.5 kWh (38 miles), while EDF’s seven hours is about 16 kWh (53 miles). If you cannot shift much use to the night, consider the add-ons that credit only the car: OVO Charge Anytime (13.33p pay as you go, 4.0p a mile), ScottishPower EV Optimise (8p ex VAT any time except 4pm to 8pm, not with time-of-use tariffs), or Hive Power+ (25% off car charging with a compatible British Gas charger).

You rent or might move

Exit fees differ: Octopus £50, EDF £75, Good Energy £75, Ecotricity £95.24, ScottishPower £50 per fuel (waived if you move home). E.ON Next Drive, UW and the OVO add-on have none. Sainsbury’s Energy says none apply, but publishes no rate. You must be the bill payer to switch, and you need a smart meter.

Smart tariff or fixed window: what is the difference?

A smart tariff gives the supplier control of when your car charges. In return, every kWh the car draws is billed at the cheap rate, even if charging happens at 2pm. Intelligent Octopus Go and E.ON Next Drive Smart work like this, with the whole home also getting the cheap rate while the car charges. OVO’s Charge Anytime and EDF’s Smart Charging bolt-on (£5 a month, £60 a year, while you use the schedule) are add-ons in the same family.

A fixed-window tariff gives you cheap electricity in set hours, whatever you plug in. EDF, Octopus Go, E.ON Next Drive, British Gas, Good Energy, So, Ecotricity, UW and ScottishPower all work this way. You set the timer in the car or charger and nothing else needs to be compatible.

Two gotchas. UW, Ecotricity and ScottishPower state their cheap window in GMT, which on most meters means 01:00 to 06:00 on the clock in British Summer Time, so reset car timers when the clocks change. And E.ON says it can remove you from Next Drive Smart if you do not use smart charging consistently.

How day rates and standing charges change the maths

The night rate is the headline, but the day rate and standing charge hit the whole house. Take a home using 2,500 kWh a year (Ofgem’s medium household figure) and a driver covering 9,400 miles (the DfT average for a battery-electric car in England), which is 2,829 kWh at 0.301 kWh a mile. The arithmetic for Intelligent Octopus Go, using the average of its 14 regional rates, is:

• House: 2,500 kWh × 36.70p day rate = £917.50
• Car: 2,829 kWh × 7.6p = £215.04
• Standing charge: 365 days × 54.34p = £198.34
• Total: £1,331 a year, against £1,603 on the price cap (5,329 kWh × 26.32p plus 365 × 54.83p).

Three lessons. First, the cheapest night rate does not always win: UW’s Double Gold has a day rate nearly 7p lower than Intelligent Octopus Go, which makes it cheaper overall for this household, though it needs three or more UW services and is variable. Second, shifting household use into the night window pays: moving 30% of house use there cuts £170 to £220 off these tariffs, close to the £272 the car saves on Intelligent Octopus Go. Third, EDF, E.ON, British Gas, So, ScottishPower and Pod do not publish a full day rate and standing charge without a postcode quote, so we cannot compare them fairly. Ask for a full quote before you commit.

The break-even for Intelligent Octopus Go against the capped standard tariff is about 4,570 miles a year if none of the house’s 2,500 kWh moves to the night. Below that, the day rate costs more than the car saves. Our charging cost calculator shows the per-car side, and the cost-to-charge guide breaks it down by battery size.

What happens when VAT returns in April 2027

Domestic electricity in Great Britain is zero-rated for VAT from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, according to HMRC. Northern Ireland stays at 5%. Public chargepoint electricity is always standard-rated at 20%, so public charging gets no relief.

If the zero rate lapses on the same pre-VAT prices, every home rate rises 5%. That is our derivation, not a supplier announcement. Intelligent Octopus Go would go from 7.6p to 7.98p, EDF GoElectric from 6.66p to 6.99p, and Octopus Go from 9.5p to 9.98p. Per mile, Intelligent Octopus Go moves from 2.29p to 2.40p and the price cap rate from 7.92p to 8.32p. For a 9,400-mile year on Intelligent Octopus Go, that is about £215 becoming £226. Octopus says it passed the cut on “from day one, even if they’re on a fixed tariff”; Ofgem says suppliers apply it automatically to fixed deals. The price cap for 1 January to 31 March 2027 had not been published on 10 October.

If you sign a 12-month fixed tariff now, it will run past March 2027. Budget for the 5%.

How to switch

1. 1

   Check your smart meter

   You need a SMETS2 meter, or a Secure SMETS1 meter for Octopus, sending half-hourly readings. Daily or monthly readings are not enough for Intelligent Octopus Go.

2. 2

   Check your car and charger

   For Intelligent Octopus Go and E.ON Next Drive Smart, use the supplier checker. Fixed-window tariffs need nothing beyond an EV you charge at home.

3. 3

   Join the supplier on a standard tariff first1 to 4 weeks

   Octopus, EDF, British Gas, E.ON and So all start new customers on a standard tariff, then move you once the meter reports. Octopus takes about 14 days to connect; E.ON up to 2 weeks; EDF fits a meter in 2 to 4 weeks.

4. 4

   Accept the terms and connect your car or charger

   Smart tariffs need the supplier app and permission to control charging. Switch off any schedule already set in the car or charger.

5. 5

   Set the timer and read the exit fee

   On a fixed window, set the car or charger to the cheap hours. Note the exit fee and the end date of the fix before you sign.

Prices move fast: E.ON Next Drive Smart went from 6.9p to 8.095p in seven weeks. We recheck this page monthly.