Best EV home charging tariffs 2024 reviewed: the best EV tariffs for your car
If you charge your electric car at home, switching your home electricity provider could save you thousands. Here’s everything you need to know...
With the energy price cap about to rise, the cost of charging up your EV at home is also likely to increase. From 1 October 2024 the maximum price per unit of electricity will rise from 22.26p to 24.50p, and the standing charge will go from 60.12p to 60.99p. For an average household, this will mean their annual bill will increase from £1568 to £1717, and that means it's more important than ever to find the cheapest way possible to charge up your electric car at home.
The best way to do this is to take advantage of the home energy discounts that are available to EV drivers. You see, not all electricity tariffs are created equal, and choosing the right one can make a big difference to the size of your monthly bill, so it pays to do your homework.
Here, we’ve reviewed and rated the best electric vehicle tariffs currently on the market, and we’ve explained how to choose the ideal ones for your needs, as well as explaining other vital factors that could influence your decision.
How we rate the home electric car tariffs
Price is the biggest concern for homeowners, so our first consideration when ranking the home EV charging tariffs was how much they would cost to charge up an EV. To compare them, we calculated the cost of charging up a Tesla Model 3 Long Range with a 75kW useable battery capacity from 10% to 80%.
Only two of the 10 EV charging tariffs we’ve looked at provide cheap electricity for a long enough period to charge up our Tesla. To work out their one day charging cost we multiplied the required energy needed (52.5kWh) by the 7p pkWh cost and gained a total of £3.68 for the 70% charge.
For tariffs with shorter off-peak prices we’ve used the low rate price for the first five or six hours and then resorted to the peak price for the remainder of the charge session. So for the Good Energy Fixed Tariff we’ve multiplied 50% of the charge by 7.4p and the remaining 20% by 29.0p; the low rate cost is £2.78 and the peak rate fee is £4.35, resulting in a total of £7.13.
This demonstrates the importance of also choosing a tariff with a low peak hours rate, so we’ve considered this, along with the daily standing charge, when rating the companies.
For eight of the 10 energy companies we have customer satisfaction data collected from our best home EV chargers feature, so we’ve also factored in the scores provided by users wherever possible.
Prices are correct as of 27 September 2024.
Which is the best home electric car tariff?
1. Octopus Intelligent Go
EV charging rate 7.0p/kWh
EV charging times Anytime or 23.30-05.30
One day charging cost £3.68
Octopus’s most flexible tariff takes first place because it gives you two cheap charging options and six hours of off-peak charging for all appliances, not just your car. You can either charge your car up overnight for six hours at 7p/kWh, or leave the car plugged in and let Octopus know when you need it charged by, and it will top up the batteries at any time when there is excess energy on the grid.
And Octopus isn’t clawing back too much in peak kWh or standing charge rates: both of these are the second lowest of those in our comparison. However, the tariff is not available with all home EV chargers.
The icing on the cake for Octopus customers is that the company has the highest satisfaction rating of all those in our home EV charger survey. Octopus Intelligent Go customers gave the company a rating of 95%, and the company as a whole scored 91%.
Visit Octopus for more information
2. OVO Charge Anytime
EV charging rate 7.0p/kWh
EV charging times Anytime
One day charging cost £3.68
The great benefit of this tariff is that it enables you to charge up your EV any time of the day or night at the cheapest rate of 7p/kWh. It determines when the best time to charge the car is, depending on how much load is on the grid. All you have to do is remember to leave your car plugged into the wallbox, and let the system know what time you need the car charged up by.
The downside for heavy electricity users is that the special rate is only applicable to EV charging, and can’t be used to power any other electrical devices that you might want to run at night on a timer, such as a washing machine or dishwasher.
At the time of writing, OVO’s peak electricity and standing charge rates were a little higher than those for Octopus Intelligent Go, and the tariff isn’t compatible with all EV chargers.
OVO customers were the second most content of those in our survey, giving the company an 88% satisfaction rating.
Visit OVO for more information
3. E.On Next Next Drive Fixed
EV charging rate 6.9p/kWh
EV charging times 00.00-07.00
One day charging cost £3.62
Although this is the cheapest EV charging tariff, it’s not as flexible as Octopus Intelligent Go or OVO Charge Anytime because you can only get the cheap rate for seven hours at night. Any other appliances used during that time attract a high standard rate of 30.5p/kWh, which is the most costly of the 10 energy providers we researched. The 56.9p daily standing charge was similar to other providers, though.
Once you sign up to this tariff, your rates will be fixed for 12 months.
E.On gained the third highest rating from customers: 89% were very satisfied with the level of service provided.
Visit E.On for more information
4. Good Energy Fixed
EV charging rate 6.75p/kWh
EV charging times 00.00-05.00
One day charging cost £6.88
This tariff represents good value for money, but it’s limited by the shorter cheap electricity time of five hours. If you’re organised and have other electrical appliances on timers, you’ll be able to benefit from that low rate for them too provided you stick to the cheap rate window.
The downsides are that the standard rate of 29p/kWh is higher than most, and the daily standing charge of 57.7p/kWh is the priciest of all the companies we looked at.
Like the E.On tariff, the Good Energy one fixes the prices you pay for a year.
We didn’t have enough responses to give Good Energy a customer satisfaction rating.
Visit Good Energy for more information
5. British Gas Electric Driver
EV charging rate 7.9p/kWh
EV charging times 00.00-05.00
One day charging cost £7.12
Like the Good Energy tariff, the British Gas offering is limited to five hours charging during off-peak hours. While its EV rate is slightly pricier than that of Good Energy, its standard rate is lower at 27.7p, so it’ll cost you less to use other appliances at peak hours. The daily standing rate of 53.3p is the joint lowest here, alongside Ecotricity, adding appeal for those who need to use a fair amount of electricity during the daytime.
British Gas customers were mostly happy with the level of service and gave the company a 74% satisfaction rating.
Visit British Gas for more information
6. Octopus Energy Octopus Go
EV charging rate 8.5p/kWh
EV charging times 00.30-05.30
One day charging cost £6.87
If you don’t have a charger that’s compatible with Octopus’s Intelligent Go tariff, this is the next best option from the company. While the EV rate isn’t the lowest available, you’ll still benefit from the low standard electricity rate of 24.5p/kWh and the daily charge of 54.8p/kWh, both of which are among the lowest we found.
Although Octopus Go customers weren’t as happy as those on Intelligent Go, they still rated the company and the tariff they were on pretty highly, giving it a satisfaction rating of 92%.
Visit Octopus for more information
7. Scottish Power EV Saver
EV charging rate 7.2p/kWh
EV charging times 00.00-05.00
One day charging cost £6.93
Scottish Power’s EV rate is good at 7.2p, but users only get that for five hours a night, and the standard rate of 28.2p is on the high side. The daily standing charge of 54.7p is the second lowest here, though, compensating a little.
At 76%, the customer satisfaction rating for the energy company is among the lowest in our survey, so not all users are very happy with the company.
Visit Scottish Power for more information
8. Ecotricity EV tariff
EV charging rate 8.0p/kWh
EV charging times 00.00-05.00
One day charging cost £7.52
This tariff looks reasonable when you consider the EV charging tariff, but less so when you look at the peak cost of 30.1p/kWh, which is the second highest on test. At least the daily charge is low at 53.3p.
Like many of the offerings here, the ultra-cheap rate is limited to five hours a day.
We didn’t have enough responses to give Ecotricity a customer satisfaction rating.
Visit Ecotricity for more information
9. EDF GoElectric Overnight
EV charging rate 9.0p/kWh
EV charging times 00.00-05.00
One day charging cost £7.33
While this EV tariff has a reasonably cheap overnight rate of 9p/kWh, its daily fee is high at 57.3p, and its standard rate is merely average at 26.3p. When these prices are combined with a customer satisfaction rating of 71%, it’s easy to see why it sits close to the bottom of our chart.
Visit EDF for more information
10. EDF EVolve Sept 2025
EV charging rate 13.1p/kWh
EV charging times 00.00-05.00
One day charging cost £8.38
EDF’s fixed rate EV tariff doesn’t represent as good value as GoElectric Overnight, with a night time rate of 13.1p. While the standard rate of 23.1p is the joint lowest of all the companies rated, the daily charge of 56.9p is on the high side.
The overall ranking is also adversely affected by the brand’s 71% satisfaction score, which is the lowest of the companies rated.
Visit EDF for more information
What types of EV tariffs are there?
Single rate tariffs
Conventional plans provide electricity at a fixed rate, given in pence per kilowatt-hour (p/kWh), in addition to a daily standing charge. This offers a good balance for many people, because it means you don’t have to worry about racking up a huge bill by running energy-intensive appliances (such as a dishwasher or washing machine) at peak times.
Dual rate tariffs
By contrast, ‘dual rate’ tariffs, as the name suggests, offer two different prices – a peak rate during the day, and a cheaper off-peak rate overnight – to encourage people to save money by using more electricity when demand is lower.
Therefore, if you’re an EV driver who can plug in overnight, you’ll be able to save money by setting your car to charge during the off-peak period. You can usually do this via the car’s app or infotainment system, or using your home wallbox app.
The trade-off for off-peak savings is an increase in the peak rate. In fact, the peak price on dual rate policies is allowed to exceed the Ofgem Energy Price Cap (currently 22.36p/kWh*) based on the size of the off-peak discount.
Dual rate tariffs with EV smart charging
While many EV tariffs are simply dual rate tariffs, some go a step further. Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Octopus and OVO Energy’s Charge Anytime both allow owners to access ‘smart charging’ at a discounted rate throughout the day as well as at night.
This means that on top of discounted overnight power, your car can be automatically told to charge when electricity production is at its greenest outside the off-peak period, and you’ll still only be charged the lower rate.
One thing to bear in mind, however: in order to be able to take advantage of smart charging, either your car or your home wallbox charger must be compatible with your chosen provider’s smart charging service. It’s worth ensuring that your car or charger are compatible, otherwise you might find you’re able to get a better deal elsewhere.
How much does it cost to charge an EV at home?
To give you an idea of just how much you could save, here’s an example using the results from our EV range test. In that test, the second most efficient model was the Tesla Model 3 Long Range. It eked 324 miles of range out of its 75kWh battery, equivalent to an efficiency of 4.3 miles/kWh.
Charging that car at home, at a typical rate of 22p/kWh, would mean a £509 spend for 10,000 miles of driving. By contrast, the best-value EV tariff we found (Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Octopus) offers electric car smart charging at a rate of 7p/kWh – at this rate, fuelling a Model 3 could cost as little as £162 for every 10,000 miles covered.
You can read more about this in our feature on how much does it cost to charge an electric car feature.
What is the best EV tariff for me?
There are four key stats to consider when working out how much you could save by switching to an EV tariff:
Peak rate – the rate you’ll pay to power your home during the day. This will be more expensive for a dual rate than a single rate tariff, so it’s worth checking how much more that will cost you day to day.
Off-peak rate – the discounted rate on a dual rate tariff. This is the rate you’ll pay for electricity between certain hours of the night, although these hours vary from policy to policy. This is also the rate you’ll be charged at for EV smart charging.
Smart charging – additional off-peak-rate EV charging offered when the electricity supply is greenest. It can be a useful add-on if you frequently plug in during the day, but you need a compatible car or charger to be able to reap the savings.
Standing charge – a fixed daily fee charged while an electricity tariff is in place. The current Ofgem Energy Price Cap sets the maximum standing charge at 53p per day*.
Maximising your savings means finding a balance between those factors to best suit your lifestyle.
What is the OFGEM energy price cap?
This is the maximum amount an energy supplier can charge householders for each unit of electricity they use and for the daily standing charge for the energy.
It was introduced by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM), the energy price regulator, in 2019 to stop consumers from paying too much for electricity if they remained loyal to one supplier for many years.
There are also price caps for gas, and those for electricity and gas are both reviewed every three months.
On 1 October 2024 the price cap for electricity is going up by 10%, taking the annual cost up from £1568 to £1717. It is set to increase by a further 3% in the first quarter of 2025. This means the price cap for a unit of electricity will be 24.50p, and the price cap for the daily standing charge will be 60.99p.
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