Why your tariff matters more than your car
The single biggest lever on EV running cost isn't the size of the battery, the efficiency of the motor, or even how many miles you drive. It's the price you pay per kilowatt-hour of electricity. A cheap off-peak tariff at 7p/kWh makes a 60 kWh car cost a few pounds to charge from empty. The same car on the standard price cap costs several times more. And on a public rapid charger, it costs more again.
Two identical cars driven the same distance can have wildly different monthly costs purely because of the tariff. That's why we built tariff comparison into every car page on HonestRange, and it's why this guide exists.
The tariffs compared
These are the main UK EV-specific tariffs available as of mid-2026. All rates are approximate and subject to change. Check the supplier's current pricing before committing.
EDF GoElectric offers the headline-grabbing rate: 6.99p/kWh between 11 pm and 6 am, giving you a generous seven-hour off-peak window. You need a smart meter. There's no requirement for a specific car or charger brand, which makes it one of the most accessible tariffs on the list. The trade-off is that daytime rates are typically higher than the standard cap to compensate.
Intelligent Octopus Go charges at around 8p/kWh with a core off-peak window from 11:30 pm to 5:30 am. The “intelligent” part means it also schedules additional smart charging slots outside that window when grid demand is low, potentially giving you even more cheap hours. The catch: you need a compatible car or charger that can talk to Octopus's system. Not every EV qualifies.
E.ON Next Drive Smart is similar in concept: around 8p/kWh with a core window from midnight to 6 am, plus smart slots scheduled around grid demand. Like Octopus, it requires a compatible car and charger to unlock the smart scheduling. Without a compatible setup, you won't get the additional slots.
Good Energy EV Charge comes in at around 8p/kWh with a five-hour window from midnight to 5 am. You need a smart meter. It's a shorter window than some competitors, so if you have a large battery and low home charging speed, check the maths on whether five hours is enough to complete a typical top-up.
E.ON Next Drive (the non-smart version) offers around 9p/kWh from midnight to 6 am: six hours, no compatibility requirements beyond having an EV and any home charger. This is a solid choice if your car or charger isn't on the “smart” compatibility list.
British Gas EV Power sits at around 9p/kWh from midnight to 5 am: five hours, open to any EV and any charger. Like E.ON Next Drive, it's a straightforward tariff with no smart-scheduling requirements.
OVO Charge Anytime takes a different approach entirely. Instead of a per-kWh off-peak rate, you pay a flat monthly fee, currently between £27.50 and £37.50 depending on your vehicle, and OVO schedules your charging intelligently. You need a compatible car and charger. Whether this saves you money depends on how many miles you drive; high-mileage drivers tend to benefit most.
Simple vs smart tariffs
There are two fundamentally different types of EV tariff, and it's worth understanding which you're signing up for.
Simple tariffs (like EDF GoElectric, E.ON Next Drive, British Gas EV Power) give you a fixed off-peak window. You set your car or charger to start at the right time and it charges at the cheap rate. No special equipment needed beyond a smart meter. You control the schedule.
Smart tariffs (like Intelligent Octopus Go, E.ON Next Drive Smart, OVO Charge Anytime) go further. They communicate with your car or charger to schedule charging automatically, often grabbing extra cheap slots outside the main off-peak window. The downside: you need specific compatible hardware, and you give up some control over exactly when your car charges. You set a “ready by” time and the system handles the rest.
Neither type is universally better. Simple tariffs work with any setup and give you full control. Smart tariffs can be slightly cheaper overall but lock you into a compatibility list.
What you need
Every EV tariff on this list requires a smart meter, either SMETS2 or a SMETS1 that's been enrolled onto the national network. If you don't have one, your supplier will install one for free, but it can take a few weeks to arrange.
You also need a home charger: a dedicated 7 kW wallbox, not a three-pin plug. Some tariffs technically work with a granny cable, but the charging speed is so slow you may not fill the battery within the off-peak window. A proper home charger costs £800–£1,200 installed; see our home charging guide for the full breakdown.
And, obviously, you need off-street parking. A driveway, garage, or allocated bay where you can install a charger. If you can't charge at home, EV tariffs don't apply to you.
How much you'll actually save
The difference between charging scenarios is stark. On a cheap off-peak EV tariff at around 7–9p/kWh, a typical 60 kWh car costs roughly £4–£5.50 to charge from empty. That translates to about 2–3p per mile.
On the standard price cap rate of 24.50p/kWh, the same charge costs around £14.70, roughly three to four times more. You're paying 7–8p per mile.
On a public rapid charger at the current average of around 79p/kWh, that same 60 kWh fill costs over £47. Per mile, you're into the 20p+ range, not far from petrol. This is why we are so insistent about tariffs: the gap between the best and worst case is enormous.
For a driver doing 10,000 miles a year in a car averaging 3.5 miles per kWh, the annual electricity cost ranges from roughly £200 on a cheap tariff to £700 on standard rate to over £2,250 on public rapids alone. The tariff is the variable that matters.
Which tariff suits you
If your car and charger are on the Octopus or E.ON compatibility list, a smart tariff is likely the best value: you get the core off-peak window plus extra cheap slots, and the scheduling is automatic.
If your car isn't compatible (common with older used EVs), go for the cheapest simple tariff you can find. EDF GoElectric's 6.99p/kWh rate with no car restrictions is hard to beat on pure price, though check the daytime rate too. If you use a lot of electricity during the day, a slightly higher off-peak rate with a lower daytime rate might save you more overall.
If you drive very high mileage and have a compatible car, OVO Charge Anytime's flat fee is worth running the numbers on. Above a certain monthly mileage the flat fee works out cheaper per kWh than any per-unit tariff.
Whatever you choose, the key point is this: any dedicated EV tariff is dramatically cheaper than the standard rate, and incomparably cheaper than public rapid charging. Getting onto one, any one, is the single most impactful thing you can do to reduce your EV running cost.