What Are The Best EV Energy Tariffs In The UK?
As of January 2022, there are over 400,000 electric cars and 750,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the road in the UK. To meet the demand for cheap home charging, energy suppliers have started offering tariffs aimed specifically at electric vehicle owners.
But how do they differ from standard energy tariffs, and are they actually worth it?
Note: Due to the current energy crisis, energy providers have either reduced their incentives for EV owners to switch, or removed their EV tariffs entirely.
Ready to start saving? With an EV tariff, you can do just that. If you need an EV to go with your EV tariff, make sure you compare electric car lease deals with Lease Fetcher to maximise those savings!
What is an EV tariff?
As the name suggests, an EV tariff is an energy tariff aimed squarely at owners of electric vehicles, particularly those that carry out electric car charging at home.
There are currently five types of EV tariff:
- Single-rate tariffs, where you pay a single rate throughout the day and night, but it’s discounted if you own an EV. The electricity does not have to be used for the purpose of charging your EV.
- Static time-of-use tariffs, or two-rate tariffs that offer cheaper electricity overnight. This is the most common type of EV tariff (and usually offers the cheapest charging rates). Again, although this is listed as an EV tariff, there is no requirement that you use the cut-price electricity to charge your car.
- Dynamic time-of-use tariffs that offer a different price per unit of energy depending on the time of day. The times and rates can vary from day to day. Electricity may be cheaper when there is an abundance of wind energy, or a dip in demand. In the past, energy prices have gone negative and providers have paid the customer to use energy.
- Type-of-use tariffs, which separate your EV charging costs from your household energy costs using a smart meter and smart wallbox. Electricity used to charge your EV is then charged at a reduced rate, with the difference in cost credited back to your account at the end of the month.
- Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) tariffs are currently being trialled by Octopus Energy (Powerloop) and Ovo Energy. V2G technology allows electric vehicles to store energy and sell it back to the grid when it’s most needed. This technology could offer huge savings on consumer energy bills in the future.
What are the best EV tariffs?
Below we’ve rounded up some of the best EV tariffs on the current UK market. All stats are correct as of 11/02/2022 and they are listed in no particular order!
Note: Where a smart wallbox is not required, you may find it useful to have one installed anyway so you can set your car to charge only during cheaper off-peak hours. Alternatively, you can use the timer functionality within your EV.
EDF GoElectric
The EDF GoElectric tariff is a single-rate tariff offering a simple, discounted electricity tariff exclusively for EV owners.
It doesn’t matter how often you have to charge your electric car. This is a plan for people who want to charge their car at any time of day, not necessarily overnight.
Smart meter required? No
Smart wallbox required? No
Additionality: 100% zero carbon renewable electricity.
Extra perks: Double your money on the first £400 you earn with car sharing site Turo.
EDF GoElectric35
The EDF GoElectric 35 tariff is a dual-rate, static time-of-use tariff that offers discounted charging for 35 hours each week. Customers will pay just 4.5p per kWh between 12am and 5am GMT. That’s a little over 1p per mile in your average electric car. In addition, EDF guarantees that customers receive 100% zero carbon renewable electricity generated from wind and solar.
Smart meter required? Yes
Smart wallbox required? No
Additionality: 100% zero carbon renewable electricity.
Extra Perks: Double your money on the first £400 you earn with car sharing site Turo.
EDF GoElectric98
The EDF GoElectric sits somewhere between the GoElectric and the GoElectric35, offering greater flexibility for people to charge (or work) overnight at a discounted rate. The tariff offers 98 hours of discounted electricity each week, between 9pm and 7am GMT on Monday to Friday, and all weekend. Off-peak rates are charged at 18.85p per kWh. All energy is 100% renewable
Smart meter required? Yes
Smart wallbox required? No
Additionality: 100% zero carbon renewable electricity.
Extra Perks: Double your money on the first £400 you earn with car sharing site Turo.
Ovo Drive
The Ovo Drive tariff is a single-rate discounted electricity tariff exclusively for EV owners. With Ovo Drive’s flat rate, you’re not tied to overnight charging. However, you’ll still be doing your bit for the environment.
Ovo runs a programme called I Dig Trees in partnership with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV). Each year, they plant one tree per customer in places where they’ll have the biggest impact, like primary schools, retirement homes, colleges and parks.
Ovo’s done the maths, and by switching to one of their green plans, you could cut your carbon footprint by up to 792kg of CO2 each year!
Smart meter required? No
Smart wallbox required? No
Additionality: 100% renewable energy, 1 tree per customer planted every year.
Extra Perks: £70 off a smart home charger; 5,000 green miles if you purchase a new Mini Electric.
Ovo Drive + Anytime
The Ovo Drive + Anytime tariff is the first type-of-use tariff on the market. It gives you a super-low charging rate any time you charge your car with a smart charger. All you need is a smart wallbox and smart meter.
The Drive + Anytime tariff splits EV charging from home energy use. Smart charging is charged at just 5p/kWh. The difference in price between the standard electricity rate and the smart charging rate is credited to customers at the end of the month.
OVO is able to offer this reduced price using its new Kaluza energy platform. Customers select a time using the mobile app when they need their EV charged by. Kaluza uses AI to charge during times of low energy demand or peak output, when prices are also low. It’s worth noting that if you need an emergency, last minute ‘boost charge’, you will be charged at the standard OVO Drive rate.
Smart meter required? Yes
Smart wallbox required? Yes
Additionality: 100% renewable energy, 1 tree per customer planted every year.
Extra Perks: £70 off a smart home charger; 5,000 green miles if you purchase a new Mini Electric.
Octopus Go
Octopus Go is a dual-rate tariff that offers ‘super-cheap’ overnight charging at rates of 7.5p/kWh between 00:30 and 4:30am every night. Charging on overnight rates alone could keep your EV fuel costs as low as 2p per mile.
Smart meter required? Yes
Smart wallbox required? Yes
Additionality: 100% renewable; Funding Octopus Energy Generation sites around the UK
Extra Perks: N/A
Octopus Agile
Agile Octopus is a dynamic time-of-use tariff that gives customers access to half-hourly energy prices, which are tied to wholesale prices and updated daily. If you can shift your daily electricity use (including EV charging) outside of peak times, you can make big savings.
Whenever more electricity is generated than consumed, energy prices fall. Occasionally, prices go below zero and suppliers are paid to take energy off the grid.
Agile Octopus is the first tariff to offer ‘Plunge Pricing’, letting you take advantage of these negative price events and get paid for using electricity when prices go negative. You’ll receive a push notification whenever it happens, and with a smart wallbox and IFTTT (If This Then That) capabilities, you can easily programme your set-up to get paid for charging your car!
Smart meter required? Yes
Smart wallbox required? Yes
Additionality: 100% renewable; Funding Octopus Energy Generation sites around the UK
Extra Perks: N/A
Intelligent Octopus
The Intelligent Octopus tariff by Octopus Energy sits somewhere between Octopus Go and Agile Octopus. It offers 6 hours of off-peak energy use each night, from 11:30pm to 5:30am. Electricity used during this period will cost just 7.5p/kWh. The rest of the time, electricity will be charged at a standard fixed rate tariff.
Intelligent Octopus doesn’t just offer you more off-peak hours. With a smart EV charger, you could charge outside of these hours when energy is cheapest and greenest and still only pay 7.5p/kWh. All you have to do is tell the app when you need your car charged by (and by how much) and it will do the rest using KrakenFlex machine learning.
Like Ovo Drive + Anytime, you can override the charging schedule for a ‘Bump Charge’ which is charged at the standard energy rate.
Unfortunately, right now this tariff is only open to Tesla owners. The Intelligent Octopus app is also currently only available on iOS devices.
Smart meter required? Yes, with iOS device and Tesla
Smart wallbox required? Yes
Additionality: 100% renewable; Funding Octopus Energy Generation sites around the UK
Extra Perks: N/A
Other Tariffs
A range of other EV tariffs have been removed from sale as a result of the energy price crisis, including the E.on Next Drive, and Good Energy Green Driver tariffs.
What are the benefits of EV tariffs?
EV tariffs offer a variety of benefits, both financial and environmental. These can vary widely between tariffs (even from the same supplier), so it’s worth bearing in mind when shopping around for an EV tariff.
- Cheaper electricity for charging.The cost to charge an electric car varies depending on EV charger type and location, but it’s almost always cheaper than refuelling a petrol or diesel car. Electric car charging at home is the cheapest way to charge, and with an EV tariff, you can make even bigger savings!
- They help to balance the grid. Energy demand is lowest overnight. By switching to charging overnight, this helps reduce daytime demand, redirecting it to nighttime. This means electricity companies can reduce the need for investment in additional power generation capacity or dirty fossil fuels - meaning greater environmental benefits!
- Additionality - It’s easy to think of EVs as the ‘greener’ option, but are electric cars actually better for the environment? While the green credentials of EVs are largely dependent on the amount of electricity that is produced by renewable energy sources, many EV tariffs offer 100% renewable energy, or pledge to offset carbon emissions through tree planting where this can’t be achieved.
- Free miles. Some EV tariffs offer ‘free green miles’ for new customers. For example, OVO energy has offered 5,000 free miles to new Mini Electric owners that make the switch to OVO Drive. The ‘free miles’ are credited to the owner's OVO energy account each month.
- Discounted smart home chargers. Government grants for electric cars already include a discount on smart home wall boxes (but things are changing after March 2022!). With plans like OVO drive, you can get an even bigger discount, with an extra £70 off!
- Discounted public charging. Back when Ecotricity managed the Electric Highway (now part of GRIDSERVE), customers could expect to pay discounted rates at select public charging stations. ESB Energy also offered a ‘2 Year Price Protect V4 - EV Tariff’ which included a free membership to ESB rapid charging, usually £4.99 a month. ESB has since merged with SO Energy. This isn’t something that any of the current EV tariffs offer, but given the rising cost of public charging, it’s possible a similar incentive could return in the future.
Where can I compare EV tariffs?
Rightcharge should be your number one choice to compare EV tariffs. Pop in some basic details about your home and EV, and it’ll show you the best EV tariff for your needs, alongside how much you will save if you choose that tariff!
Since some EV tariffs require you to have a home charging point, you may want to get one of these installed too. With Rightcharge, you can also compare electric car chargers for your home - if you use this link and purchase a charger via Rightcharge, Lease Fetcher will make a small commission.
Conclusion
It could be several years before electric cars reach price parity with petrol and diesel cars.
But if you drive a lot of miles, leasing or buying an electric car is a great way to cut costs - especially if you have an EV tariff paired with a smart wallbox. You can find out more in our posts on how to pay for electric car charging and the pros and cons of electric cars.
If you want to keep costs to a minimum, check out our lists of the cheapest electric cars and best small electric cars.
And don’t forget, there’s even greater savings to be had when you compare electric car lease deals with Lease Fetcher!
