If you’re considering buying an EV or being supplied through work, check here to ensure you are on the right EV Energy Tariff to optimise your savings.
There are a few different ones, so choosing the one that best fits your regular usage makes sense.
Here Are Our Top 5 EV Energy Providers
- Octopus Energy Intelligent (formerly called GO)
- British Gas Electric Driver
- E.ON Next
- Ovo Energy EV
- EDF – GoElectric
Why Choose an EV Energy Tariff
One of the main reasons to buy an electric car is to save vehicle running costs, so it’s essential to ensure that if you’re charging your car at home, you’re on the right tariff.
However, figuring out the most cost-effective way to charge your electric vehicle (EV) can be confusing. You can make things easier by switching to a specialised EV charging tariff for your home energy.
Since most EV owners charge their cars at home, it’s cheaper than using public charging stations. But it can still increase your electricity bill. EV-specific tariffs help by offering lower rates during off-peak hours.
We’ve analyzed eight EV charging tariffs to identify the top five options for various EV owners. Remember that these tariffs include your overall energy usage, as there are no separate EV charging tariffs. Getting a personalised quote before switching to a specific energy provider is a good idea.
Our Calculations
We based our calculations on a typical family-sized electric car covering 9,000 miles per year, achieving 3.5 miles per kWh energy efficiency (averaging 25 miles per day using 7 kWh). This amounts to 2,571.43 kWh of electricity per year. The average household uses 2,900 kWh of electricity and 12,000 kWh of gas annually.
Electricity costs an average of 27.35p per kWh, while gas averages 6.89p per kWh, according to Offgem.
The tables below comprehensively list the details of each EV charging tariff, including their advantages, disadvantages, pricing, and suitability for different EV owners.
British Gas – Electric Driver v3
Here is a cost analysis for the British gas EV traffic correct as of Jan 2024. Always check the official site here in case rates change.Electric vehicle energy tariffs – EV charging tariffs – British Gas
What Other Incentives Do Britsh Gas Offer?
If you switch to British Gas, they give you 12 months of Free Charge when you buy a Hive EV Charger!
The Smart Hive app might be familiar to you as its technology has been available to people who remotely control their heating and lighting for a while. So, adding a Hive charger to schedule your charges intelligently might make sense to you.
The deal also includes reimbursement for 12 months of charging directly to your British Gas energy bill. It seems to be a good deal, but take note of the charging costs from the table below. Also, the charger at nearly £1000 isn’t the cheapest.
There are cheaper chargers, for example, here in our blog post to consider that they do the same thing as the hive for less money. The Best EV Chargers
What You Need To Make The Most Of British Gas EV Energy Tariff
- A Hive EV Charger
- Any British Gas electricity tariff – including if you switch
- A Smart Meter
- FreeCharge is enabled via the Hive app.
| British Gas EV Energy Tariff | Details |
|---|---|
| Best For | All-purpose EV charging |
| Pros | Open to new and existing customers, fixed rate, no car or charger restrictions |
| Cons | Not the cheapest, limited off-peak hours |
| Off-peak Hours | 00:00 to 05:00 |
| Potential Charge Added | 37.0 kWh |
| Peak Cost (per kWh) | 30.32p |
| Off-peak Cost (per kWh) | 8.95p |
| Standing Charge (per day) | 50.28p |
| Annual Cost to Charge an EV | £230.14 |
| Total Annual Bill | £2033.31 |
E.ON Next – Next Drive EV Energy Tariff
To be eligible for the e.on the Next Drive tariff, you need a smart meter to send half-hourly updates on your energy use.
Don’t have a smart meter yet? If your home is eligible for one, they’ll install it free of charge.Get a smart meter
What Other Incentives Do E.ON Offer?
Besides a free smart meter installation, they offer £50 off a home charger installation. It’s a bit of a vague offer, as you must have a quote. So it’s £50 off what exactly? The pros are longer off-peak costs than some of the other providers, but the rates are not as attractive.
| EON EV Energy Tariff | Details |
|---|---|
| Best For | High mileage EV drivers |
| Pros | Long off-peak hours, fixed rate for one year, available to all customers |
| Cons | Most expensive tariff, dual-fuel only |
| Off-peak Hours | 00:00 to 07:00 |
| Potential Charge Added | 51.8 kWh |
| Peak Cost (per kWh) | 33.00p |
| Off-peak Cost (per kWh) | 9.50p |
| Standing Charge (per day) | 53.00p |
| Annual Cost to Charge an EV | £244.29 |
| Total Annual Bill | £2057.69 |
Ovo Energy EV Energy Tariff – Charge Anytime
With Ovo Energy, they determine how much energy you’ve used to charge your EV smartly at the end of the month. They then use this info to credit your account in the first week of the following month. So that your smart charging rate reflects our 7p per kWh rate.
For example:
The Charge Anytime rate is 7p a kWh. And let’s say your standard electricity rate is 26p a kWh.
They then credit you 19p for each kWh you’ve used to smart charge your car to offset the rate so your smart charging rate is 7p.
Using 100 kWh of energy smart charging your EV, you’ll get £19 in credit on your bill.
Yes, we had to read that a few times and still didn’t understand it. But we think they are doing that if you don’t charge your car, you get charged a higher rate all the time. We’ve reached out for a better understanding.
Please comment if you think we got it wrong.
What Other Incentives Does OVO Energy Offer?
They have partnered with a car supermarket, heycar, to give you £500 cashback on a new car. Plus, they’ll give you £50 credit to your energy account, which they equate to 2000 of free driving. Charge Anytime EV add-on | EV tariffs upgrade | OVO Energy
| OVO Energy Tarfif | Details |
|---|---|
| Best For | EV owners who want flexibility |
| Pros | Off-peak rate available anytime, lowest unit charges, clever app |
| Cons | Only compatible with certain cars and EV chargers, existing customers only |
| Off-peak Hours | Anytime |
| Potential Charge Added | As much as you want |
| Peak Cost (per kWh) | 27.00p |
| Off-peak Cost (per kWh) | 7.00p |
| Standing Charge (per day) | 53.00p |
| Annual Cost to Charge an EV | £180.00 |
| Total Annual Bill | £1993.40 |
EDF – GoElectric EV Energy Tariff
EDF offers 35 total off-peak hours every week at just 8p per kWh between 12 am-5am during winter (GMT)(2)and 1 am-6 am during Summer (BST)(2). It works with all charge points and electric vehicles and is available to all new and existing customers. But you must sign up with them and have a smart meter installed. There are also £75 exit fees per fuel, i.e., electric or gas. so you tied in for 12 months
What Other Incentives Does EDF Offer?
They have focused on new EV leasing deals and appear to have very good offers. But remember to check prices with Tesla to see what the current Tesla offer is here
| EDF Go Electric Tarif | Details |
|---|---|
| Best For | All-round value |
| Pros | Good value, off-peak rate applies to all electricity use |
| Cons | Existing customers only, variable rate |
| Off-peak Hours | 00:00 to 05:00 |
| Potential Charge Added | 37.0 kWh |
| Peak Cost (per kWh) | 33.00p |
| Off-peak Cost (per kWh) | 8.00p |
| Standing Charge (per day) | 53.00p |
| Annual Cost to Charge an EV | £205.71 |
| Total Annual Bill | £2019.11 |
Octopus Energy – Intelligent Octopus Go EV Energy Tariff
Perhaps the best-known EV-friendly energy company and the most popular in the Tesla community is Octopus. This is the one we use in the office ourselves. We pair it with our Easee charger, which breaks down the charging costs for us to account for the vehicle running costs.
It’s also green, so if you are green-minded and have a climate change policy like ours, you can be confident that Octopus uses green energy to charge your EV.
Occasionally, they smart charge your car outside the off-peak window, but don’t worry; all smart charging is billed at the off-peak rate. To find out more, check out this handy video:
Intelligent Octopus Go will pair directly with your car or charger, using Kraken’s machine learning to find the best time to charge. They have an Octopus app, which you use to tell them when you need the car and how much charge you need, and they make sure it is charged and ready for use.
Requirements for use:
- You’re an Octopus Energy customer.
- We have a smart meter they can connect to
- A compatible EV charging system
- A compatible iOS or Android device
What Other Incentives Does Octopus Energy Offer?
You can get £50 by using this link to sign up https://share.octopus.energy/wheat-snow-99
| Octopus Energy Intellegent | Details |
|---|---|
| Best For | Bargain-hunters |
| Pros | Low costs, recharges when electric is cheapest |
| Cons | Tight restrictions on charger compatibility, separate gas tariff required |
| Off-peak Hours | 23:30 to 05:30 |
| Potential Charge Added | 44.4 kWh |
| Peak Cost (per kWh) | 30.41p |
| Off-peak Cost (per kWh) | 7.50p |
| Standing Charge (per day) | 51.32p |
| Annual Cost to Charge an EV | £192.86 |
| Total Annual Bill | £1206.98 |
Things to Remember About EV Energy Tariffs
Energy tariffs are designed to push us to charge our cars when the grid requires the least electricity. This is usually at night, of course, whilst most of us are sleeping, and so they all focus on charging your car whilst you sleep.
They do, however, come at a cost of more expensive daytime rates. So, you need to make sure that this fits in with the rest of your lifestyle.
It can be harder to use the washing machine and dryer, dishwasher etc, in the middle of the night for several reasons, such as noise. Still, the most common problem people have is that most appliances are designed to be operated on a timer. There are some ingenious solutions to this; most revolve around mechanical.
One of the most high-profile EV pro companies is Octopus Energy, which offers a few different energy strategies to try and fit in around different EV owners’ needs.
Remember that we offer a 5-star reviewed car buying service if you’re selling a car.
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