Best EV tariffs UK (2026): cheapest over a year, by region

Disclosure: this post links to referral pages for EDF, E.ON Next and Octopus Energy. All three pay £50 to each side (a retail voucher at E.ON Next, bill credit at the other two), so the reward cannot decide the order below. I don’t drive an EV, so none of this is charging experience of mine: the figures come from the suppliers’ own tariff data.

Work out your cheapest EV tariff

EV tariffs ranked by a year’s bill

An overnight rate on its own tells you little, because every tariff here makes up the difference during the day: the peak rates below average 33.90p to 38.50p/kWh, against 26.32p/kWh on a standard tariff at the Ofgem price cap (opens in new tab). So each row is priced as a whole year: 2,300 kWh of charging (8,000 miles at 3.5 miles per kWh) at the overnight rate, 2,500 kWh of home use (Ofgem’s typical figure) at the peak rate, and the standing charge, the fixed daily cost of supply, over 365 days.

Direct Debit prices averaged across Britain’s 14 electricity regions, read from Octopus’s, E.ON Next’s and EDF’s public tariff data on 8 November 2026 and checked the same day against each tariff’s own page. These move: E.ON listed 13 versions of Next Drive Fixed between 15 July and 28 October 2026, so check the current rate before you switch. EDF also lists an 18-month GoElectric (from 31 October, £100 exit fee), but its GoElectric page describes only the £75-exit-fee 12-month version, so that is the one ranked here. Electricity carries 0% VAT until 31 March 2027; if that ends on schedule, every price here rises 5% from 1 April, fixes included.

Cheap hours, terms and what each tariff needs, in the same order:

EDF’s first place rests on a credit. The £60 is a £5 monthly bill credit for opting into its Smart Charging bolt-on (opens in new tab), paid while you stay opted in and plug in regularly, and EDF’s bolt-on terms (opens in new tab) let it amend the credit at any time, “including reduce it to nil”. Without it GoElectric is the £1,252 row, £36 behind Next Drive Smart.

Octopus’s two 12-month fixes come last, at £1,344 and £1,363, because they price the peak above their variable versions: 3.70p on Go and 4.60p on Intelligent Go (against Flexible). The fix buys certainty, since Octopus can reprice the variable rates (Go Variable moved on 1 April, 1 May and 21 October 2026), and costs a £50 exit fee if you change your mind.

Home use during an extra smart charging slot also bills at the overnight rate on Intelligent Go, Next Drive Smart and EDF Smart Charging, and the table counts none of it, so a car that charges in the daytime pays less than shown.

The cheapest EV tariff in your region

Your region moves some rows far more than others. EDF GoElectric runs from £1,229 in the East Midlands to £1,289 in Merseyside and North Wales, a £60 range. Octopus Go Variable covers £1,227 to £1,354 across the same two regions, more than double that, which is why it is the cheapest any-car option in three regions and only fifth in Merseyside and North Wales.

“EDF + credit” includes EDF’s £60 credit. “Cheapest for any car” ignores the columns that need a compatible car or charger. Same 2,300 kWh of charging and 2,500 kWh of home use as the ranking above.

How far you drive changes the order

A low-mileage driver spends most of their kWh at the peak rate, so the cheapest day rate wins; a high-mileage driver wants the cheapest night. These are 14-region averages on the same 2,500 kWh home.

On Intelligent Octopus Go, Flexible Max overtakes Flexible at about 10,500 miles (3,015 kWh of charging), which is the same line Octopus draws when it says Flexible Max suits anyone driving 30 or more miles a day (opens in new tab). At every mileage from 4,000 to 20,000, EDF’s and E.ON’s smart tariffs stay cheaper than either variant.

Two tariffs this table can’t price

OVO and British Gas don’t publish a rate for each region on their EV pages, so neither can be ranked like for like.

On the same usage, OVO comes to about £1,165 a year: 2,300 kWh at 13.33p and 2,500 kWh at OVO’s stated 26.32p UK average, plus a standing charge of 54.83p/day. That total sits below every row above, because Charge Anytime discounts only the car’s electricity and adds no peak rate to the house. OVO closed its refer-a-friend scheme on 20 December 2025, so there is no link of mine to it.

The 54.83p is my assumption, since OVO’s page does not state a standing charge: it is the current average under the price cap (opens in new tab). British Gas says it keeps EV Power’s day rate “as close as possible” to its normal rates, but publishes no figure, so a quote with your postcode is the only way to price it.

When a standard tariff is cheaper

Below about 4,050 miles a year, a standard tariff at the Ofgem price cap costs less than every EV tariff open to any car, on the same 2,500 kWh home. Go Variable’s 34.20p peak rate puts it £195 a year behind before any charging, and each kWh charged at 9.40p rather than 26.32p wins back 16.92p. By region the crossover runs from 3,200 to 4,250 miles.

That assumes none of your home use falls in the cheap hours, as every table here does. With 20% of it there, the crossover drops to about 1,450 miles. OVO’s add-on is the exception for a compatible car: the house stays on OVO’s standard rate, so on the estimate above it costs less than a standard tariff at any mileage.

What you need before you can switch

Every tariff in this post needs a smart meter that sends half-hourly readings. Octopus, EDF and British Gas all start new customers on a standard tariff and move them across once the meter is connected: Octopus puts that connection at about 14 days (opens in new tab), and EDF allows two to four weeks (opens in new tab) to fit a smart meter if you don’t have one.

The real split is compatibility. Intelligent Octopus Go (opens in new tab) needs a compatible car or charger, and the eligibility check is on its page. Next Drive Smart (opens in new tab) needs a compatible EV and charger. EDF publishes its own eligible list (opens in new tab) for Smart Charging. Octopus Go, plain Next Drive and EDF GoElectric work with any EV.

If one of the three referral suppliers wins for you, their pages here cover the current offer and when it pays: EDF, E.ON Next and Octopus Energy. Sign up through the link rather than a comparison site: E.ON Next and EDF both refuse the reward on comparison-site sign-ups.

FAQs

Do EV tariffs cost more during the day?

Yes, on every time-of-use tariff in this comparison. Peak rates average between 33.90p/kWh (Intelligent Octopus Go Flexible) and 38.50p/kWh (Intelligent Octopus Go Fixed), against 26.32p/kWh on a standard tariff at the current Ofgem cap, so a home using 2,500 kWh a year outside the cheap hours pays about £190 to £305 more for that electricity. Each kWh moved into the cheap hours saves the gap between that tariff’s two rates.

Does the overnight rate apply to the whole house or only the car?

The whole house, on every tariff here except OVO’s add-on. Octopus Go, Intelligent Octopus Go, Next Drive, EDF GoElectric and British Gas EV Power bill all your electricity at the cheap rate during the cheap hours, so a dishwasher run at 1am pays 6.50p to 9.90p/kWh. OVO’s 13.33p applies only to electricity used for smart charging the car.

Do I need a smart charger for an EV tariff?

Only for the smart versions. Octopus Go, E.ON Next Drive, EDF GoElectric and British Gas EV Power work with any charger, and Octopus says you don’t need a home charger at all (opens in new tab) to join Go. Intelligent Octopus Go, E.ON Next Drive Smart, EDF Smart Charging and OVO Charge Anytime each need a car or charger on the supplier’s list, because the supplier schedules the charging itself.

Will EV tariff prices change in April 2027?

Electricity carries 0% VAT from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. Unless that is extended, 5% VAT returns on 1 April 2027 and adds 5% to every rate and standing charge in this post, 12-month fixes included. It does not change the order, because it applies to all of them equally.