Switching to an EV tariff is the single biggest thing you can do to cut your charging costs — bigger than which car you buy, bigger than how you drive it. The off-peak rates below are a quarter or less of a standard tariff. Yet plenty of EV owners are still charging at 26p per kWh because switching tariffs feels like a chore. It's an expensive chore to skip: for a 10,000-mile-a-year driver, the difference is around £500 a year.
The market at a glance
Rates vary slightly by region and change with the price cap (April and October, usually), so treat this as a map rather than a contract. These were the headline figures in June 2026:
| Tariff | Off-peak rate | Window | Smart charger needed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Octopus Intelligent Go | ~5.5p–7p | 6 hours overnight, extendable by the app | Compatible car or charger |
| Octopus Go | ~7p–8.5p | 00:30–05:30 fixed | No |
| Octopus Agile | Variable (half-hourly) | Cheapest slots move daily | No, but automation helps |
| OVO Charge Anytime | ~7p (add-on rate for car charging) | Any time — smart-managed | Yes |
| E.ON Next Drive | ~7.5p | Overnight, fixed | No |
| EDF GoElectric | ~9p | Overnight, fixed | No |
| British Gas Electric Drivers | ~8.5p–9p | Overnight, fixed | No |
| Scottish Power EV Saver | ~7.2p | Overnight, fixed | No |
Fixed window or smart-managed?
The tariffs split into two philosophies, and which suits you is mostly about temperament.
Fixed-window tariffs (Octopus Go, E.ON Next Drive, EDF, British Gas, Scottish Power) are simple: electricity is cheap between fixed hours, you set the car to charge then, done. Any car and any charger works. The downside is the window is typically five hours, which at 7 kW is about 35 kWh — fine for daily top-ups, tight if you arrive home empty.
Smart-managed tariffs (Intelligent Octopus Go, OVO Charge Anytime) hand control of the charging schedule to the supplier's app. In exchange you get a better rate, or in OVO's case, the cheap rate at any time of day — plug in at 2pm and the car still charges at the EV rate. The catch is compatibility: your car or charger has to be on the supported list, and you have to be comfortable with the supplier deciding exactly when the electrons flow. In practice the apps are good and you can override them, but check your car is supported before switching.
What about Agile?
Octopus Agile prices every half hour against the wholesale market, and on windy nights the price can drop to nearly nothing — or below. EV owners with patience and automation can average under 5p per kWh. But it cuts both ways: on a still, cold January evening you can pay 40p+ at teatime. Agile suits people who enjoy optimising and have a home battery or flexible habits. If you just want cheap, predictable car charging, a dedicated EV tariff is less work and nearly as good.
The catches nobody puts in the adverts
- The peak rate is higher. Most EV tariffs charge a few pence above the standard rate outside the cheap window — around 31p–34p. Run the dishwasher overnight and it doesn't matter; heat your home with electricity during the day and it might.
- You need a working smart meter that sends half-hourly readings. If yours is in "dumb" mode, sort that out first — switching can take weeks.
- Standing charges still apply, typically 45p–60p a day, and vary more between suppliers than people expect.
- Exit fees are rare but check. Most EV tariffs are variable with no exit fee, so you can leave if a better deal appears. Fixed versions sometimes do carry one.
How to actually choose
Work out your annual charging in kWh (annual miles divided by your miles-per-kWh — about 2,860 kWh for 10,000 miles at 3.5), multiply by each off-peak rate, then sanity-check the peak rate against your daytime usage. Or skip the spreadsheet: our EV tariff cost tool does the sum with live Octopus rates, and the main calculator folds the result into a full EV-vs-petrol comparison.
Compare tariff costs at your mileage