EV Electricity Tariff Index: Cheapest Overnight Rates Ranked (2026)

The cheapest EV tariff in Britain in November 2026 charges 6.7p per kWh overnight. At that rate an average EV costs £142 a year to charge at home, against £543 on the 25.7p price cap rate: a saving of £402. The average across the 15 EV tariffs we track is 7.5p. But the cheapest rate is not always the cheapest bill. Smart-meter data from 640 EV households shows how much charging really lands in the cheap window on each tariff, and that changes the ranking.

By the EV Cable Hub Research Team. Data: EV Cable Hub Tariff Index (15 tariffs, 14 regions, checked the first Monday of each month), Tariff Log smart-meter data from 640 households and a survey of 1,200 drivers. Last updated November 2026. How we worked this out

What an EV tariff saves you

Charging an average EV for a year takes 2,114 kWh at 3.5 miles per kWh. On the cheapest overnight rate that costs £142; at the 7.5p index average, £159; at the 25.7p price cap rate, £543. Adding 100 miles costs £1.91, £2.14 and £7.34 respectively.

The saving grows with mileage, because it is all in the charging. At 3,000 miles a year the best tariff saves about £210 on a typical household bill; at 20,000 miles, more than £1,000. Even on the cautious basis that 20% of home charging misses the cheap window, the average saving at 7,400 miles is £309.

The cheapest rate is not always the cheapest bill

A low overnight rate only helps if your charging lands in the window. Our Tariff Log tracked the half-hourly smart-meter data of 640 EV households from January to October 2026. Smart-scheduled tariffs, which let the supplier time your charging, got 94% to 96% of it at the cheap rate. Fixed-window tariffs averaged 78%, because some sessions started early, ran long, or needed more energy than a short window could deliver.

That is why Intelligent Octopus Go, second on headline rate, comes first on real-world bills for a typical EV household using 2,700 kWh in the house plus 2,114 kWh of charging. E.ON Next Drive, cheapest on rate, is second.

Off-peak windows: how many miles a night

Fixed windows run from 4 hours (So Energy So EV) to 7 hours (E.ON Next Drive and its fixed version), with an average of 5.4 hours. On a 7kW charger a 4-hour window adds about 98 miles and a 7-hour window about 172. An average driver needs roughly 20 miles a night, so window length matters most for high-mileage drivers, two-EV households and anyone charging from a three-pin socket.

In our data, 9% of sessions on 4- and 5-hour windows needed more energy than the window could deliver, against 3% on 6- and 7-hour windows.

Whole-house tariffs and daytime-heavy homes

Most EV tariffs reprice your whole home. Their peak rate averages 27.8p per kWh, 2.1p above the price cap. For a typical household the overnight saving dwarfs that, but a home that uses a lot of electricity in the day can lose out. For a daytime-heavy home using 6,000 kWh a year, the EV has to cover up to 4,150 miles a year on the dearest whole-house tariff before it pays off.

EV-only add-ons such as OVO Charge Anytime, Scottish Power EV Saver and British Gas EV Power avoid the problem by charging the car separately and leaving the house on the standard rate. For that daytime-heavy home, OVO Charge Anytime was cheapest at £1,902 a year.

Best tariff for your situation

Eleven of the 15 tariffs need only a smart meter and an electric car. Four need a compatible charger or car: Intelligent Octopus Go, OVO Charge Anytime, British Gas EV Power and Scottish Power EV Saver.

Prices by region

Regional overnight rates on the cheapest tariff range from 6.5p in the North East, Yorkshire and the East Midlands to 6.9p in Merseyside and North Wales. Standing charges vary more, from 45.7p a day in London to 68.4p in Merseyside and North Wales, which can matter more than the unit rate for low-mileage drivers.

Why a quarter of driveway owners haven't switched

61% of UK EV drivers with a home charger were on an EV tariff in October 2026, up from 54% a year earlier. 24% were still on a standard tariff. The most common reason, given by 31% of them, was believing the saving was too small: the median guess was £140 a year, against a real £385 at the index average.

If you can't charge at home at all, the picture is very different. Our study of the driveway divide shows public AC charging costs £983 a year more than an overnight tariff, and our UK public charging price index tracks public prices. For the cost of charging a specific car, see how much it costs to charge an electric car.

What each tariff costs per 100 miles

The spread between the cheapest and dearest EV tariff is £32 a year at average mileage. The gap between any EV tariff and the price cap is more than ten times that. If you are on a standard tariff, switching matters far more than which EV tariff you pick.

Miles added overnight by charger type

A three-pin cable on a 5-hour window adds about 40 miles, double what an average driver uses in a day. It falls short for a long weekly commute packed into one night, where a 7kW wallbox or a longer window does the job. Two EVs sharing one 7kW wallbox on a 4-hour window get about 49 miles each.

Three households, three answers

A retired couple doing 3,000 miles a year on Intelligent Octopus Go pay £901 a year for the whole house, £210 less than the price cap. Their saving is real but small, so a cheaper standing charge region or a fixed deal may matter as much to them as the overnight rate.

A sales rep doing 20,000 miles on the same tariff pays £1,300 and saves £1,059. For them, a longer window and a compatible charger are worth paying for, and public charging is the cost to avoid.

A family with two EVs and 14,800 miles between them saves £799. Their risk is the window: if both cars need a big top-up on the same night, a 4-hour window will not cover it. A smart-scheduled tariff or a 7-hour window fixes that.

How to switch to an EV tariff

Check you have a working smart meter first: every tariff in the index needs one, and the supplier will usually fit one free if you don't. Then check whether your charger or car works with the smart-scheduled tariffs, as four of the 15 depend on it. If you are on a fixed deal, look for exit fees before you move.

Once you have switched, set the car or charger to start a few minutes after the window opens and finish before it closes, and turn off any timer that conflicts with the supplier's own scheduling. Then check your first bill: the half-hourly breakdown shows straight away whether the car charged inside the window.

How we worked this out

The index snapshot was taken on 2 November 2026. Rates are national averages of new-customer, direct-debit prices including VAT across the 14 Great Britain electricity regions, checked on the first Monday of each month. Real-world bills use each tariff's off-peak share from the Tariff Log, half-hourly smart-meter data from 640 EV households from January to October 2026, applied to a typical household using 2,700 kWh a year plus 2,114 kWh of charging (7,400 miles at 3.5 miles per kWh). The driver survey questioned 1,200 EV drivers from 5 to 16 October 2026. The next monthly update is due on 7 December 2026.

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