Another blow to EV drivers as main vitality provider quietly reduces variety of low-cost charging hours on hottest tariff
Octopus Energy is restricting the amount of cheap charging EVs owners can do, leaving them potentially facing hundreds of pounds extra in yearly bills.
It’s another blow to hundreds of thousands of electric car owners who already face a 3p pay-per-mile tax from 2028.
From January, customers using Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Go tariff will be automatically limited to just six hours of super-cheap smart charging.
Intelligent Go is Britain’s most popular EV tariff with 260,000 EV owners currently using it to charge.
The discounted charging rate itself remains unchanged, but by reducing the period motorists can use it for, Octopus customers are left paying peak rates for EV charges that take longer than six hours.
Previously a six hour cap wasn’t automatically enforced, so EV owners could charge at a slower rate and extend the off-peak hours as they wanted.
From January 2026 customers using Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Go tariff will be limited to just six hours of discounted electricity
Many EVs, especially those with larger batteries and longer ranges, can take over 10 hours to fully charge on a slow home charger.
So, with EV owners facing higher EV charging costs, which tariffs offer the best deal? We’ve done a round up.
How much more will charging cost Octopus Intelligent Go customers?
Octopus Intelligent Go overnight costs 7p/kWh and you get six hours at this rate between 11.30pm and 5.30am for an overnight charge.
Customers also get up to six hours of super-cheap smart charging every 24 hours – these may be during your home’s off-peak hours (11:30pm-5:30am), outside those times, or a mix of both.
Octopus’ FAQ says ‘that it is unusual’ for a car charge to last for more than six hours.
While this can be the case to get to 80 per cent, for most EVs to get to 100 per cent cake up to, or more than, 11 hours to charge.
The FAQ clarified that the first six hours of smart charging will be at off-peak, and the last one billed at peak rate regardless of what time of the day it is scheduled.
Octopus told customers in its email that four in five charging sessions on the tariff already take six hours or less, suggesting it wouldn’t effect majority of customers.
How much does this cost in reality? We picked a few popular EVs to work out how much more owners will pay to charge after the six-hour cap is in place.
MG4 SE Long Range
Now an MG4 owner will pay on average £9.40 for a full charge at home. It takes around 9.5 hours to charge this EV – more than the 6 hours off-peak rate Octopus customers get
MG estimates that it takes 9.5 hours to charge from 10 to 100 per cent on a 7kW home charger.
The first 6 hours off-peak charging cost is £2.94 (7p x 7 x 6 = £2.94). The remaining 3.5 hours at peak rates comes to £6.46 (26.35p x 7 x 3.5 = £6.46). This means that an MG4 owner will pay on average £9.40 for a full charge.
At an off-peak rate only it would cost £4.66.
Now a Porsche Macan EV owner will pay on average £15.85 for a full charge at home. It takes around 13 hours to charge this EV – more than the 6 hours off-peak rate Octopus customers get
Porsche Macan EV
Porsche estimates that it takes 13 hours to fully charge its new Macan EV on a 7kW home charger. It will now end up costing around £15.85 to fully charge.
At an off-peak rate only it would cost £6.37.
Now a Tesla Model Y owner will pay on average £11.24 for a full charge at home. It takes around 10.5 hours to charge this EV – more than the 6 hours off-peak rate Octopus customers get
Tesla Model Y
It takes roughly 10.5 hours to charge a Tesla Model Y on a 7kW home charger. Now it will cost £11.24 to charge.
At an off-peak rate only it would cost £5.15.
Will other EV tariffs go up from other providers?
At the moment no other providers have told This is Money and Daily Mail that they’re expecting to raise prices. However, this could change in the future.
A spokesman for EDF said: ‘We have no plans to increase fixed EV tariff prices or reduce off-peak hours at this time, but this may change based on costs and market conditions.’
Looking around for the best EV tariff: What’s on offer?
EDF
EDF’s GoElectric off-peak electricity costs 9p/kWh from 12am to 5am every night. You can smart charge alongside this to save more money.
How many hours of off-peak charging are offered?
Five hours of lower-priced off-peak electricity every night.
What kind of energy?
Zero carbon electricity generated in Britain.
Cancellation?
Exit fees apply if you cancel the tariff within two years .
E.on Next off-peak electricity costs just 6.5p/kWh from 12am to 6am every night
E.on
E.on Next off-peak electricity costs just 6.5p/kWh from 12am to 6am every night.
How many hours of off-peak charging are offered?
Six hours of lower-priced off-peak electricity every night. But you need to be eligible for Next Drive Smart tariff.
What kind of energy?
100 per cent renewable energy.
Cancellation?
No exit fees.
Other benefits?
When you smart charge the same low rate applies to your whole home.
British Gas
British Gas EV tariff off-peak electricity costs 9p/kWh from 12am to 5am every night.
How many hours of off-peak charging are offered?
Five hours of lower-priced off-peak electricity every night.
What kind of energy?
100 per cent renewable energy.
Cancellation?
No exit fees.
Other benefits?
You can join British Gas’ home battery tariff if you have a home battery or solar and battery system. You get half price electricity between 12am-5am and The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) pays you for any electricity you export back to the grid.
Ecotricity
Ecotricity EV tariff off-peak electricity costs 8p/kWh from 12am to 5am every night.
How many hours of off-peak charging are offered?
Five hours of lower-priced off-peak electricity every night.
What kind of energy?
100 per cent green energy.
Cancellation?
One-year fixed tariff subject to exit fees.
S.O Energy
S.O Energy off-peak electricity costs only 6.5p/kWh from 12am to 5am every night.
How many hours of off-peak charging are offered?
Five hours of lower-priced off-peak electricity every night.
What kind of energy?
100 per cent renewable energy.
Cancellation?
May be subject to an early exit fee.
Other benefits?
The prices you pay for the rest of the day are the same as S.O Energy’s competitive fixed tariffs.
Ovo runs Charge Anytime monthly plans: Standard, Premium, Standard Plus and Premium Plus. For those monthly subscriptions you get a certain amount of free smart charging at home, an EV public charging voucher and EV charge cover
Ovo
Ovo EV ‘tariffs’ aren’t technically tariffs. Instead they’re an add on to other Ovo tariffs.
Ovo runs Charge Anytime monthly plans: Standard, Premium, Standard Plus and Premium Plus.
These range from £27.50 to £79.50 a month and for those monthly subscriptions you get a certain amount of free smart charging at home, an EV public charging voucher and EV charge cover. Some offer extra benefits too.
The home charging amounts start at 700 miles a month and go up to 2,000 miles a month.
Lower plans get a £120 public charging voucher, Plus plans get a £240 public charging voucher.
If you let Ovo know when you need your car charged by they will work out the greenest time to charge.
From spring 2028 electric vehicles will now be charged 3p per mile, driving both in the UK and abroad under road pricing plans
Why are EV owners facing increased running costs? Pay-per-mile
EV owners received bad news when Rachel Reeves delivered her Autumn Budget on 26 November: Ms Reeves announced that EVs will be subject to road pricing from Spring 2028.
Electric vehicles will now be charged 3p per mile, driving both in the UK and abroad.
The OBR states that average driver of an electric car in 2028-29 driving 8,500 miles is expected to be charged £255 in eVED. This is roughly equivalent to half the rate of fuel duty tax paid per mile by drivers of petrol and diesel vehicles.
For example, EV drivers would be looking at a charge of just over £12 to cover a trip from London to Edinburgh.
Driving 102 miles from Cambridge to Oxford would cost £3, while the 73-mile journey from Liverpool to Leeds will be £2.
But it’s not just pay-per-mile that could start upping the running costs EV owners face. Energy prices are rising too.
Energy prices will go up in the dead of winter after regulator Ofgem outlined its next price cap.
A 0.2 per cent increase from the current cap will take effect at the start of January, and affect those on variable tariffs in England, Wales and Scotland.
It’s a time of the year when bills remain high with people using more electricity to heat and light their homes, to host guests, and in the case of EV drivers to charge their cars for extra travel and trips over the festive period.
However, don’t despare because EV owners charging at home are still expected to save money in the long term, even when pay-per-mile comes in. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank estimates that EVs would still be ‘£1,000 cheaper to run per year than petrol cars’.
EV owner Gill Nowell has been driving EVs since 2012 and even with pay-per-mile she saves so much in running costs by charging at home
We asked an EV owner if charging at home would still save her money even with pay-per-mile…
Cheshire business founder, Gill Nowell, 52, told us: ‘I’ve driven EVs through work since 2012, and I’ve had an electric car since 2019.
‘Even with pay-per-mile, I’d still choose electric. If I end up paying around £250 a year through pay-per-mile, I’m still saving about £750 in running costs by charging at home. It costs me less than £5 to fully charge at home overnight.
‘But the real issue is fairness. According to EVA England, half of drivers without driveways already find their EVs more expensive to run because public charging costs more.
‘Let’s not penalise EV drivers now, especially when, like myself, over 95 per cent of us would never go back to the ICE (internal combustion engine) age.’
