Switching to a smart EV tariff saves the average UK driver around £400 to £700 a year on home charging. Intelligent Octopus Go is the right answer for most readers, on a clean read of the May 2026 evidence. Eight pence a kilowatt-hour for six hours overnight, applied to the whole home, smart-scheduled by Octopus’s own platform, and compatible with more than 280 EV and home-charger combinations. That is the headline.
Most readers can stop there. The detail below covers the comparison table, a cost calculator that gives you your own figure for your mileage, the five real alternatives, and the edge cases where another tariff genuinely wins. If your EV or charger does not work with Intelligent Octopus Go, if you cannot reliably shift load to overnight, or if you already have a Hive setup, the right answer changes. We have named the alternatives, set out why each wins for its specific reader, and flagged the trap that catches most other comparison pages: OVO Charge Anytime fundamentally changed shape in November 2025 and is no longer a per-kilowatt-hour tariff. It still belongs in the comparison, but not as if it were one.
| Tariff | Supplier | Off-peak rate | Off-peak window | Peak rate | Standing charge | Whole-home? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top pick Intelligent Octopus Go | Octopus Energy | 8p | 23:30–05:30 (6h) | 33.72p | ~53p/day | ✓ | Most drivers (headline pick) |
| Octopus Go | Octopus Energy | 9.5p | 00:30–05:30 (5h) | 33.72p | ~53p/day | ✓ | IOG-incompatible setups |
| E.ON Next Drive Smart | E.ON Next | 8p | 00:00–06:00 (6h) | 27.456p | ~53p/day | ✓ | Heavy daytime electricity users (lowest peak) |
| EDF GoElectric | EDF Energy | 6.99p | 23:00–06:00 (7h) | 25.66p | ~55p/day | ✓ | Cheapest unit rate on a fixed-window timer |
| British Gas EV Power+ | British Gas | 7.9p | 00:00–05:00 (5h) | 33.3p | ~54p/day | ✓ | Hive ecosystem households, weekend-heavy users (PeakSave Sundays) |
| OVO Charge Anytime | OVO Energy | Subscription · see below | Smart-scheduled | Standard home tariff | Standard home tariff | ✗ | Drivers who cannot shift load to overnight, or who use public charging frequently |
OVO Charge Anytime is a monthly subscription, not a per-kWh tariff — its rate cell reads 'Subscription · see below' rather than a misleading unit rate. Standing charges are representative and vary by region.
The headline verdict
Across multiple independent comparisons through 2026, Intelligent Octopus Go has come out cheapest for the typical driver every time we have checked. The combination of features is what makes it stick: 8p/kWh covers a six-hour window from 23:30 to 05:30, the rate applies to your whole home during that window (not just the car), and the schedule is set by Octopus’s platform rather than by you. You plug in, tell the app what charge you need and by when, and the system fits the work into the cheapest half-hours. When the grid has surplus renewable supply, it can drop bonus slots outside the window at the same 8p rate.
The trade-offs are honest but small for most drivers. The daytime peak rate is 33.72p/kWh, higher than E.ON Next Drive Smart’s 27.456p, so a household that uses a lot of electricity during the day will give some of its overnight savings back. Smart dispatch requires a compatible EV or smart charger; the list runs to more than 280 combinations across Tesla, Polestar, Renault, MG, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Audi, BMW and most other major brands, plus chargers from Ohme, Wallbox, Hypervolt, Indra and others, but it is not universal. From 2026 Octopus has also begun automatically capping the smart-charge slots at six hours per 24-hour period, after the marketing rate was being absorbed by very large overnight charges; around 80% of sessions already fell inside the cap, so most users will not notice.
If Intelligent Octopus Go does not fit, the comparison routes to one of two alternatives. If your EV or charger is not on the compatibility list, the right answer is Octopus Go (9.5p/kWh, 00:30–05:30, any EV, any charger). If you cannot reliably charge in an overnight window at all, the right answer is OVO Charge Anytime, but on its current subscription terms rather than the old 7p-per-kWh add-on most other comparison pages still describe.
Per-kWh tariffs and OVO's subscription are different products, so the two tools below work them out separately rather than ranking them in one list. Figures are the cost of charging your car in the off-peak window, and assume 3.5 miles per kWh and a representative 53p/day standing charge; all vary by car, region and how much you charge at the cheap rate.
£376 a year
Intelligent Octopus Go at 8p/kWh off-peak. About £414 a year less than the 26.11p standard rate (£790).
Peak rate 33.72p/kWh — what any daytime use costs outside the window. The lowest off-peak rate is not always the cheapest tariff overall: smart dispatch, contract terms and your daytime use all move the real total. Our pick is Intelligent Octopus Go; here is why.
£330 a year
Standard Monthly Plan, covering about 8,400 home miles a year, plus £120 of public-charging vouchers.
A subscription, not a per-kWh tariff — shown as a flat annual cost, not a unit rate.
Rates verified May 2026 and held flat; suppliers change them through the year. Methodology: how we built this.
Intelligent Octopus Go
Octopus Energy · 8p/kWh off-peak · 23:30–05:30 (6h whole-home) · Smart dispatch · 280+ compatible EV/charger combinations
The reason this keeps winning is not any single number, it is how the numbers combine. The 8p rate is matched by E.ON Next Drive Smart and beaten by EDF GoElectric, but neither competitor pairs that rate with both a six-hour whole-home window and smart dispatch. Octopus’s Kraken platform handles the scheduling: you tell the app the charge level you need and the time you need the car ready, and the system finds the cheapest half-hours inside the window, sometimes extending them when the grid is greener and cheaper outside it. The same 8p applies to dishwasher, washing machine, immersion heater and any other load running during the window.
The standing charge is typical at around 53p a day, varying by DNO region. The peak rate is 33.72p/kWh, the joint-highest on this list. Daytime electricity use therefore eats into the saving more than it does on E.ON Next Drive Smart, where the peak rate is 27.456p. For an average driver doing 8,000 miles a year, that gap is usually small, perhaps £40-£60 a year, and the longer cheap window with the bonus slots offsets it. For heavy daytime electricity users it can flip the verdict; the cost calculator above shows your own picture.
Best for: the majority of UK EV drivers with a compatible car or charger, who can plug in overnight and want the platform to handle scheduling automatically.
Switch consideration: JustWatt is signing up to Octopus’s referral programme. Until it goes live our Octopus link routes straight to Octopus and earns us nothing; once it is live we may earn a small commission if you switch through it, at no cost to you and with no effect on the rate you pay. Either way it does not move the verdict — the methodology note below explains how we handle it.
See Intelligent Octopus Go at Octopus EnergyOctopus Go
Octopus Energy · 9.5p/kWh off-peak · 00:30–05:30 (5h whole-home) · Any EV, any charger
The fallback for anyone Intelligent Octopus Go will not have. The rate is a penny and a half higher, the window is an hour shorter, and there is no smart dispatch, so you set a timer on the car or charger and trust the schedule. In return, the tariff is genuinely universal. Any EV, any home charger with a timer function, and a SMETS2 smart meter is the entire compatibility test. The 9.5p rate applies to the whole home during the window, not just the car.
The economics still beat the standard variable rate substantially. A driver doing 8,000 miles a year on Octopus Go saves around £380 a year versus a flat 26.11p rate, which is roughly £30-£40 a year less than Intelligent Octopus Go saves under the same conditions. The gap is small enough that the right move is to check IOG eligibility first; only if you fail the compatibility test does Octopus Go become the preferred Octopus tariff.
Best for: drivers whose EV or charger is not on the Intelligent Octopus Go compatibility list, but who can still shift charging to the overnight window and want the simpler product.
See Octopus Go at Octopus EnergyE.ON Next Drive Smart
E.ON Next · 8p/kWh off-peak · 00:00–06:00 (6h whole-home) · Peak 27.456p/kWh · Smart-scheduled, eligible EV+charger required
The strongest direct competitor to Intelligent Octopus Go on rate, window, and smart scheduling. Eight pence a kilowatt-hour for six hours, whole-home, with the lowest peak rate of any major smart EV tariff at 27.456p. For a household that uses a meaningful amount of electricity during the day, that peak-rate gap (about six pence under IOG’s 33.72p) can shift the annual total in E.ON’s favour by £30-£80, depending on usage pattern.
The catch is compatibility. Drive Smart requires an eligible EV and charger combination, and the list is narrower than Octopus’s. E.ON publishes the criteria on its tariff page; if your setup does not qualify, the company also offers a fixed-window Next Drive Fixed tariff at 9p/kWh between midnight and 6am, which has no compatibility test. The Smart variant is the one that competes here.
The contract is a 12-month fix with the rate locked for the term, which is the inverse of Intelligent Octopus Go’s variable structure: E.ON gives you price certainty, Octopus gives you the possibility of bonus cheap slots and the risk of rate movement.
Best for: households with a compatible setup who use a lot of daytime electricity, or who prefer a fixed 12-month price to a smart-dispatched variable one.
See E.ON Next Drive SmartEDF GoElectric
EDF Energy · 6.99p/kWh off-peak · 23:00–06:00 (7h whole-home) · Peak ~25.66p/kWh · Any EV, any charger
The cheapest headline rate from a major supplier and the longest off-peak window on the market. EDF dropped the off-peak rate from 8.99p to 6.99p on 1 April 2026 and added an hour to the window at the same time, taking it from 6 to 7 hours. The peak rate of 25.66p/kWh undercuts every smart-tariff peak as well. On a unit-rate basis the maths is the most attractive in the market.
What stops it being the headline pick is the absence of smart dispatch and the contract terms. You set a timer on your car or charger to start at 11pm and stop at 6am; if you forget, you pay the day rate. GoElectric is also a two-year contract with a £75 exit fee, where Intelligent Octopus Go has no fixed term. For a driver who plugs in reliably every night and is happy to manage their own schedule, EDF often comes out ahead on absolute cost; for a driver who wants the platform to handle it, the Octopus picks remain the better fit.
There is also a Pod Power variant at 6.49p/kWh for new and existing Pod Point Solo 3S customers, applying the same 11pm-6am window. If a new charger install is already part of your plan and Pod Point is your pick, this is the cheapest available rate from any mainstream supplier in 2026.
Best for: drivers who want the lowest headline rate, charge reliably overnight on a timer, and do not need smart dispatch to manage scheduling for them.
See EDF GoElectricBritish Gas EV Power and EV Power+
British Gas · 9p/kWh standard / 7.9p/kWh with Hive · 00:00–05:00 (5h whole-home) · PeakSave Sundays · Any EV, any charger
British Gas EV Power runs at 9p/kWh for five hours from midnight to 5am, whole-home, with no charger or EV compatibility restrictions. The 9p rate is competitive but not class-leading; what makes British Gas worth a place on the list is two things on top.
First, EV Power+, which drops the off-peak rate to 7.9p/kWh for households with a Hive EV Charger. That rate beats Intelligent Octopus Go and E.ON Next Drive Smart on the headline number, although the five-hour window is shorter than both. For an existing Hive ecosystem household, the bundle is genuinely competitive.
Second, PeakSave Sundays, available to any British Gas electricity customer with a working smart meter. Sundays from 11am to 4pm, you get half-price electricity. The credit lands as a bill adjustment rather than appearing on the meter directly. For a household that runs the dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer or any other heavy load on a Sunday afternoon, the saving compounds. It is around £20-£25 a year for typical use, more for households who deliberately shift weekend appliance use into the window.
The peak rate is around 33.3p/kWh and the standing charge sits around 51-57p a day depending on region, so daytime use eats into the saving in a similar pattern to Intelligent Octopus Go. The five-hour window is the shortest on this list and the limiting factor for households doing large overnight charges.
Best for: existing British Gas customers, households with a Hive EV Charger (EV Power+), and weekend-heavy electricity users who can actually use PeakSave Sundays.
See British Gas EV Power+OVO Charge Anytime
OVO Energy · Subscription model, NOT a per-kWh tariff · Standard plan £27.50/month · Premium plan £37.50/month · 14p/kWh pay-as-you-go option
OVO Charge Anytime fundamentally changed on 4 November 2025. Most indexed comparison content still describes it as a flat 7p/kWh smart-charging add-on. It is not, and has not been since that date. We flag this because readers searching for OVO Charge Anytime expecting the old tariff are routinely surprised by what is on offer now.
The current product is a separate EV-charging subscription that runs alongside your standard home energy tariff rather than replacing it. There are three options.
The Standard Monthly Plan is £27.50 a month and covers around 700 smart-charged home miles per month plus 600 miles’ worth of public-charging vouchers over the year. It is aimed at drivers covering around 8,000 miles annually.
The Premium Monthly Plan is £37.50 a month and covers around 1,000 smart-charged home miles per month plus the same 600 miles of public-charging vouchers. Aimed at drivers covering around 12,000 miles annually.
The pay-as-you-go option is 14p/kWh for smart-scheduled charging, doubled from the previous 7p rate on the day the subscription launched. Outside the smart-charging system, your normal home electricity rate applies.
The effective home-charging cost on the monthly plans works out at around 10.5p to 11p/kWh once the public-charging voucher value is netted off. That is materially more expensive than any of the per-kWh smart tariffs (8p Intelligent Octopus Go, 8p E.ON Next Drive Smart, 7.9p British Gas EV Power+, 6.99p EDF GoElectric), but cheaper than the 14p pay-as-you-go fallback.
OVO is structurally different from the other tariffs on this page. We have not ranked it in a per-kWh league table because it is not one, and pretending otherwise misleads readers. It does have a genuine reader: someone who cannot reliably shift load to overnight, or who wants a fixed monthly bill for charging predictability, or who uses public chargers often enough that the bundled vouchers offset the higher unit cost.
Best for: drivers who cannot reliably charge in an overnight off-peak window, who value a fixed monthly bill, or who use public charging frequently enough to make use of the voucher allowance.
See OVO Charge AnytimeHow to choose
The decision is not which tariff is cheapest in the abstract; it is which tariff is cheapest for your situation. Four questions sort the field.
Can you reliably charge overnight? If yes, you are in the smart-tariff bracket and should pick from the per-kWh group: Intelligent Octopus Go, Octopus Go, E.ON Next Drive Smart, EDF GoElectric or British Gas EV Power. If no, OVO Charge Anytime is the structurally honest fit, on the monthly plan that matches your mileage.
Is your EV and charger compatible with Intelligent Octopus Go’s smart dispatch? If yes, Intelligent Octopus Go is the default headline answer for most. If no, the choice falls between Octopus Go (any setup, simpler), E.ON Next Drive Fixed (any setup, 12-month fix at 9p), EDF GoElectric (cheapest rate at 6.99p, any setup), and British Gas EV Power (any setup, plus PeakSave Sundays).
Do you use a lot of electricity during the day? If yes, the peak rate matters more than the headline off-peak rate. E.ON Next Drive Smart’s 27.456p and EDF GoElectric’s 25.66p both beat Intelligent Octopus Go’s 33.72p on peak. The cost calculator above models the gap for your usage.
Are you in a specific ecosystem already? A British Gas customer with a Hive charger should take EV Power+ at 7.9p as a strong default. A Tesla owner should note that all Tesla cars are on the Octopus compatibility list, but the Tesla Wall Connector is not on the OZEV-approved charger list (a separate issue if you are also claiming the grant, but compatibility for IOG goes by the car, not the charger). A Pod Point customer should investigate EDF’s Pod Power variant at 6.49p.
The right tariff also requires the right hardware. If you do not yet have a smart EV charger, see our home EV charger picks for the six we rate; if you need to understand the difference between tethered, untethered, and smart chargers before deciding, the charger types guide covers the basics.
Methodology
This page is the conversion engine of our tariffs cluster, so it is the page where we have to be clearest about what we earn. We disclose that openly, and the methodology that follows is the substantive answer to the question it raises.
How we rank. Tariff rates and structures are verified against the supplier’s primary tariff page each time this guide is refreshed, and we record the dates against the sources at the foot of this article. The headline verdict is set by the combination of off-peak rate, off-peak window length, peak rate, standing charge, compatibility breadth, and any structural quirks (subscription model, fixed-term contract, exit fee). The cost calculator uses the same rate data the comparison table cites and includes standing charges in the maths, because the headline unit rate alone misranks tariffs for low-mileage drivers.
Our commercial position. Right now, no link on this page earns us a commission: every “see tariff” link routes straight to the supplier’s own tariff page. We are signing up to Octopus’s referral programme, so in time our Octopus link is the one most likely to pay us a small amount per switch; the others (E.ON Next, British Gas, EDF, OVO) are not in our affiliate network. We flag that coming asymmetry because it matters: a comparison page that earns from one supplier could ride that incentive into the verdict. We have priced the verdict against the evidence, and Intelligent Octopus Go would still be the headline pick on the May 2026 data whether we earned the same on every link or nothing on any of them.
What we do not do. We do not accept paid placements in the table, the verdict, or the per-tariff write-ups. We do not let an affiliate relationship lock a verdict in place across a refresh; if E.ON, EDF, BG or any successor offer overtakes Intelligent Octopus Go on the evidence, the headline will change, and the affiliate position will not protect it. Our methodology page covers the broader editorial position; this section is the tariff-specific application of it.
Frequently asked.
What is the cheapest EV tariff in the UK in 2026?
On headline unit rate alone, EDF GoElectric at 6.99p/kWh is the cheapest widely available rate from a major supplier, with a seven-hour overnight window (11pm to 6am) and no charger or EV compatibility restrictions. EDF's Pod Power variant is cheaper still at 6.49p/kWh, but only for Pod Point Solo 3S customers. The cheapest rate is not always the cheapest tariff in total: peak rates, standing charges, contract length and exit fees all matter. The cost calculator on this page works the maths for your mileage.
Do I need a smart meter to get an EV tariff?
Yes. Every EV tariff in this guide requires a SMETS2 smart meter with half-hourly consent so the supplier can bill the off-peak window correctly. If you do not have one, your current supplier is legally obliged to install one for free on request. In most regions the wait is a few weeks; some areas are longer.
Is Intelligent Octopus Go really the best EV tariff?
For most drivers in May 2026, yes. The combination of 8p/kWh, a six-hour whole-home off-peak window, smart dispatch via Octopus's platform, and a compatibility list of more than 280 EV and charger combinations gives it the consistent edge against direct rivals. For households with heavy daytime electricity use, E.ON Next Drive Smart can come out ahead because its peak rate is six pence per kWh lower. For drivers happy to manage their own schedule on a fixed timer, EDF GoElectric is cheaper on a unit-rate basis. The cost calculator on this page shows the specific gap for your mileage and pattern.
What if my car or charger is not compatible with Intelligent Octopus Go?
Octopus Go is the direct fallback: 9.5p/kWh for five hours from 00:30 to 05:30, any EV, any charger, no smart-dispatch requirement. You set a timer on the car or charger to start charging when the off-peak window opens. The rate is about a penny and a half higher than Intelligent Octopus Go and the window is an hour shorter, but the tariff is genuinely universal. EDF GoElectric and E.ON Next Drive Fixed are also universal-compatibility options at different rates.
How much can I actually save on an EV tariff?
For an average driver covering 8,000 miles a year in an EV doing 3.5 miles per kWh, charging at 8p/kWh instead of the Ofgem standard variable rate of 26.11p/kWh saves approximately £410 a year on EV charging alone. If you can also shift household loads (dishwasher, washing machine, immersion heater) into the off-peak window, total household savings rise to around £400 to £700 a year depending on usage pattern. The cost calculator on this page works out your specific saving.
What is OVO Charge Anytime now, after November 2025?
A separate EV-charging subscription that runs alongside your standard OVO home energy tariff, not a per-kilowatt-hour add-on. There are three options: a Standard Monthly Plan at £27.50/month for about 700 home miles a month plus 600 miles of public-charging vouchers a year; a Premium Monthly Plan at £37.50/month for about 1,000 home miles a month plus the same public allowance; and a pay-as-you-go option at 14p/kWh for smart-scheduled home charging. The pay-as-you-go rate doubled from 7p to 14p on 4 November 2025, which is why most older comparison articles describing OVO as a 7p tariff are now stale.
Do all EV tariffs require a smart charger?
No. Smart-dispatch tariffs like Intelligent Octopus Go and E.ON Next Drive Smart require a compatible EV or charger so the supplier's platform can schedule charging automatically. Fixed-window tariffs like Octopus Go, EDF GoElectric, E.ON Next Drive Fixed and British Gas EV Power work with any home charger that has a timer function, including basic wallboxes. If you are choosing a charger, our charger types guide covers the difference between smart and basic units and which tariffs each unlocks.
Can I get an EV tariff if I rent?
Yes, in principle, as long as the property has a smart meter installed and the energy bill is in your name. Your landlord's permission is required if installing a home charger, and renters with off-street parking may qualify for the EV chargepoint grant of up to £500 towards the cost. The tariff itself is a separate matter from the charger and follows the energy account, not the property.
What happens to my EV tariff if I move house?
Most suppliers let you transfer the tariff to a new address provided the new property has a smart meter and you are still eligible (some smart tariffs require a compatible EV or charger at the new property). Check the specific transfer policy with the supplier before you move; some require a fresh application even within the same brand. The exit fees on contracts like EDF GoElectric do not usually apply if you are moving home rather than switching supplier, but confirm before you commit.
Does the EV tariff apply to my whole home or just my car?
Whole home for all the per-kWh tariffs on this page. Intelligent Octopus Go, Octopus Go, E.ON Next Drive Smart, EDF GoElectric and British Gas EV Power all apply the off-peak rate to every kilowatt-hour your home uses during the off-peak window, not just the kilowatt-hours that flow into the car. Shifting your dishwasher, washing machine, immersion heater and any other planned overnight load into the window is part of how the saving figures land where they do. OVO Charge Anytime works differently because it is a subscription separate from your home tariff; in OVO's structure the home tariff and the charging product are billed separately.
Sources
- Octopus Energy: Intelligent Octopus Go tariff page — accessed 28 May 2026
- Octopus Energy: Go tariff page — accessed 28 May 2026
- E.ON Next: Next Drive Smart tariff page — accessed 28 May 2026
- E.ON Next: Next Drive tariff page — accessed 28 May 2026
- EDF Energy: GoElectric tariff page — accessed 28 May 2026
- EDF Energy: EV tariffs hub — accessed 28 May 2026
- British Gas: EV tariffs guidance — accessed 28 May 2026
- OVO Energy: Charge Anytime tariff page — accessed 28 May 2026
- OVO Energy: Charge Anytime FAQs — accessed 28 May 2026
Sources: Methodology callout above; full process at /methodology/.
Corrections: if we got something wrong, tell us and we'll fix it in public, dated and signed. Last updated 2 June 2026.