Home › Guides › What it really costs to charge an EV at home versus in public
EV chargingWhat it really costs to charge an EV at home versus in public
Charging at home on an off-peak window costs a fraction of the public price, and the gap is almost entirely down to which tariff you are on rather than which charger you bought. Here is the arithmetic, with every input laid out so you can substitute your own.
Updated 4 August 2026 · written by the Clearline guidance team
The short answer
For the price cap period running 1 July to 30 September 2026, the average capped electricity unit rate is 26.11p per kWh. Overnight EV tariff rates currently sit between 6.99p and 9p, a discount of roughly 65 to 73% on every unit you can move into the cheap window. Public charging is priced by the network operator rather than by your supplier, and it is not covered by the price cap at all.
The charger is not what saves you the money
Every compliant home unit delivers the same 7kW or 7.4kW on a single phase supply. What separates a cheap year from an expensive one is whether your electricity is bought at an overnight rate, at the capped rate, or at whatever the screen on a public unit says. Buying the right charger matters mainly because it lets you access the right tariff.
The arithmetic, on your own car
Work out what a mile costs you in kWh
A 7kW charger adds roughly 25 to 35 miles of range an hour, so a mile takes somewhere between 0.20 and 0.28 kWh depending on the car, the season and how you drive. That makes 1,000 miles worth 200 to 280 kWh. Your car's own trip computer will give you a tighter figure if you have one.
Find the rate you actually pay at home
Not the headline rate on the advert, the rate on your bill for the hours your car is plugged in. If you are on a standard tariff with no overnight window, use the capped average of 26.11p as your starting point until you check your own statement.
Read the public price before you plug in
Public prices are shown on the unit and in the network's app, and they vary by operator, by charging speed and sometimes by time of day. Take the number you are actually being charged, not a remembered one.
Multiply, then compare like for like
Cost per 1,000 miles equals kWh per mile multiplied by 1,000, multiplied by the price per kWh. Leave standing charges out of both sides: the capped average of 57.19p a day is payable whether or not you own a car, so it does not belong in a per mile comparison.
What 1,000 miles costs at home
| Where the electricity comes from | Rate | Cost per 1,000 miles |
|---|---|---|
| The cheapest overnight window on the market | 6.99p/kWh | £14 to £20 |
| A typical smart EV tariff window | 8p/kWh | £16 to £22 |
| A fixed overnight EV tariff | 9p/kWh | £18 to £25 |
| An EV only add-on with no fixed window | 14p/kWh | £28 to £39 |
| No EV tariff at all, capped average rate | 26.11p/kWh | £52 to £73 |
Unit cost only, standing charge excluded. Energy per mile of 0.20 to 0.28 kWh derived from the 25 to 35 miles of range a 7kW charger adds per hour. Rates checked 3 August 2026 and region dependent.
One caveat on the cheap rows. Most overnight EV tariffs are whole-home two-rate deals, which means the daytime rate typically sits above the capped average, so a household that uses a lot of electricity in the afternoon hands some of the saving back. That trade-off, and the tariffs that avoid it, are worked through in EV tariffs and charging windows, and our tariff guidance carries the date each rate was checked.
And what the same 1,000 miles costs in public
| Public price on the screen | Cost per 1,000 miles | Multiple of an 8p home rate |
|---|---|---|
| 30p/kWh | £60 to £84 | 3.8 times |
| 40p/kWh | £80 to £112 | 5 times |
| 50p/kWh | £100 to £140 | 6.3 times |
| 60p/kWh | £120 to £168 | 7.5 times |
| 70p/kWh | £140 to £196 | 8.8 times |
| 80p/kWh | £160 to £224 | 10 times |
This is arithmetic, not a price list. Clearline does not publish public network prices because they differ by operator and speed and change often. Find the row nearest the price you are being charged.
Two different products sold by the kWh
A public rapid charger is buying you time, not just electricity. It has to fund the hardware, the grid connection, the site rent and the maintenance out of the unit price, and it delivers in twenty minutes what a home charger takes hours to do. Comparing the two on price alone is fair for daily commuting and unfair for a motorway stop, which is why most EV households end up using both.
When a home charger pays for itself
A 7kW smart charger typically costs £800 to £1,200 installed, made up of roughly £400 to £700 for the unit and £400 to £500 for the labour. London and the South East commonly run £900 to £1,500, and complex jobs with long cable runs, groundworks or a consumer unit upgrade reach £1,200 to £1,500 or more. The table below uses £1,000 as the working figure and an 8p home overnight rate. What happens on the day, and the two things that delay most jobs, is covered in what an EV charger installation involves.
| Public price you are replacing | Saving per kWh | Miles to repay a £1,000 installation |
|---|---|---|
| 30p/kWh | 22p | 16,200 to 22,700 |
| 40p/kWh | 32p | 11,200 to 15,600 |
| 50p/kWh | 42p | 8,500 to 11,900 |
| 60p/kWh | 52p | 6,900 to 9,600 |
| 70p/kWh | 62p | 5,800 to 8,100 |
| 80p/kWh | 72p | 5,000 to 6,900 |
Against an 8p overnight home rate on a £1,000 installed cost. The wider end of each range is the more efficient car, which uses fewer kWh and therefore saves less per mile. Where the £500 chargepoint grant applies, halve every figure in the right hand column.
Twenty minutes on a video call with your mileage, your tariff and your fuse rating in front of us gives you the real number rather than a table of ranges. That is what the free design call is for, and nothing is sold to you on it.
Get your free quote →The two things a home charger will not do
The first is speed. A 7kW unit running for a six hour off-peak window delivers about 42 kWh, which is 150 to 210 miles of range. That covers almost any normal week, and it is why 7kW is enough to fully charge any UK EV overnight, but it cannot replace a rapid charger on a 400 mile day. The second is filling that window from a three pin socket. A granny cable draws around 2.3kW, so the same six hours yields roughly 13.8 kWh, or 50 to 70 miles, which means anything beyond light use spills into the expensive daytime rate. Granny cables are an emergency tool, not a cheap alternative to an installed unit.
No driveway, no off-street parking
- The grant is now £500 per socket. The OZEV chargepoint grant cap rose from £350 to £500 on 1 April 2026, and it covers renters, flat owners and landlords.
- On-street parking can qualify. Households with only on-street parking are covered where an approved cross-pavement solution is used, which is what removes the trailing cable problem.
- An OZEV approved installer is required. The grant is claimed through the installer, so check approval status before you accept a quote.
- Owner-occupied houses with driveways get nothing. The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme closed to them in April 2022, so budget the full installed cost.
- New builds in England already have provision. Since 15 June 2022, Part S of the Building Regulations has required new homes with associated parking to have a charge point of at least 7kW, or a cable route where a charge point is not feasible.
Charging is rarely the only thing moving on a house. If solar panels are on the list, surplus generation can go into the car instead of the grid, and the mechanism is explained in how solar aware EV charging works. Add battery storage and the same cheap overnight window fills both. County pages across the site carry local calculators that model the three together, reachable from the coverage map, and the wider EV charging guide covers the hardware side.
Clearline gives independent guidance and does not install or sell energy. Installations are carried out by an MCS-certified installation team for your area. Suppliers and manufacturers are named for factual comparison only. Rates are region dependent and change frequently, so confirm directly with the supplier before switching.
Charging cost questions, answered
Is charging at home always cheaper than public charging?
In practice yes, and usually by a wide margin. On an overnight EV tariff at 8p per kWh, 1,000 miles costs £16 to £22 of electricity. The same mileage bought at a public price of 60p costs £120 to £168. Even with no EV tariff at all, the capped average of 26.11p puts 1,000 miles at £52 to £73. Public charging buys speed and convenience rather than cheap energy.
How much does it cost to charge an EV overnight at home?
Work it as kWh added multiplied by your overnight rate. A 7kW charger running the full six hours of a typical off-peak window delivers around 42 kWh, which is £2.94 at 6.99p, £3.36 at 8p and £3.78 at 9p. At the capped average rate of 26.11p the same 42 kWh costs £10.97. That 42 kWh is worth roughly 150 to 210 miles of range.
Do I need an EV tariff to make home charging worthwhile?
No, but it is where most of the saving sits. Charging at the capped average rate of 26.11p is still cheaper than most public charging, so a home unit pays back either way. Moving onto an overnight window at 6.99p to 9p roughly triples the advantage. Check the daytime rate as well as the overnight one, because whole-home tariffs usually price peak hours above the cap.
How long does it take a home charger to pay for itself?
It depends on the price you are replacing and how far you drive. Against public charging at 50p per kWh and with a home rate of 8p, a £1,000 installation repays itself in roughly 8,500 to 11,900 miles. Against 70p it falls to 5,800 to 8,100 miles. Where the £500 chargepoint grant applies, those distances halve.
Can I just use a three pin plug instead of installing a charger?
Only for occasional use. A granny cable delivers around 2.3kW and adds roughly 8 to 15 miles of range an hour, so a six hour off-peak window yields only about 50 to 70 miles. Anything more spills into daytime rates. It also draws a continuous load for ten hours or more from a socket and wiring never designed for that, which is a safety issue rather than a cost one.
Does solar make home charging cheaper still?
It can, though not as reliably as an overnight tariff. A solar aware charger reads surplus generation through a clamp on your meter and follows it, but the charging protocol has a floor of about 1.4kW, so on a dull day there is often not enough surplus to start. Solar is strongest for daytime charging in summer; an off-peak window is what covers the rest of the year.
Is the £500 chargepoint grant available to me?
It covers renters, flat owners and landlords, plus households with only on-street parking where an approved cross-pavement solution is used. Off-street parking or that approved solution is required, and the work must be done by an OZEV approved installer. Owner-occupied houses with driveways are not eligible, because that scheme closed to them in April 2022.
See the numbers next: Tesla Powerwall 3, installed, or what a battery costs.
Figures and specifications in this guide are sourced below and were checked on the date shown. Rates and product specifications change; we confirm the current picture on your free design call.
Sources
- Ofgem price cap 1 July to 30 September 2026, average electricity unit rate 26.11p per kWh and average standing charge 57.19p a day ofgem.gov.uk
- Intelligent Octopus Go smart charging from 8p per kWh with a 23:30 to 05:30 whole-home window octopus.energy
- EDF GoElectric Overnight at 6.99p per kWh, 11pm to 6am edfenergy.com
- E.ON Next Drive at 8p and 9p per kWh, midnight to 6am eonnext.com
- OVO Charge Anytime at 14p per kWh smart charging with no fixed window ovoenergy.com
- Typical installed cost of a 7kW smart charger, £800 to £1,200 with regional and complexity variation totalskills.co.uk
- EV chargepoint grant for renters and flat owners, £500 per socket from 1 April 2026 find-government-grants.service.gov.uk
- Charging speeds, 7kW adding 25 to 35 miles of range per hour and a granny cable around 2.3kW proev.co.uk
- Granny cable safety and sustained load on domestic sockets mackie-electrical.co.uk
- Part S of the Building Regulations, EV charge point provision in new homes in England planningportal.co.uk
Read next
Charging an EV from your own solar
Every surplus kWh is 3.6 to 5 miles. Whether that beats a 7p overnight rate is arithmetic.
Read the guide →How time of use charging windows actually work
How a cheap overnight window is metered and billed, and what a battery does inside it.
Read the guide →Do solar panels increase home value? What the actual data shows
The largest UK study found a 6.1% to 7.1% sale price premium. Here is the full picture.
Read the guide →