No VAT on home electricity until April 2027: what it means for charging your EV

Household electricity in England, Scotland and Wales carries no VAT from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, down from 5%. It covers every unit through your home meter, so overnight EV charging gets cheaper by the same 4.76% as everything else, and you do not need to do anything. Public charging is not covered: it stays at the standard rate of VAT.

Since 1 October 2026 there has been no VAT on household electricity in England, Scotland and Wales. The usual 5% rate comes back on 1 April 2027 unless the government extends the cut. If you charge an electric car at home, every kilowatt-hour that goes through your home meter is covered, including overnight charging on an EV tariff.

What has changed

HMRC’s policy paper, published on 8 September 2026 after the change was announced on 21 July, sets out a temporary zero rate of VAT for domestic electricity:

• Dates: 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027.
• Where: Great Britain only. Household electricity in Northern Ireland stays at the reduced rate of 5%.
• What: electricity only. Gas and other domestic fuels stay at 5% across the UK.
• What you need to do: nothing. HMRC says the reduction is applied automatically by your supplier.

HMRC’s paper notes that households benefit to the extent that suppliers pass the saving on. Several suppliers, including So Energy and Good Energy, have said the cut applies to all their tariffs, fixed ones included.

What it means for charging at home

Removing 5% VAT cuts any price that includes it by 4.76% (one twenty-first). If your supplier has not changed its price before VAT, your overnight EV rate falls by that much from 1 October.

Intelligent Octopus Go shows how this works. Octopus’s fixed version that was on sale in September cost 8.4p per kWh overnight including VAT, and the same contract became 8p from 1 October. On 2,000 kWh of overnight charging a year, that is the difference between £168 and £160.

The energy price cap reflects the change too. Ofgem’s cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 puts the average electricity unit rate at 26.32p per kWh and the standing charge at 54.83p a day, with no VAT on electricity. Ofgem points out that these figures cannot be compared directly with earlier periods, because those included VAT. Our price cap explainer has the detail.

Public charging is not covered

The zero rate applies to electricity supplied to homes. HMRC’s fuel and power guidance says charging an electric vehicle at a charge point in a public place is always standard-rated for VAT, however much electricity you use. Rapid chargers, supermarket chargers and lamp-post chargers are therefore unaffected.

That widens the gap between charging at home and charging in public, which was already large. Our public charging guides cover what the main networks charge.

Check your next bill

You do not need to contact your supplier. Your first bill or statement that covers October should show 0% VAT on electricity. If it still shows 5% on electricity used after 1 October, ask your supplier to correct it.

What happens in April 2027

Unless the government extends the cut, VAT on household electricity goes back to 5% on 1 April 2027. Every electricity price, including EV tariff rates, will then rise by 5%. We will update our EV tariff comparison and this story when that happens.

Rates correct as of October 2026 and include 0% VAT on household electricity, which applies until 31 March 2027. Rates vary by region and can change, so check with the supplier directly.