Published 8 December 2025
Britain’s biggest household energy supplier, Octopus Energy, has ignited a fresh row over the cost of running electric cars after confirming it will sharply restrict the cheap charging hours on its flagship EV tariff from January 2026. [1]
The move lands just as UK drivers brace for a new nationwide 3p‑per‑mile tax on electric vehicles from 2028 and noisy headlines about possible “driveway taxes” on paved front gardens. Taken together, home‑owning EV drivers with driveways now find themselves on the front line of Britain’s energy and climate transition.
What Octopus Energy is changing – and when
Octopus Energy, which overtook British Gas this year to become the UK’s largest household supplier, now serves around a quarter of British homes. [2] A big part of its growth story has been EV‑friendly tariffs, especially Intelligent Octopus Go (often shortened to Intelligent Go), marketed as “super‑cheap power for your whole home every night” with smart EV charging layered on top. [3]
In a blog post published on 4 December, Octopus confirmed that from late January 2026 it will start automatically enforcing a hard six‑hour limit on the amount of super‑cheap smart charging EV customers can use in any 24‑hour period. [4]
Under the new rules:
- Households will still get six hours of off‑peak electricity for the whole home every night between 11:30pm and 5:30am.
- On top of that, Octopus can schedule up to six hours of ultra‑cheap smart EV charging anywhere in the day, inside or outside that off‑peak window.
- Only the first six hours of actual EV charging in a 24‑hour period will qualify for the discounted “Intelligent” rate; any extra half‑hours are billed at the normal “bump” or day rate – even if they occur overnight. [5]
Octopus stresses that around 80% of charging sessions already finish within six hours, arguing that the change simply aligns real‑world use with the fair‑use cap that has always existed in the small print. [6]
However, the decision has quickly snowballed into a national story after The Telegraph and tabloid outlets reported that “Britain’s biggest energy provider is raising the cost of charging electric cars in a fresh blow to drivers” by limiting discount EV power to six hours a day. [7]
How much more could EV charging now cost?
The headline price of Intelligent Octopus Go hasn’t changed – what’s changing is how much energy you can realistically buy at that low rate.
Independent tariff trackers estimate that, as of November 2025, the typical Intelligent Octopus Go prices are: [8]
- Off‑peak (discounted) rate: ~7.5p per kWh
- Peak (standard) rate: ~29p per kWh
On a typical 7kW home charger:
- Six hours of cheap charging delivers about 42kWh.
- Many family EVs have usable battery capacities in the 60–80kWh range.
For drivers who regularly arrive home with a very low battery and need a full charge:
- Before, most or all of that charge could often be scheduled within the cheap window.
- After the change, only the first 42kWh would be at ~7.5p; the remainder would be billed around four times higher at ~29p.
For example, a 75kWh battery charged from near‑empty:
- Old world: 75kWh × 7.5p ≈ £5.60
- New world: 42kWh at 7.5p + 33kWh at 29p ≈ £12.70
That’s a bit more than double the cost of a full charge, in line with newspaper estimates that refilling some long‑range models could jump from “about a fiver” to low‑teens figures. [9]
The impact will vary hugely:
- Little or no change for drivers who mostly top up 20–40kWh a night (commuters, school‑run mileage).
- Moderate rises for medium‑range cars used for occasional long trips.
- Largest hit for:
- owners of big‑battery SUVs and luxury EVs, and
- high‑mileage users who regularly need 10+ hours of charging from a low state of charge.
It’s also worth remembering that Intelligent Go discounts your whole home’s electricity when the car is actively smart‑charging. That’s one reason some households have reportedly slowed their EV charging (“granny charging” at very low kW) to stretch out the cheap window for heating, laundry and other appliances – behaviour Octopus now explicitly says it is trying to stop. [10]
Why is Octopus doing this?
Octopus gives two main justifications:
- Keeping the cheap rate genuinely cheap
The company says that scheduling long charging sessions during higher wholesale price periods and periods of grid stress drives up the overall cost of providing the tariff. Capping discount hours per day is presented as a way to maintain low off‑peak prices for everyone and avoid cross‑subsidising the heaviest users. [11] - Cracking down on “gaming” the system
Both Octopus and customer forums acknowledge that some users deliberately slowed their charge rate or used workarounds so their EV would “pretend” to charge for many hours, effectively turning the car into a token that unlocked cheap electricity for the entire household. [12]
Octopus insists the change is not about pushing people off Intelligent Go onto other tariffs, and says it will continue to guarantee at least six hours of cheap energy for each household, regardless of how many EVs they own. [13]
Nonetheless, the optics are difficult. Public‑facing coverage – particularly in The Sun and regional titles – frames the change as a “fresh blow” that could cost some motorists hundreds of pounds more a year, coming on the heels of similar EV tariff hikes by rival OVO. [14]
Other EV tariffs are rising too
Octopus is not alone. OVO’s Charge Anytime tariff – once a darling of EV owners – has already been through its own painful reset:
- Pay‑as‑you‑go charging has risen to 14p/kWh, roughly double the original promotional rate. [15]
- New subscription bundles now package home and public charging for a fixed monthly fee (e.g. £27.50/month for roughly 700 miles of smart charging and public‑charging credit). [16]
Some light‑use drivers complain that under the revamped OVO model, if they don’t cover enough miles, their effective cost per kWh shoots up compared with old‑style simple off‑peak tariffs. [17]
At the same time:
- Ofgem has signed off a £28bn upgrade of Britain’s energy grids, a package expected to add about £108 a year to the average household bill by 2031 via higher network charges, although the regulator argues that efficiency gains and less imported gas should offset some of that. [18]
- The energy price cap itself has crept higher in October 2025, nudging standard electricity unit rates up again. [19]
So even before you factor in road taxes or speculative driveway charges, the electricity side of running an EV is getting structurally more expensive.
The new 3p‑per‑mile EV tax from 2028
Layered on top of rising electricity costs is a fundamental change to how EV drivers are taxed.
In the November 2025 Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that from April 2028 a new Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) will charge: [20]
- 3p per mile for fully electric cars
- 1.5p per mile for plug‑in hybrids
Key details from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and subsequent analysis:
- A “typical” EV driver travelling 8,500 miles a year would pay around £255 annually under the new system. [21]
- The levy will rise in line with inflation and sits on top of standard vehicle excise duty, which EVs only began paying in 2025. [22]
- OBR modelling suggests the tax could result in up to 440,000 fewer EV car sales between now and 2031 than previously forecast, even after accounting for offsetting incentives like a higher “expensive car” threshold for EVs. [23]
Industry figures have been scathing. Auto Trader’s commercial director Ian Plummer warns the Chancellor is “driving with the handbrake on”, arguing that the tax “is likely to reduce demand for electric cars as it increases their lifetime cost”. [24]
Today (8 December), The Scotsman reports that the Scottish Liberal Democrats and rural transport campaigners are urging the UK Government to shield rural EV drivers from the full impact of pay‑per‑mile, by extending existing fuel duty relief schemes or creating equivalent discounts for electric cars in sparsely populated areas. They argue that rural residents often drive much further than the UK average and face fewer public transport options, meaning they could pay significantly more than the headline £250 figure. [25]
Driveway ‘taxes’ and stormwater charges: what’s actually on the table?
Alongside EV‑specific changes, millions of homeowners have been rattled by viral stories claiming that “UK households with driveways face a new £49 charge per month from January” or that “every house with a driveway” will be “charged per metre” under new tax plans.
These headlines trace back to a real but more nuanced policy debate:
- In July 2024, the London Climate Resilience Review, commissioned by Mayor Sadiq Khan, recommended exploring “stormwater charges” for properties that pave over gardens and driveways with impermeable surfaces. The aim is to cut flood risk and raise funds for climate adaptation by incentivising permeable, “spongier” urban landscapes. [26]
- Media coverage – from the Evening Standard to the Daily Mail – and a wave of Facebook posts and YouTube videos quickly dubbed this the “driveway tax”, often implying it was already decided policy or would be rolled out nationwide. [27]
- Regional outlets and social channels frequently linked back to the same story under click‑friendly headlines such as “All homes with driveways to be ‘charged per metre’ in new tax plans” and “new driveway charge confirmed for UK households”. [28]
Crucially, as of 8 December 2025:
- Stormwater/driveway levies remain proposals and recommendations, not a passed UK‑wide tax.
- Any actual charges would require concrete political decisions and likely vary by city or council area.
- The London report explicitly treats stormwater fees as one of many options, alongside incentives to remove paving and invest in green infrastructure. [29]
That hasn’t stopped the idea from gaining traction in the climate policy world. Engineering consultancies and campaigners now routinely discuss “driveway taxes” as a tool to manage flood risk and urban runoff – while critics warn of yet another cost piled onto homeowners, including those encouraged to install EV chargers on newly paved drives. [30]
For now, though, there is no signed‑and‑sealed £49‑a‑month charge on every UK driveway. The Birmingham Mail‑style stories circulating this week are better understood as worst‑case interpretations of a London‑focused climate resilience proposal, not an imminent national law.
What it all means for EV drivers and homeowners
Put together, three overlapping trends are reshaping the economics of driving electric in Britain:
- Electricity is getting structurally pricier
- Network upgrades, rising wholesale prices and tighter fair‑use rules mean the days of almost unlimited 5–8p/kWh home charging look numbered.
- Smart tariffs still undercut petrol on a pure “fuel cost per mile” basis, but the gap is narrowing – especially for heavier users and those without driveways who rely on public chargers, where VAT remains at 20% vs 5% for domestic electricity. [31]
- Road tax is shifting from the pump to the odometer
- EV drivers who once enjoyed zero vehicle excise duty will soon pay both annual VED and per‑mile charges, while petrol and diesel drivers continue to benefit from a long‑running freeze in fuel duty. [32]
- Land and infrastructure are becoming tax bases too
- From congestion and clean‑air zones to mooted stormwater/driveway fees, governments and cities are increasingly turning to where vehicles are parked and how land is paved as levers to raise revenue and meet environmental goals. [33]
For many early EV adopters who justified the higher purchase price with the promise of ultra‑cheap running costs, this evolving landscape feels like goalposts being moved mid‑game.
How drivers can respond now
While you can’t control tax policy, there are practical steps EV owners and would‑be buyers can take today:
1. Audit your charging pattern
Look at a typical week:
- If you rarely need more than 40–45kWh in one overnight session, Octopus’s new six‑hour cap may barely touch you.
- High‑mileage drivers or owners of very large‑battery cars might consider:
- Charging little and often, plugging in most nights rather than running the battery low and doing huge top‑ups.
- Checking whether your charger is set to sensible power levels – deliberately de‑rating it to game cheap hours is now more likely to backfire.
2. Compare EV tariffs – not just brands
Different households benefit from different models:
- If you drive a lot of miles and can consistently charge overnight, a simple two‑rate tariff with a long cheap window might still beat a smart‑charging plan that caps cheap hours.
- If you have irregular patterns or use public chargers heavily, a subscription bundle (home + public) might be simpler, even if per‑kWh headline rates look higher.
Independent guides that track EV tariffs monthly are invaluable here; they often show savings of several hundred pounds per year between best‑ and worst‑value deals for the same usage profile. [34]
3. Factor 3p‑per‑mile into your next car decision
For new buyers, it’s worth doing some quick maths:
- At 8,500 miles a year, 3p per mile is ~£255, roughly equivalent to about 70–80 litres of petrol duty at current rates – still far less than fuel duty plus VAT on a typical petrol car’s fuel bill. [35]
- EVs are still expected to be significantly cheaper to “fuel” than internal‑combustion cars on a per‑mile basis, but the advantage is narrowing as both electricity prices and EV‑specific taxes rise.
Being explicit about these numbers when choosing between an EV, a hybrid and a petrol car will help avoid nasty surprises down the line.
4. Watch, but don’t panic about, driveway and stormwater charges
If you own a paved driveway:
- Keep an eye on local authority consultations – especially in London and other big cities – about stormwater or impermeable‑surface charges.
- Consider whether future‑proofing your property with more permeable paving, rain gardens or additional planting might both reduce flood risk and position you better if such charges ever come in. [36]
There is no national £49‑per‑month driveway tax today, but the policy direction is clearly towards making hard, impermeable surfaces pay more of the environmental bill.
The bottom line
On 8 December 2025, the UK’s EV and energy landscape looks very different from the world early adopters bought into a few years ago:
- Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Go tariff, used by more than a quarter of a million drivers, will soon deliver cheap power for a strictly limited six hours of charging per day. [37]
- From 2028, a new pay‑per‑mile tax will charge EVs 3p for every mile driven, with official forecasts of up to 440,000 fewer EV sales as a result. [38]
- Stormwater and driveway‑charge proposals remain just that – proposals – but they signal a future where paving over front gardens is no longer financially neutral. [39]
For policymakers committed to net zero, the challenge now is to reassure households that switching to electric still makes financial sense, even as the tax system adapts to a world with far less petrol and diesel. For drivers and homeowners, the message is simpler but more uncomfortable: cheap motoring can no longer be taken for granted, even if your car plugs into the wall instead of a petrol pump.
References
1. www.reuters.com, 2. www.reuters.com, 3. octopus.energy, 4. octopus.energy, 5. octopus.energy, 6. octopus.energy, 7. www.reddit.com, 8. energy-stats.uk, 9. www.reddit.com, 10. octopus.energy, 11. octopus.energy, 12. www.reddit.com, 13. octopus.energy, 14. www.thesun.co.uk, 15. www.moneysavingexpert.com, 16. www.electrive.com, 17. www.theguardian.com, 18. news.sky.com, 19. www.whatcar.com, 20. www.theguardian.com, 21. www.standard.co.uk, 22. www.standard.co.uk, 23. www.standard.co.uk, 24. www.standard.co.uk, 25. www.scotsman.com, 26. www.theguardian.com, 27. www.standard.co.uk, 28. www.facebook.com, 29. www.theguardian.com, 30. browncarguy.com, 31. www.theguardian.com, 32. www.theguardian.com, 33. www.theguardian.com, 34. www.moneysavingexpert.com, 35. www.standard.co.uk, 36. www.theguardian.com, 37. www.reddit.com, 38. www.standard.co.uk, 39. www.theguardian.com
