The Government Review That Could Cut What You Pay to Charge Your EV at a Public Charger

The UK government has formally launched an independent review of the cost of public electric vehicle charging, with a report expected by autumn 2026. For the estimated two million British drivers who currently have no access to a driveway or a private charging point, the review matters more than any other policy development in the EV space right now. Their only option for charging is the public network, and that network has become dramatically more expensive over the past five years.

Industry analysis cited in the government’s own terms of reference shows that average public charging prices rose by 38 percent between 2021 and 2025. A driver using public rapid chargers to cover the same annual mileage as a home charger user now spends approximately £1,760 a year on charging, compared to around £680 for someone who charges mainly overnight at home on a dedicated home energy tariff. That gap of more than £1,000 per year is not simply a reflection of energy costs. It includes the costs of installing, maintaining and profiting from the public charging infrastructure. The review will examine all of it.

Who Is Running the Review and How It Works

The government appointed Philip New as independent chair of the review when the terms of reference were published on 9 June 2026. New will lead a process developed in collaboration with Ofgem, the energy regulator, and supported by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, a joint unit of the Department for Transport and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The review will report to ministers in three government departments: Transport, Energy Security and Net Zero, and HM Treasury. That cross-departmental structure reflects the fact that the cost of public EV charging is driven by policy decisions that span several parts of government, from energy regulation to taxation to infrastructure funding.

Where relevant policies are devolved, the review will take into account the positions of the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive. This matters in practice because devolved administrations have some control over local planning rules and how public charging networks are funded in their respective nations.

What the Review Will Actually Examine

The terms of reference set out eight specific areas the review will address. These include how public charging costs have changed in recent years and why; how they are likely to change in the future without government intervention; how public charging costs compare to the cost of fuelling a petrol or diesel car; whether cost savings from policy changes would actually be passed on to consumers; and what the impact of any proposed changes would be on other energy consumers, not just EV drivers.

The review will also consider fleet operators who charge at private depots, not just individual drivers using the public network. Fleet charging is a significant part of the overall market, particularly for commercial vehicles, and the costs involved affect a wide range of businesses.

One of the most contentious issues in public charging has been the VAT disparity. Home electricity for EV charging is taxed at 5 percent VAT. Public charging is taxed at the standard 20 percent rate. Critics have long argued that this discrepancy effectively penalises drivers who have no home charging option, because they are paying four times as much in VAT for the same activity as those who can charge at home. However, the government has confirmed that the review will not make tax recommendations, as changes to VAT and other taxes are reserved for fiscal events such as the Budget. The review will include tax in its overall cost analysis but will not be proposing tax reforms.

What Rapid Chargers Currently Cost and Why It Matters

Public rapid chargers, the higher-powered units found at motorway service areas and some supermarket car parks, currently average 79p per kilowatt-hour in the UK. A typical medium-sized family EV with a 60kWh battery might cost around £47 to charge from nearly empty to full at that rate. The same car charged overnight at home on an off-peak EV tariff, the cheapest home charging option, might cost £5 to £7 for the same amount of energy.

The difference is partly explained by the higher cost of rapid charging infrastructure compared to a standard home charger, the power requirements of operating a high-voltage charging station, and the lower utilisation rates of public chargers compared to domestic chargers used daily. But it also reflects profit margins, fragmented market competition, and a lack of the kind of standardised pricing transparency that would allow drivers to compare costs easily across different networks.

The review will examine all of these cost contributors, including how the structure of the energy market affects what charging networks pay for electricity and how much of that cost is passed on to drivers.

Drivers Without a Driveway Face a Harder Choice

The gap between home and public charging costs has a real effect on which drivers choose to switch to electric vehicles. Research consistently shows that drivers who can charge at home find the economics of EV ownership highly favourable: lower fuel costs, cheaper maintenance and government incentives combine to make a compelling case. For drivers in flats, terraced streets without driveways, or properties where a home charger simply cannot be installed, the calculation is far less attractive.

An EV owner in this position who relies entirely on the public network may find that their fuel costs are not much lower than a petrol or diesel car, or in some cases are higher when rapid charging costs are factored in against the price of petrol. The government’s stated goal of transitioning the UK’s vehicle fleet to zero emission is significantly harder to achieve if the cost of charging remains punishing for the tens of millions of people who lack off-street parking.

The review will specifically consider the impact of greater access to domestic charging for more drivers, and the implications of possible pricing interventions for those who cannot charge at home. This is the part of the review’s scope that most directly affects the experience of less affluent and less property-privileged EV owners and potential owners.

What Could Actually Change as a Result

The review is tasked with proposing options and recommendations for reducing public charging costs. The areas it can consider include regulation, government funding routes, market-based trading schemes, dynamic pricing, and actions by the relevant regulators. This is a broad brief, and the outcome could range from relatively minor transparency improvements to fundamental changes in how charging networks are regulated and what they are allowed to charge.

Some industry analysts expect the review to recommend a form of price cap or transparency obligation similar to the rules that apply to fuel retailers, who are required to display prices clearly and report pricing data to a national database. Others expect recommendations around reducing the non-energy costs of public charging, such as network fees and connection charges, that currently make up a significant portion of the per-kilowatt-hour price.

The report is expected in autumn 2026. Whatever it recommends, any regulatory changes that follow will take additional time to implement. But the review itself signals that the government accepts the case for intervention in a market that, left to itself, has produced a pricing structure that undermines the logic of switching to electric for a significant proportion of the driving public.

Sources:

• GOV.UK: Cost of public EV charging review: terms of reference
• Regit: UK launches EV public charging price review