UK sets aside £100m to cut neighbourhood charging costs

The UK government will put £100 million into reducing the cost of neighbourhood public EV charging from spring 2027, targeting drivers who cannot plug in on their own driveway.

The funding will run for two years and cover lower-powered public chargers near homes, including residential-street equipment used for longer stays and overnight charging. HM Treasury estimates that affected drivers could save around £150 a year.

The announcement, published on 28 October, also backs an industry-led taskforce on tariff porting. That would explore allowing drivers to use a domestic electricity tariff at certain public charging points. The Department for Transport is due to set out further details.

For households without off-street parking, the price of routine local charging is a significant part of the cost of owning an EV. The package addresses that everyday use rather than promising an across-the-board reduction at motorway fast chargers.

Prices still await the scheme details

The Treasury has not set out a customer application process or the prices that individual sites will charge. The £150 figure is its estimate of an average annual saving, not a payment drivers can claim now.

How the funding reaches the charging bill will be central to the scheme: which sites qualify, how operators apply the support and whether the reduction is available through different payment methods. Until then, current tariffs remain the basis for comparing local charging options.

Sources

• HM Treasury: charging-cost announcement, 28 October 2026
• electrive: reporting on the charging-cost announcement, 29 October 2026