Every public EV charging price in Britain includes 20% VAT. Charge at home and you pay just 5% — one of the quieter reasons home charging is so much cheaper. In February 2026, a tax tribunal decided that difference may not be lawful for much of the public network. If the ruling stands, public charging prices could fall by roughly 12.5% overnight.
What was decided
On 27 February 2026, the First-tier Tribunal ruled that electricity supplied at public charge points can qualify for the reduced 5% VAT rate where supply to a customer at a given location stays under 1,000kWh a month — the long-standing “de minimis” threshold that treats small supplies like domestic ones. HMRC had insisted since 2021 that all public charging carries the standard 20% rate; the tribunal disagreed. The Treasury is reported to be assessing a cut to align public charging with the domestic rate — partly to soften the impact of the pay-per-mile levy proposed for 2028 (our explainer here).
What it would mean in real prices
VAT falling from 20% to 5% cuts a price by exactly 12.5% — if operators pass it through. Applied to real prices from our network data today:
| Charging today at | Current (20% VAT) | At 5% VAT |
|---|---|---|
| Lamppost charger (cheapest boroughs) | 32.5p/kWh | 28.4p/kWh |
| Lamppost charger (typical) | 55p/kWh | 48.1p/kWh |
| Rapid DC (typical) | 74p/kWh | 64.8p/kWh |
| Ultra-rapid (upper end) | 92p/kWh | 80.5p/kWh |
For a 60kWh charge on a typical rapid unit, that is about £5.50 back in your pocket — and it meaningfully shifts the petrol-versus-charging maths for drivers without home charging.
The caveats
- It isn’t law yet. First-tier Tribunal decisions bind only the case at hand; HMRC can appeal, and an Upper Tribunal ruling would carry far more weight.
- Pass-through isn’t automatic. Operators could pocket some of the difference — though public price transparency (every price we display is the advertised pay-as-you-go rate) makes quiet absorption harder.
- The 1,000kWh threshold matters. Heavy commercial users at one site could still fall outside the reduced rate.
We display VAT-inclusive prices for every public charger we track, so if the rate changes you will see it here first — the moment operators reprice, our data follows. We will keep this page updated as the case progresses.