The energy price cap: How is EV charging affected?

We’ve all heard the news. The energy price cap has rocked everyone in the UK, worrying about their rise in energy bills and, ultimately, dissuading petrol and diesel drivers to make the switch to electric.

Though, according to Which, charging your electric car at home remains to be cheaper than petrol and diesel equivalents.

There are many false reports and opinions out there on whether fuel now works out to be more cost-efficient than electric car charging, now with the energy price cap. But we’re here to prove those theories wrong.

How does the energy price cap affect EV charging?

Most recently (as of 24th November 2022), Ofgem announced a quarterly update to the energy price cap: that, for the first three months of 2023, the energy price cap will increase to an annual level of £4,279. However, bill-payers will still be protected by the Government’s Energy Price Guarantee until the end of March 2024.

The new Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) now replaces the previously announced £3,549 energy price cap, which took effect on 1st October 2022. While this still raises energy prices, electric cars across all classes will remain cheaper than diesel. That’s very good news.

While the costs of charging will still increase, it is not by as much as first thought. A driver charging at home will pay around 9p per mile, or £17.87 for an 80% charge, which will be reduced further for anyone on an EV-specific tariff.

This Is Money compared the petrol Volkswagen Golf hatchback and the electric Volkswagen ID.3 to see the difference in their annual cost to ‘fill up’ and ‘charge’. They found that the Golf, to cover 10,000 miles over a year, would need to be filled with fuel 19 times. This works out at (based on current fuel prices) a total of £1,619 – which is £454 more than the domestic charging costs for the electric ID.3.

Public charging has always been more expensive than home charging, so there is no change there. Charging from home remains to be the cheapest option, so it is best to have your own home charger than relying on the latter.

Quite simply, charging at home is still cheaper than filling up your petrol car, even if you don’t charge during the cheaper off-peak times.

Whether you want to pay monthly for your home EV charger or you would prefer to pay upfront, you can get set with us.

What can help with energy bills?

Cleaner energy is the best way to tackle increasing energy prices – and solar, with or without battery storage, is the best and cheapest step in the right direction.

Before you turn away just at the thought of the upfront costs, let us tell you the benefits.

Solar

How often can you say that the grid pays you for your power?

Not only do solar panels allow you to generate your own green energy, but you can sell it, too.

Any solar power you don’t use, you can sell it back to the grid. If more people owned solar panels and a lot of energy was in demand for a big event, the grid would reach out and pay to use your power.

Octopus Energy has increased their payments to self-generating customers for their solar energy, now paying three times more per kWh than any other UK energy supplier – all to help customers with their energy bills this winter.

People are mostly put off solar by the thought of their payback time. Some say 20 years, but this is outdated and one of the many solar myths. We say 10 years – but this is considerably decreased depending on the number of panels you have, the rising electricity costs, and whether you have a home battery installed.

The higher energy prices go, the shorter your payback time is. What’s more, when you have solar installed, worrying about energy prices becomes a thing of the past. It’s a win-win.

Storage

Pairing your solar panels with a battery saves you as much as 90% on your energy bills.

Battery storage makes the most out of your solar panels to store and save the energy you are generating. Needing power at night? Your home battery uses the solar power it stored over the day. Not at home to use the power your panels are generating? You guessed it – your battery stores it for you.

But saving both energy and money is all but one of the benefits of battery storage.

While owning a battery helps you get closer to becoming self-sufficient, you can still use the grid – and to your advantage, too.

During winter, a battery comes in handy when you’re unlikely to produce the same amount of solar power you need for your home, so you can buy energy from the grid to help. But, here’s the good part: you can get energy when it’s at its cheapest. It’s the same as charging your electric car overnight. At off-peak times, energy is in less demand so is cheaper, and you can schedule to top-up your battery and store that energy for when you need it, like during shorter daylight hours.

Even with ever-growing energy prices, you will never pay peak grid prices again.

Yes, the upfront costs of installing both solar and battery storage systems can be off-putting, but the combination helps you save both energy and money in the long run. The payback time continues to reduce with the increasing cost of electricity, so it’s never been a better time to produce your own.

Once set, you forget they’re there and only reap their benefits: using clean energy, reducing your carbon footprint, saving money on your energy bills, adding value to your home – and not feeling the worry at the mention of new energy price caps.

The rising costs of electricity should be encouraging the switch to greener energy, not the opposite. The way to tackle the rising energy costs? Making your house a green home. We can help you there.

Get in touch with any questions or visit our EV charging, solar, and battery storage pages.