Smart charger rules and off peak EV tariffs: what the law makes your charger do
Running costs. 5 minute read
What the 2021 smart charging law makes a home charger do, which settings the owner controls, what is changing, and how much an overnight EV tariff saves against the price cap.
Plug in at 6pm on a Tuesday with a new charger and nothing may happen. The likely reason is the law, not a fault. Under the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021, which came into force on 30 June 2022, a home charger sold in England, Wales or Scotland must arrive with default charging hours set outside the peak, and 6pm on a weekday is inside it.
What the regulations require
| Requirement | What it means at home | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Smart functionality | The charger can send and receive information over the internet and change when and how fast it charges in response | 5 |
| Survives a change of supplier | Switching energy company must not stop the charger being smart | 6 |
| Works offline | If the connection drops, the car still charges | 7 |
| Measuring | It records the energy used and how long each charge took, and lets you see it | 9 |
| Default off peak hours | Preset hours that avoid 8am to 11am and 4pm to 10pm on weekdays | 10 |
| Randomised delay | Each charge can start up to 600 seconds late, so thousands of cars do not switch on at the same second | 11 |
| Security | Protection against hacking, based on the ETSI EN 303 645 standard, for chargers sold from 30 December 2022 | 12 and Schedule 1 |
The rules cover chargers for cars and vans. Public chargepoints and rapid chargers of 50kW or more are outside them, as are private second hand sales. Northern Ireland is not covered.
What you are allowed to change
The default hours. When the charger is first used, the owner can accept, change or remove the preset hours, and change them again later. Charging during the default hours can be overridden for a single session, for example before an unplanned long drive.
The weekend. The peak is defined as weekdays only. Guidance from the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) says so directly: "Peak hours do not apply at weekends."
The delay. The random wait of up to ten minutes can be cancelled by the owner. The charger also has to be capable of stretching it to 30 minutes on a remote signal. Chargers running on surplus from solar panels or a home battery get some leeway here: the regulator's guide to the regulations sets out a non enforcement position on the delay in that case, explained in our solar charging guide.
Enforcement is aimed at sellers and manufacturers, not drivers. OPSS can fine up to £10,000 per non compliant charger sold.
The tariff is what saves the money
The regulations steer charging away from peaks. The saving comes from the tariff. EV and time of use tariffs charge less per unit at set hours, usually overnight, and the Energy Saving Trust says you will typically need a smart meter to get one. Smart meters are free from your supplier, says Ofgem.
Some EV tariffs give the cheap rate to everything in the house during those hours. Others apply only to electricity drawn by the charger, which the Energy Saving Trust calls a type of use tariff. Economy 7 is different again: Which? says it is only available to homes heated by electricity, not those with gas.
A worked example
Take a household adding 30kWh to the car each week, all of it at home.
| Rate | Per week | Per year (52 weeks) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard variable tariff at the cap, fourth quarter of 2026 | 26.32p | £7.90 | £410.59 |
| An EV tariff at 7p overnight | 7p | £2.10 | £109.20 |
The 26.32p figure is Ofgem's GB average for the last quarter of 2026, when electricity carries no VAT. The 7p rate is the overnight figure Which? used in its charging cost guide, last checked in April 2026. Neither is a quote from a named supplier. On those figures the difference is £301.39 a year (1,560kWh at 19.32p less per unit), before any change in the daytime rate the household pays on the new tariff.
Before switching, take a year of meter readings or your supplier's annual statement and price your whole household's use on the new tariff, day and night. A cheap night rate that comes with a dearer day rate can eat the saving for a home that cooks, works and runs the washing machine in the daytime.
A charger that depends on an app
The honest downside of a smart charger is that much of it lives in an app and on the manufacturer's servers. Regulation 7 keeps the car charging if the internet drops, but schedules, tariff links and solar settings are managed through the app. If the manufacturer changes its app or stops supporting a model, those features can go with it. Ask an installer how long the model they suggest has been on sale and how its maker handles older units.
Changes on the way
The government consulted from December 2025 to February 2026 on Energy Smart Appliances Regulations that would replace the 2021 rules and carry them over with amendments. One proposal would let owners cancel the randomised delay only one charge at a time. As of 14 October 2026 the new regulations had not been laid before Parliament, and the 2021 regulations stand unamended.
Questions owners ask after installation
Does the charger have to be online all the time? No. It must keep charging if the connection is lost, and it needs the connection for schedules, tariff features and updates. Check the Wi Fi signal where the charger will hang before the installer arrives; a weak signal there is easier to plan for than to fix afterwards.
Can my charger earn money by charging at different times? Through the Demand Flexibility Service run by the National Energy System Operator, households are paid by a participating supplier for shifting use at set times. NESO says standard home EV chargers can take part with a working smart meter. Ask your supplier if it takes part.
Do the rules apply to a charger fitted before June 2022? No. Chargers sold before 30 June 2022 are outside the regulations, and repairs to them do not bring them in. A replacement under warranty after that date has to comply.
Installers listed under home EV charger installation set up the schedule and the tariff link when they commission a charger.