UK puts £100 million into cheaper near-home public charging from spring 2027

The UK government announced on October 28, 2026, in the Autumn Budget, that it will spend £100 million over two years, starting in spring 2027, to cut prices at lower-powered public chargers near homes. These are the chargers on residential streets where a car stands for hours or overnight, about a third of the public network according to HM Treasury. The Treasury puts the saving at about £150 a year for an average driver who relies on them. How the money will reach drivers is not yet known: electrive notes it is unclear whether operators will be subsidised directly or reimbursed for discounts.

The pledge follows the independent review of public charging costs announced at Budget 2025. It found that since 2021, average prices rose 69 percent in real terms at lower-powered chargers and 94 percent at higher-powered ones. A second measure comes from the same review: an industry taskforce on tariff porting, letting drivers use their cheaper home energy tariff at certain public chargers. The Department for Transport will give details later. VAT on public charging stays at 20 percent.

What it means

A price cut at a street charger lands in the tariff the operator sets per charge point. Tariff porting goes further: the price of a session would depend on who plugs in, not only on the charger. Both run in the backend. Plugchoice keeps that kind of logic in the platform as well: its smart charging reaches the charger over OCPP and can follow a day and night schedule or hourly UK prices.

Sources: GOV.UK, HM Treasury, October 28, 2026, electrive, October 29, 2026, Zapmap, October 28, 2026.