Compared and dated, not guessed
Best EV tariff in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has two suppliers selling tariffs built specifically for electric cars, and on the rates we checked on 1 August 2026, Share Energy's Share EV undercuts Power NI's EV Nightshift on both the night rate and the day rate. Which one is actually best for you comes down to two things: whether you can get a day and night meter fitted, and how much of your electricity you use overnight.
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The short answer
- Cheapest overnight: Share Energy's Share EV at 15.56p per unit at night and 32.04p by day, including VAT, on Billpay or direct debit.
- Best without a meter change: Power NI's EV Anytime, one flat rate of 30.53p per unit that works on a standard or keypad meter.
- Some guides still say Northern Ireland has no EV-specific tariffs. It has three, from two suppliers, and they are listed in full below.
Rates checked 1 August 2026. We re-check every rate on this page monthly.
Every dedicated NI EV tariff, compared
These are the three tariffs sold specifically for electric car owners in Northern Ireland. Unit rates are shown including 5% VAT, with the excluding-VAT figure in brackets, and each is at the payment tier named in the table. Change payment method and the rate changes with it.
| Tariff | Night rate incl. VAT (excl.) | Day rate incl. VAT (excl.) | Standing charge | Off-peak window | Meter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share EV Share Energy Billpay / direct debit | 15.56p (14.82p) | 32.04p (30.51p) | 13.33p/day12.70p excl. VAT | 1am to 8am (2am to 9am in summer) | Day and night meter required |
| EV Nightshift Power NI Best Deal, monthly direct debit with online billing | 17.79p (16.94p) | 37.20p (35.43p) | 13.55p/day | 1am to 8am (2am to 9am in summer) | Day and night meter required |
| EV Anytime Power NI Best Deal, monthly direct debit with online billing | 30.53p (29.07p) | 30.53p (29.07p) | 13.55p/day12.91p excl. VAT | No night window, one rate all day | Works on a standard or keypad meter |
Rates checked 1 August 2026 against Power NI's electric vehicle tariff page and Share Energy's residential tariff page. Share EV is also sold on a keypad, at the same unit rates with a higher standing charge of 16.67p per day including VAT. Both suppliers use the same off-peak window: 1am to 8am in winter, 2am to 9am in summer.
What the gap is worth
Share EV's night rate is 2.23p per unit below EV Nightshift's, about 12.5% cheaper, and its day rate is 5.16p lower. On a 60kWh battery that is roughly £1.34 a full charge, so the saving is real but modest, and it can be wiped out by the rest of your household usage or by a payment tier you did not expect. Against Power NI's flat 30.53p EV Anytime, Share EV's day rate is higher, which is why there is no single "cheapest" answer here: it depends on your day and night split. Our fuller explainer on how NI EV tariffs work covers Economy 7 and the wider supplier picture.
Why comparisons of these tariffs disagree
If two pages on this subject give you two different sets of numbers, neither is necessarily lying. There are two ways a correct figure becomes a wrong comparison.
The first is VAT. Domestic electricity in Northern Ireland carries 5% VAT and suppliers publish both figures. Power NI's EV Nightshift night rate is 16.94p excluding VAT and 17.79p including it. Both are correct. Put one supplier's excluding-VAT rate next to another's including-VAT rate and you are out by roughly 5%, more than the gap you were trying to measure.
The second is the payment tier. Power NI publishes a different unit rate for keypad, monthly direct debit and quarterly direct debit, each with and without online billing. EV Nightshift's night rate runs from 17.79p on the best tier to 18.45p on quarterly direct debit, both including VAT. Share Energy's keypad customers pay the same units on a higher standing charge. A rate quoted without its tier is only half a fact.
That is why every figure here carries both VAT bases and the tier it belongs to. Match those two things before you conclude one supplier is cheaper than another.
Which one suits you
The cheapest headline rate is not automatically the cheapest bill. Find yourself below.
You charge overnight and can get a day/night meter
Share EV, at 15.56p a unit overnight, is the cheapest dedicated EV tariff in Northern Ireland on current rates. Set the charger to fill the car inside the 1am to 8am window and that is the rate you pay for almost all your miles.
You cannot get a day and night meter fitted
Power NI's EV Anytime at 30.53p a unit, all day, every day. It needs no special meter and it beats Share EV's 32.04p day rate, so it is the better single-rate option if the night window is out of reach.
You do most of your charging during the day
A single rate almost certainly wins. Both dual-rate EV tariffs charge 32.04p or 37.20p by day, which is more than EV Anytime's flat 30.53p, so a day-heavy household pays a premium for a night rate it never uses.
You are a low-mileage driver
Look at the standing charge and your whole household bill, not just the unit rate. At a few charges a month the 2.23p per unit gap between the two night rates is small, and the tariff that suits the rest of your usage will matter more.
Whichever way you go, the tariff only pays once the car charges inside the cheap window on its own. That is a job for the charger, and it is worth choosing a home charger that can schedule to your tariff rather than retrofitting the habit later. If you do not have one yet, see what a home charger costs to fit in Northern Ireland.
The suppliers we could not verify
Three more NI suppliers sell an Economy 7 style tariff: not badged as an EV product, but the same cheaper unit rate across the same overnight window, and it works perfectly well for charging a car. What we will not do is print a unit rate we have not read on the supplier's own live page, because a stale figure is worse than no figure.
Click Energy offers a day and night tariff, but its site blocked our check on 1 August 2026, so we have no current unit rate to publish. Check it on Click Energy's own site. SSE Airtricity offers Economy 7 in Northern Ireland; we could not locate its current NI tariff page, so see SSE Airtricity pricing. Budget Energy, Northern Ireland's third-largest supplier, publishes its tariff detail behind a page we could not resolve; see Budget Energy.
Electric Ireland left the Northern Ireland domestic market in September 2025, so it is not a switching option here, whatever older comparison pages still say. And whichever supplier you land on, a dual-rate tariff needs the right meter: our guide to getting a day and night meter fitted covers who arranges it and how long it takes.
Get the charger right and the tariff pays
None of these rates matter until the car is charging at home, overnight, without you thinking about it. We match you with up to three vetted NI installers who fit smart chargers that schedule to your off-peak window.
- Up to 3 vetted, NICEIC-registered NI installers
- NIE Networks notification included as standard
- Your OZEV grant checked before you commit
- Scheduling set up for your night rate from day one
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Best EV tariff in NI: common questions
Which is the cheapest EV tariff in Northern Ireland?
On the rates we checked on 1 August 2026, Share Energy's Share EV is the cheapest dedicated EV tariff in Northern Ireland: 15.56p per unit at night and 32.04p by day, including VAT, on Billpay or direct debit. That undercuts Power NI's EV Nightshift on both the night rate (17.79p) and the day rate (37.20p). It only pays, though, if you can get a day and night meter fitted and you do most of your charging inside the 1am to 8am window. If you cannot get that meter, Power NI's single-rate EV Anytime at 30.53p per unit is cheaper than Share EV's day rate.
Do I need a special meter for an EV tariff in NI?
For a dual-rate tariff, yes. Share EV and Power NI EV Nightshift both need a meter that records day and night usage separately, so your overnight units are billed at the lower rate. Your supplier arranges it. If your home cannot take one, or you do not want to wait, Power NI's EV Anytime is a single rate that works on a standard or keypad meter with no meter change at all.
Can I get an EV tariff without a driveway?
You can go on the tariff, but it will not save you much. These tariffs reward charging at home overnight, which needs somewhere off-street to park and a charge point on the wall. Without that, your charging happens on the public network at public prices and the night rate never gets used. If you have off-street parking but no charge point yet, that is the piece to fix first.
How often do NI EV tariff rates change?
There is no fixed schedule. NI suppliers change unit rates when their own costs move, typically with a few weeks of notice, and it is common to see two or three changes across a year. Rates on this page were read from each supplier's own live page on 1 August 2026 and we re-check them monthly. Before you switch, confirm the figure on the supplier's site, and check which payment tier it belongs to, because keypad, direct debit and online-billing rates all differ.
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