OVO Charge Anytime Standard Monthly Plan Explained

What the monthly fee includes

The Standard plan contains three principal benefits: The monthly fee is £27.50, producing an annual subscription cost of £330 if the customer remains on the plan for twelve complete months. The plan does not include OVO's ClearWatt battery-health assessment or the Kwik Fit Club tyre discount. Those benefits are reserved for the Premium and Plus monthly plans.

• Up to 175 kWh of qualifying home smart charging each month
• A £120 public-charging voucher each year
• EV charger insurance cover

How the 175 kWh allowance works

All electricity entering the home is initially charged at the unit rate on the customer's ordinary OVO energy tariff. OVO then calculates how much electricity was used for qualifying smart EV charging. A Charge Anytime credit is applied to the energy account, covering smart charging up to the plan's monthly allowance. This means the first 175 kWh of qualifying smart charging is effectively charged at zero pence per kilowatt hour on the electricity bill, while the customer pays the separate £27.50 monthly plan fee. The allowance resets at the beginning of each month. Unused electricity cannot be carried forward. A customer who uses only 100 kWh in one month cannot transfer the remaining 75 kWh into the following month. Similarly, a customer who needs 250 kWh cannot borrow part of the next month's allowance. Any smart charging above 175 kWh is charged at the customer's normal household electricity rate. Urgent, boost or manually overridden charging is also charged at the ordinary home rate rather than being taken from the monthly allowance.

What 175 kWh means for driving

OVO's mileage estimate assumes an efficiency of four miles per kilowatt hour. At that efficiency: 175 kWh × 4 miles per kWh = 700 miles a month Across twelve months, the maximum home allowance is: 175 kWh × 12 = 2,100 kWh At four miles per kilowatt hour, that represents approximately 8,400 miles of annual home charging. Actual mileage can be lower. A large electric SUV achieving 2.8 miles per kilowatt hour would obtain approximately 490 miles from the same allowance. A more efficient car achieving 4.5 miles per kilowatt hour could obtain around 788 miles. Temperature, speed, vehicle size, cabin heating, battery conditioning and charging losses all affect the real result.

Effective home-charging price

If the customer uses the complete 175 kWh allowance every month, the subscription cost works out at: £27.50 ÷ 175 kWh = approximately 15.7 pence per kWh This calculation ignores the public-charging voucher and charger cover. It also assumes the complete allowance is used. If only 100 kWh is smart charged during a month, the effective subscription cost becomes 27.5 pence for each kilowatt hour used. At 150 kWh, it is approximately 18.3 pence per kilowatt hour. The Standard plan therefore becomes more competitive as the customer uses more of the monthly allowance. This is an important difference from Charge Anytime Pay As You Go. Pay As You Go currently charges 14 pence for each qualifying kilowatt hour, so a low-mileage customer pays only for the electricity actually smart charged. The Standard monthly plan charges £27.50 whether the customer uses 50 kWh or the complete 175 kWh allowance.

The £120 public-charging voucher

The plan includes an annual public-charging voucher worth £120. OVO applies the voucher to the customer's public-charging wallet in the OVO Charge app. It can be used across more than 400,000 compatible charge points in the UK and Europe, including networks such as InstaVolt, Osprey, MFG and Ionity. OVO estimates that the voucher could provide around 600 miles of public charging. That illustration assumes: Actual mileage depends on the price charged by the individual network and the vehicle's efficiency. An expensive ultra-rapid charger will consume the voucher more quickly than a lower-priced destination charger. The voucher is not the same as unrestricted free public charging. Once its value has been used, further sessions are paid for through the Charge app at the applicable charge-point operator price. Customers should also check that the public chargers they regularly use are accessible through the app.

• Four miles per kilowatt hour
• An average public charging price of 80 pence per kilowatt hour
• Approximately 150 kWh of public charging

Included EV charger cover

Every Charge Anytime monthly plan includes domestic EV charger cover, which OVO values at £42 a year. The advertised protection includes accidental damage, fire, theft and vandalism, together with access to a 24-hour claims helpline. OVO advertises unlimited qualifying repairs up to £2,000 for each claim. If the insured charger cannot be repaired, the cover can provide a replacement, subject to the insurance terms and exclusions. This benefit may be useful once the manufacturer's original warranty has expired. Its value will be lower where the charger is already covered by a manufacturer warranty, installation warranty, home-insurance policy or another service agreement. Customers should check for overlapping protection before assigning the full £42 value to the plan.

Comparing the package with Pay As You Go

Using the entire home allowance for twelve months gives 2,100 kWh of managed charging. Under Pay As You Go at 14 pence per kilowatt hour, this would cost: 2,100 kWh × £0.14 = £294 The Standard monthly plan costs: £27.50 × 12 = £330 The monthly plan is therefore £36 more expensive for home charging alone. However, it also includes the £120 public voucher and charger cover advertised as worth £42 a year. If the customer uses the full voucher and would otherwise purchase equivalent charger protection, the additional benefits have an advertised combined value of £162. Subtracting that value from the £330 annual subscription leaves an effective home-charging package cost of £168, equivalent to approximately 8 pence per kWh across the full 2,100 kWh allowance. That favourable result applies only when the customer: Someone who rarely charges publicly or already has charger protection may obtain less value.

• Uses most of the home allowance
• Uses the full public voucher
• Values the charger cover
• Remains subscribed for the year

Eligibility and smart-charging requirements

The customer must be an OVO pay-monthly electricity customer paying by Direct Debit. The property needs a smart meter that communicates half-hourly data to OVO, and the customer must agree to half-hourly data sharing. The driver also needs either a compatible electric vehicle or compatible charger. Both do not need to be compatible, although OVO recommends connecting through the charger where both options are supported. The official compatibility list was last updated in April 2026. OVO remotely schedules charging through the OVO Charge app and Kaluza platform. The customer selects how much charge is required and when the car needs to be ready. Charging may start, stop and restart as OVO responds to grid conditions. Disconnecting the car before the selected ready time can prevent the requested charge from being completed.

Internet and charging-data reliability

The connected vehicle or charger must remain online. OVO calculates the monthly credit from data received from the vehicle or charger. If the equipment disconnects from the internet or stops sending information, OVO may not recognise the electricity as qualifying smart charging. Charging completed while the equipment is offline may therefore be billed at the normal household rate. Customers should keep the OVO Charge app, vehicle software and charger software updated. They should also check each monthly bill to confirm that the expected Charge Anytime credit has been applied.

Solar panels

Where a property has solar panels, OVO credits only electricity imported from the grid for managed charging. Electricity supplied directly from the household's solar panels does not receive a Charge Anytime credit because the customer did not purchase it from OVO. Solar households currently need to connect through a charger recognised by OVO as solar compatible. A current-transformer clamp may also be required to distinguish imported electricity from electricity generated on site. Using solar electricity directly may still be cheaper than using the monthly allowance, particularly when the alternative is exporting solar generation for a relatively low rate.

Changing or cancelling the plan

There is no long-term Charge Anytime contract. Customers can change from Standard to another monthly plan or to Pay As You Go through their OVO account. A plan change takes effect at the end of the current month. Cancellation also takes effect at the end of the month. The full final monthly fee remains payable, and the home allowance and benefits continue until the plan ends. Unredeemed third-party benefits can be lost when the plan is cancelled, and no proportional refund is provided merely because a benefit was not used. The underlying OVO energy tariff remains separate. A fixed electricity tariff can still have its own exit fee if the customer also decides to leave OVO.

Who is most likely to benefit?

OVO Charge Anytime Standard is best suited to a driver covering close to 700 home-charged miles a month and expecting to use public rapid chargers during longer journeys. It is particularly attractive where the customer can use the full £120 public voucher and needs separate protection for the home charger. Pay As You Go may be better for a low-mileage driver, someone whose charging varies substantially from month to month or a customer who rarely uses public networks. A higher monthly plan may be more appropriate where home charging regularly exceeds 175 kWh. The Standard plan provides predictable EV costs and useful additional benefits, but its headline allowance should not be treated as automatically cheap electricity. Its value comes from using the complete package rather than from the home-charging allowance alone.