What is the Advisory Electricity Rate from 1 June 2026?

From 1 June 2026 HMRC's advisory rates for fully electric cars are 7 pence per mile for home charging and 15 pence per mile for public charging. They are rates per mile, not per kilowatt hour.

Can I use the advisory rate for all my home charging?

The advisory rates are designed for business travel in a company car. The exemption for reimbursing what home charging actually cost covers the electricity put into the company car regardless of whether the miles were business or private, so the two do not cover the same ground.

Which route gives the better result?

That depends on your car's efficiency, your electricity tariff and how much of your mileage is business. A car doing 3.5 miles per kWh on a 24p tariff costs about 7p a mile; the same car on a cheaper overnight rate costs less, and on an expensive tariff more. It is arithmetic on your own numbers, not a general rule.

Do I need to record individual charging sessions?

If your employer reimburses actual electricity costs, yes in practice — HMRC's condition is that the reimbursement is solely for the company car, and a household meter cannot show that. If your employer pays the advisory rate instead, what you need is a mileage record.

UKTax16 August 2026

Advisory Electricity Rate vs actual cost: which route fits your company car

Ask how home charging on a company car gets paid for and you will hear two answers. One is “seven pence a mile”. The other is “whatever the electricity cost you”. Both are real, and most articles present them as alternatives you pick between on price.

They are not alternatives. They cover different journeys, and the difference is worth more than the pence.

The advisory rates, as they stand

From 1 June 2026, HMRC’s advisory rates for fully electric company cars are:

Charging	Rate	Unit
At home	7p	per mile
Public charging	15p	per mile

Read the unit column again, because it carries the whole point: per mile. Not per kilowatt hour. The advisory rates belong to the world of mileage claims — they exist so that an employer can pay for business travel in a company car without a taxable profit arising.

The other route: what the electricity actually cost

Electricity is not treated as fuel for the car fuel benefit charge — s.149(4) ITEPA 2003 excludes it — and s.239(2) exempts the cost of electricity used to charge a company car. So an employer can reimburse what the home charging actually cost, and this route does not sort your miles into business and private first.

That is the structural difference. A mileage rate pays for the journeys you made for work. The electricity route pays for the electricity that went into the car — including the school run and the weekend.

	Advisory rate	Actual electricity cost
Basis	mile	kilowatt hour
Covers	business travel	electricity put into the company car
You need to record	mileage	charging sessions
Varies with your tariff	no	yes

So which one leaves you better off?

Honestly: it depends, and anyone who answers it in general is guessing on your behalf. The arithmetic is yours to do. A car managing 3.5 miles per kilowatt hour on a 24p tariff costs roughly 7p a mile — right about the advisory rate. Move that car onto a cheap overnight rate and the real cost falls well under it; put it on an expensive standard tariff and it climbs above.

The bigger factor is usually not the pence but the split. If most of your mileage is private, a business mileage rate only ever pays for the smaller share of what you put in the car.

The condition that comes with the electricity route

HMRC’s wording is that “employers will need to ensure that the reimbursement made towards the cost of the electricity is solely for the company car” (EIM23900). No meter type is prescribed and no method is approved — but a household electricity bill cannot show it, and neither can a charger total if a second car uses the same unit.

What each route asks of you in practice

If your employer pays the advisory rate, keep a mileage record — that is the document the claim rests on.

If your employer reimburses actual costs, the document is a record of the charging sessions themselves. Most modern chargers already log every session; the missing step is turning that into a monthly statement payroll can act on.

That is what ChargeReport does: connect the charger once, then each month a statement lists every session — date, time, kilowatt hours — with the totals. Supported brands are on the brand pages, and the background to the exemption is set out in company car home charging in the UK.

Sources:HMRC, “Advisory fuel rates” (rates applying from 1 June 2026: 7 pence per mile for home charging, 15 pence per mile for public charging); s.239(2) and s.149(4) Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003; HMRC Employment Income Manual EIM23900. Checked 16 August 2026. Advisory rates are reviewed quarterly — check the current figure before relying on it.

This is general information, not tax advice. The worked figures are illustrative arithmetic, not a recommendation: which route suits a particular employee depends on their tariff, their car and their mileage split.