Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government reduce VAT on public electric vehicle charging to match the domestic rate.

VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services.

The supply of energy for domestic use attracts the reduced rate of VAT (5 per cent). Whilst this relief was not designed or introduced for charging EVs at home, it applies for all uses of domestic energy, as it is not easy for energy companies to distinguish between electricity used to charge an EV and electricity used for general domestic purposes. Public EV charging, on the other hand, is subject to the standard rate of VAT (twenty per cent). This matches the VAT treatment of petrol and diesel, as well as all non-domestic electricity.