VAT and electric charging points – has VAT been overpaid?

The VAT rate applicable to domestic supplies of electricity is at the reduced rate of 5% and commercial supplies of small quantities of electricity are deemed to be for domestic use only.

However, HMRC have taken the line that the reduced rate does not apply to electricity supplied for charging vehicles at public charging points, per VAT Notice 701/19 (Fuel and Power). Whilst the ‘deemed domestic use’ legislation refers to supplies “at any premises” where the total supply of electricity to a person does not exceed 1,000kWh “a month”, HMRC sought to apply additional conditions for the reduced rate to apply, including requiring the premises to be that of the recipient, e.g. somewhere they own or rent, and that not all locations are “premises” for this purpose.

In the recent case of Charge My Street Limited v HMRC [2026] TC09802, the Tribunal decision was clear that the reduced rate applies where electricity is supplied to an identified person at identified premises, with premises being any identifiable property, which may include a defined public area such as a car park.

Perhaps a more contentious point was how to measure the quantity of electricity supplied. For example, if a vehicle was charged on one day only, should the 1,000kWh be split into a daily rate of 33kWh, or available in full? The decision of the Tribunal was the rate should not be measured by reference to the period when electricity was supplied but how much was supplied in a calendar month. This does raise the question of how to identify or deal with frequent charging at the same premises, although the Tribunal did not see this as a particular concern.

It remains to be seen whether HMRC will appeal and take this dispute further, but where businesses do supply electricity at public charging points, it is worth considering what VAT rate they apply going forwards and whether retrospective claims for overpaid VAT can be made.

If you would like advice on either point, please speak with your regular Albert Goodman contact or our VAT team.