EV charging rules for UK hosts

Ofgem sets a Maximum Resale Price for electricity that is resold, under Section 44 of the Electricity Act 1989. Its March 2014 direction excludes electricity resold through charge points used to charge electric vehicles; the exclusion was put in place to avoid discouraging investment in charging.

In October 2025 Ofgem opened a Call for Input on whether the exclusion should change, including for charging at short-term rentals, flats and mixed-use buildings.

The safer approach is to bill as if the cap already applied: charge no more per kWh than your supplier charges you, recover billing, admin and maintenance costs through reasonable service fees that you disclose up front, and keep records.

Northern Ireland is outside Ofgem's remit. The equivalent resale rules there sit with the Utility Regulator.

The Measuring Instruments Regulations 2016, the UK implementation of the EU Measuring Instruments Directive (MID), cover electricity meters used for trade. That includes charge points used to bill people for charging.

An approved billing meter carries a CE mark, an M followed by the year of manufacture (for example M24) and a four-digit notified-body number, and is rated Class B accuracy or better.

A guest can refuse to pay a bill worked out from a meter that isn't approved. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) enforces the regulations.

Many chargers don't include an approved meter. The usual fix is a separate MID Class B sub-meter on the charger's supply circuit.

GuestCharge bills each session from the charger's metering data, but software can't make a meter compliant: approved metering is the host's responsibility.

Proposed Smart Secure Electricity Systems (SSES) regulations would require new EV smart charge points to include a Class B compliant meter, with full enforcement targeted for the end of 2027.

Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) grants of up to £500 per socket are open until 31 March 2027 to renters and flat owners, households that only have on-street parking, workplaces and residential landlords.

The landlord grant looks like the closest fit, but its rules exclude a property that is “only used for holiday accommodation”. The other schemes are for homes someone lives in or for workplaces, so a holiday let doesn't qualify for those either.

Don't claim a grant by treating a holiday let as a home or a workplace: grants claimed without eligibility can be reclaimed. Check the current rules on GOV.UK or with an OZEV-authorised installer before applying.

A holiday let charger can pay its way instead, because guests pay to use it.

The Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 apply mainly to publicly accessible charging. A charger offered only to the guests staying at your property generally falls outside them; offering charging to the public is a different business, so take legal advice first.

Holiday let planning, registration and licensing rules differ between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and adding a charger is something to disclose to your insurer.