This Eskom tariff makes electric car charging over 70% cheaper than using petrol

Using Eskom’s recently-introduced time-of-use tariff, EV owners could save around 70% in transport costs compared to using a similar petrol-powered model, an analysis by MyBroadband shows.

First made available in April 2023, the Homeflex tariff plan’s charges change based on the typical demand Eskom experiences throughout the day.

Charges are divided into three main categories — peak, standard, and off-peak.

The tariffs are also slightly more expensive during the three coldest winter months in the year — June to August.

Off-peak periods include the late night and early morning hours on weekdays, extended evening and morning hours on Saturdays, and all of Sunday.

These off-peak times lin up with when a household’s vehicles are most likely to be parked at home.

Eskom Direct households with a regular single-phase 16-amp connection to the grid will be placed on the Homeflex 4 plan if they choose to switch from Homepower 4.

During off-peak hours in the high-demand season, Homeflex 4 users will pay R2.33 per kWh and for the rest of the year, they will pay R2.19 per kWh.

This is cheaper than the Block 1 R2.50 and Block 2 R4.03 tariffs they will pay per kWh of consumption on the flat-priced Homepower 4 plan.

The table below outlines the electricity tariffs under the Homeflex 4 tariff plan.

The main downside to Homeflex is the extremely expensive peak tariffs of R7.53 from June to August and additional capacity charges.

For this reason, the Homeflex tariff is primarily intended for grid-tied solar users with batteries that can sustain them through these periods.

An EV owner who strictly charged their car in the off-peak hours mentioned above would pay substantially less than a petrol or diesel car to cover the same distances.

To calculate the difference, we determined the per-km energy cost for several EVs with the fuel cost for comparable internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.

We used four EVs in the comparison: the BMW iX1, BMW iX3, Mini Cooper SE, and Volvo XC40 Recharge Single Motor.

Although the upfront costs of these models are substantially higher than their ICE equivalents, they are also significantly more powerful.

If a driver recharged their car only during the Homeflex 4 Tariff’s off-peak hours, their per-km energy expenditure would work out to roughly a quarter the price of the petrol needed to cover a kilometre.

Compared to the two diesel models, which are more fuel-efficient, the price per kilometre would still be around a third of the ICE option.

The table below compares the per-km and average monthly recharging and refuelling costs of four EVs and their ICE equivalents.