Warm Homes Local Grant solar panels and batteries

Why solar dominates the grant so far

When DESNZ published the August 2026 statistics, covering the scheme to the end of July 2026, councils had reported about 11,250 measures in about 5,470 households. Solar PV made up 38% of them, more than any other measure. Batteries made up 18% and insulation of all kinds about 24%.

That mix follows from how the scheme is designed. The policy guidance asks councils and retrofit coordinators to choose the package that gives “the largest amount of bill savings for the household” within the caps. It says that will often be fabric measures such as insulation, but “could equally lead to mixed packages (such as insulation and Solar PV) or smart packages such as Solar PV, smart controls, and/or domestic batteries which may achieve higher bill savings for a lower price depending on the home.”

Solar also fits the way the scheme is measured. Progress is tracked through the EPC energy efficiency rating, and generating electricity on site counts towards that rating, while the guidance links heat pump bill savings in on-gas homes to installing them alongside measures such as solar PV.

The rules for solar PV

Rule	Detail
Pot	Energy performance, capped at £16,600 per home on average
Product	Must be listed on the MCS product directory
Installer	MCS-certified and TrustMark-registered
Standard	Installed to the relevant MCS installation standard
Lodgement	Lodged in the TrustMark data warehouse, within the PAS 2035 project
Recommendation	Only where it drives bill savings for the household

The council must check the MCS product directory before installation begins. An installation that uses a product not on the directory is not eligible for funding.

The rules for batteries

Batteries were added to the scheme in June 2025, paused in November 2025, and allowed again from 2 February 2026. The pause happened because there was no MCS product standard for batteries; DESNZ then developed an interim solution, supported by the MCS Battery Storage Working Group, which judged batteries on the UK market with UKCA or CE marking sufficiently safe.

Today, for a battery to be funded:

• it must complement existing or new solar PV (a battery on its own is not eligible)
• it must be installed by an MCS-certified installer to MCS 3012, and comply with PAS 63100 and PAS 2035
• it does not need to be on the MCS product directory during the interim period
• it should only be installed where it drives bill savings

DESNZ has said it will not require retrospective compliance with any future standard: batteries installed now under the current guidance will be funded.

Getting the most from solar and a battery

The guidance “strongly recommends” two things when a battery goes in:

1. The retrofit coordinator checks whether a time-of-use tariff would suit the household better.
2. The battery goes in where there is a working smart meter, or alongside a new one.

Both matter because the value of solar depends on using it. Electricity you generate and use yourself saves your full import price, so shifting use into daylight hours, or storing generation for the evening, is where the saving comes from.

Illustrative example: a smart package

An illustrative example using only the published caps. A semi-detached home rated EPC D is heated by a working gas boiler. The coordinator finds the loft already insulated and the walls hard to treat, and proposes solar PV, a battery and smart heating controls, all energy performance measures. The owner occupier pays nothing; the package counts against the £16,600 energy performance average. If the owner later decides to add a heat pump, that would come from the separate low carbon heating pot, and the retrofit coordinator would first have to explain the likely effect on bills.

Solar and heat pumps together

The guidance notes that on-gas homes are more likely to see bill savings from a heat pump “when installed alongside energy performance improvement measures such as insulation and solar PV”. A combined package uses both pots: energy performance for the solar and insulation, low carbon heating for the heat pump. See heat pumps under the grant.

If you are paying for solar yourself

If you do not qualify, or your council cannot help yet, installing solar panels and batteries in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, then 5%. Check any installer on the MCS and TrustMark registers before you sign: how to check an installer.