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Solar panel grants could help you get a heavily discounted or even free solar system, resulting in savings of up to £1,190 annually on your energy bills. With around 1.3 million homes[1] already enjoying the benefits of solar panels, our experts are here to help you decide which grants you’re eligible for.
Our extensive research and expertise mean we can guide you through the application process, identify the available grants and understand the necessary eligibility criteria. We recently surveyed more than 2,000 solar panel owners* to get a picture of how they made the most of the funding available to them. And in addition to solar panel grants, we explore alternative funding options such as subscription plans and community buying schemes to make sure your solar panel costs are as low as possible.
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In our recent survey of solar panel grant applications across the UK, 16 per cent of respondents took advantage of an ECO4 grant, making it the most popular grant for solar panel installations. This government grant – managed by Ofgem – places an obligation on medium to large energy providers to make energy-efficient upgrades to vulnerable, low-income families living in homes with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D or below. Qualifying upgrades include solar panels, boilers, heat pumps and insulation measures, with solar panels being installed as part of a wider improvement project.
The ECO scheme has gone through several phases, each with slight differences in focus and eligibility criteria. Currently in its fourth phase, you could qualify for ECO4 funding if you receive any of the following benefits:
Additionally, if you receive other benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions, you could be eligible for ECO4, regardless of whether you receive Universal Credit.
The ECO4 grant focuses mainly on owner-occupied homes. If you are a landlord with private tenants, you can apply for ECO4 on behalf of tenants who receive any of the benefits above.
Applying for an ECO4 grant is quick and straightforward. It’s available through a number of solar panel installers, which you can find through an internet search. Regardless of the installer you decide to work with, the application process generally follows the same timeline.
Local Authority Flexible Eligibility (LA Flex) is an extension of the ECO4 scheme. With LA Flex, individual local authorities determine the eligibility for energy-efficient upgrades and award them to households that may not have met the national criteria. Qualifying circumstances might include the following:
Private tenants can qualify under LA Flex as long as they have permission from their landlord. If you’re eligible under ECO4 or LA Flex, the cost of your solar panels could be fully covered.
Sarah Blyth lives in Whitstable, Kent, with her two children. Her home had an EPC rating of E, and she receives Universal Credit, which includes Housing Benefit and Child Tax Credit. Sarah shares her journey to getting free solar panels.
“I was surprised by how simple it was. I applied online, and the same day I got a call back from the installer to say I had been pre-approved for ECO4 funding. I had to answer a few more questions – all very easy – and, later the same week, got told my home assessment was booked.
“They looked around my house, including the loft, and explained that to take my house from its EPC rating of E to C, I could have insulation, a boiler upgrade and solar panels. It wouldn’t cost me anything, nor affect my benefits, so of course I said yes.
“Within a month, all the work was done! The house is warmer, all the condensation has gone and, thanks to the new solar panels, my electricity bills are almost zero. If you are living in a cold, damp house – like we were – apply for ECO4.”
To get a better understanding of how the ECO4 grant process works, we spoke with Kevin Henney, director at ECO4 Hub.
Independent Advisor (IA): First, please tell us a little about yourself and your role.
ECO4 Hub Director Kevin Henney: I currently serve as Director at ECO4 Hub. I’m responsible for managing and overseeing all the activities related to the ECO4 grant programme. This includes reviewing grant applications, coordinating with local authorities and ensuring the smooth and efficient installation of energy-efficient systems for our clients.
IA: How many grants have been approved over the past 12 months? And have you seen an increase in grant applications during that period?
Henney: Over the past six months, we’ve successfully finished over 60 installations and have more than 100 slated for the near future.
Over the last year, we’ve observed a significant uptick in grant applications. This surge can be attributed to the rising cost of living and energy and increased awareness about the grant.
IA: Can you give us some idea of how much money successful applicants are typically granted? Is there a range or an average amount you can share?
Henney: The amount awarded per grant varies greatly depending on the work required for each property. Our goal under the regulations is to maximise energy efficiency.
We’ve dealt with diverse projects, from single-measure installations, such as a boiler replacement worth £5,000, to comprehensive energy makeovers involving internal wall insulation, loft insulation, an upgrade to an air source heat pump and the installation of solar panels, with a total value exceeding £80,000.
IA: How long does it generally take for an applicant to get their grant approved?
Henney: The approval time for a grant depends on a few factors, but there are two main routes that can be followed:
IA: Once a grant has been approved, what are the next steps for the homeowner? How long does it take from approval to solar panel installation?
Henney: Once a grant is approved and the client confirms they’re happy with the proposed work, we can proceed to installation. In some cases, we’ve even completed installations within the same week of approval.
IA: Are there any frequent mistakes people make when applying that can slow down the grant approval process?
Henney: The most common issues that can delay the process include incorrect spelling of the applicant’s name and not having the necessary documentation for local authority approval, such as a council tax bill. Paying attention to these details is essential to ensure a smooth application process.
IA: What documents are applicants required to submit when applying for the ECO4 grant?
Henney: If you receive benefits, you must sign a consent form, which the Energy Saving Trust verifies, and provide a copy of a utility bill. If you apply under the LA Flex criteria, you’ll need your council tax bill, ID and proof that the annual household income is under £31,000. This evidence may be in the form of a pension statement, three months’ payslips and bank statements or a P60 dated in the last six months.
Solar Together is a scheme operating in the UK’s local council regions, bringing households and local authorities together to create a collective buying group for solar panels. The goal of the scheme is to make solar power more accessible and affordable for homeowners and small businesses.
Households register their interest (without any obligation to buy), and companies bid for the opportunity to install solar panels for the entire group. This usually means a more competitive installation price – lower than a householder could typically negotiate on their own.
Once a provider is chosen, each of the registered participants will receive a recommendation tailored to their specific needs. At that point, they can decide whether or not to proceed with the work.
The Solar Together scheme works to promote the use of green energy systems, reduce carbon emissions and help households minimise their energy bills. It provides a platform for more affordable and higher-quality solar panel installations while also offering full technical surveys and thorough customer service throughout the process.
To apply for the scheme, homeowners living in a participating local council area simply need to register on the Solar Together website.
Operating since April 2023, the Home Upgrade Grant Phase 2 (HUG 2) scheme will continue to accept applications until March 2025. Under the scheme, low-income families can qualify for awards of up to £10,000 for solar panels and other energy-efficient home improvements.
Privately rented homes may qualify; however, to meet the criteria, the landlord may not have more than four properties in their portfolio. The landlord is also required to cover one-third of the total cost of any upgrades.
To be eligible for HUG 2, you must:
If you own your property, check whether your local council offers the HUG 2 scheme. If it does, you can apply directly. If you live in a privately rented property, the application must be made by your landlord.
On 1 January 2020, the UK government replaced the Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) scheme with the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) scheme. The new scheme mandates that larger energy suppliers – those with a customer base of 150,000 or more – must offer export tariffs to customers who generate their own renewable electricity.
Any homeowner who installs a green energy system – such as solar panels or wind turbines – with a capacity of up to 5MW can apply for the SEG scheme. To take advantage of the scheme, applicants must also have an export meter and an MCS certificate or equivalent document for their solar system. For this reason, we strongly recommend that your panels are installed by an MCS-certified installer. While a solar storage battery isn’t a requirement for qualifying for the scheme, adding one to your system prevents you from wasting surplus energy.
To receive payment under the SEG scheme, you need to apply directly to an energy supplier that offers these tariffs. You can find a list of participating companies on Ofgem’s website.
Bear in mind that your current energy supplier doesn’t need to be the same as your SEG tariff supplier – you can work with two companies.
Energy companies mandated by the SEG scheme terms are required to offer you a tariff. However, they’re allowed to set the tariff’s terms, which may involve a fixed or variable rate.
Remember that tariffs can shift over time, so it’s important to regularly review your tariff to ensure you’re getting a competitive rate.
If you own a storage device capable of importing and exporting electricity – such as a household battery or an electric vehicle – you could benefit from the SEG scheme, cutting your annual bills even further. Your potential SEG tariff supplier can advise you on this.
In the UK, the value-added tax (VAT) rate on most goods and services is 20 per cent. As part of the government’s efforts to encourage energy efficiency and the adoption of sustainable energy systems, certain energy-saving materials and equipment, which include the best solar panels, qualify for a reduced VAT rate.
Until 31 March 2027, this reduced rate is set to zero per cent. It applies to the supply and installation of solar panels on private homes in England, Scotland and Wales.
There’s no need to apply for the zero per cent VAT scheme, as your solar panel provider should automatically take care of it.
The Welsh Government Warm Homes Nest scheme provides free advice and funding for improving residential energy efficiency. Eligible households may even qualify for free home upgrades, which include solar panel installation.
You may be eligible for free solar panels if you meet all three of the following criteria:
If you have any questions about the scheme or your eligibility for it, you can call Nest for free advice. The Welsh government’s website also provides information and guidance about the programme.
The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme no longer accepts new applications for solar panels and energy storage systems, including electric and heat batteries as of 6 June 2024. Any applications submitted before 6 June 2024 will continue to be processed as normal.
Until recently, the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme was available to all homeowners in Scotland, awarding grants or providing interest-free loans for energy-efficient home improvements.
As part of the scheme, a rural uplift was also available to provide extra support to rural and island homes, which typically face higher costs for upgrades.
If you received approval between 27 June 2023 and 6 June 2024, you could still avail of the Scottish Government’s scheme until 31 July 2024. It can help with:
Our team of solar experts are standing by for announcements from the Labour government on its Warm Homes Plan [3] and the formation of GB Energy. [4]
This plan aims to upgrade every home that needs it to EPC standard C within a decade, dedicating £6.6bn to improve 5 million homes. Details of grants and low-interest loans have yet to be announced, but as soon as they are, we will let you know what’s available, who’s eligible and how to apply.
Several other organisations offer incentives to help UK homeowners finance solar panel installations.
| Scheme | Run time | Eligibility | Potential savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barclays Greener Home Reward | Ongoing | First-time claimers with a Barclays residential mortgage who pay by direct debit | £1,000 |
| Subscription plans | Ongoing | UK residents aged 18-60 who are property owners in full-time employment. Acceptance is subject to financial status | Pay for your solar installation in monthly instalments, starting at £25 per month |
| Parity Trust loan | Ongoing | Low income households, self-employed individuals or those with poor credit history. There is no upper age limit to apply | Loans in partnership with local authorities |
As part of its commitment to promoting energy-efficient home improvements, Barclays has launched the Greener Home Reward scheme. It involves a £1,000 cash reward to residential mortgage customers who have installed and paid in full for a solar panel system. This cashback scheme helps to make their shift to sustainable energy more affordable.
To ensure that the solar installations are high quality, Barclays requires that the work has been carried out by a TrustMark-registered business.
If you applied for this scheme on or before 31 January 2024, you’ll need to submit your claim form by 31 July 2024. From the date of submission, you’ll have one month to provide proof of your home improvements. If the bank received your application on or after 1 February 2024, you must make your claim within nine months of your application date, providing proof of the completed work.
How to apply
ApIt’s easy to apply for the scheme online. You can also phone Barclays for help with any queries.
A solar panel subscription allows you to pay for your installation over a number of years – usually between 15 and 25, with no or minimal upfront cost. Typically, subscriptions include system maintenance and monitoring as part of the package, and some even include replacement parts, such as batteries, which have shorter lifespans than the panels themselves.
Subscription prices are generally fixed for the term and start at £25 a month. A small number of plans allow you to own the panels outright, but for the majority, the company retains ownership and gives you the option to buy them at a reduced cost during or at the end of the plan.
Otovo, Sunsave and Effective Home are among the installers that offer subscription plans.
You can apply for a solar panel subscription plan on your chosen installer’s website.
The Parity Trust offers secured loans to fund energy-efficient home upgrades such as solar panels. Working in partnership with various local authorities, this programme is designed to help those who are self-employed, have a negative credit history, receive benefits or are retired achieve a comfortable home. With repayment plans for homeowners and landlords, it has granted over 1,000 loans so far, 500 of which have been for people aged 60 or over.
The application process is designed to be simple, starting with a financial review either online or in person. The assessment takes one to two weeks, and if approved, you can book your solar installation.
Although there aren’t many grants for solar panels in Scotland, Scottish residents can take advantage of programmes such as the Home Energy Grant and Loan Scheme and ECO4. If you’re looking for a Welsh government grant for solar panels, the Warm Homes Nest scheme offers free advice, and eligible homeowners could receive financial assistance for solar panel installation. While there are no specific grants for solar panels in Northern Ireland, homeowners can still save on the initial cost of solar system installation thanks to the zero VAT scheme and the Barclays Greener Home Reward.
Our experts conducted extensive research into the various funding schemes and government grants for solar panels and found several websites that claimed to offer government-backed funding. However, on further investigation, they discovered that those websites are not linked to any official programmes. To protect yourself from these sorts of scams and ensure you apply for legitimate, beneficial government grants, be sure to follow these simple steps:
Several UK solar panels grants have recently expired. In most cases, the schemes had fixed durations or budgetary limits – once a certain date was reached or the available funding ran out, the grant was closed to new applicants. The following are some examples of recently expired schemes:
The UK government created the FiT scheme to encourage the uptake of a range of small-scale renewable and low-carbon electricity generation measures.
With this scheme, homeowners who installed sustainable electricity systems – such as solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric power – could receive payments from their energy supplier. Payments were based on the amount of electricity the homeowners generated and used themselves as well as any excess energy fed to the National Grid.
The scheme closed to new applicants in March 2019, but existing contracts continue to be honoured for a maximum of 20 years.
*The Independent Advisor, survey of 1,544 Independent readers who own solar panels, June 2024.
[1] Sunsave, How many homes have solar panels in the UK?, June 2024
[2] Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, UK Rooftop Solar Behavioural Research: A report by Basis Social, July 2021.
[3] Labour.org.uk, Make Britain a clean energy superpower.
[4] Open Access Government, UK Government to quadruple solar power investment through GB Energy initiative, July 2024.
[5] The Guardian, Labour’s ‘rooftop revolution’ to deliver solar power to millions of UK homes, July 2024.
Yes. Several grants are available to households in the UK, allowing more people to benefit from the advantages of solar panels.
Two examples of these are the ECO4 scheme and the SEG scheme. Local authorities in England and the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also offer a range of grants, loans and other types of support to aid solar panel installation.
Budget constraints often lead to the closure of solar panel grants, as the resources governments have to allocate are finite. As solar panel costs are now significantly cheaper than 10 years ago, market forces alone are seen as sufficient to encourage adoption without subsidies. Additionally, grant schemes may end due to administrative issues, poor results or low uptake from eligible households.
Since a Labour government was elected on 5 July 2024, there are likely to be big changes when it comes to government help and financial incentives available for solar panels. While the new Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s “solar rooftop revolution” promise does not include any mention of specific grants and schemes, it’s very likely that Labour will endeavour to make it easier for households to benefit from solar energy. [5]
Grants for solar panels are generally available to homeowners, landlords and sometimes tenants through various government schemes aimed at promoting the adoption of renewable energy. Eligibility for these grants often depends on factors such as income, property type and location.
Pensioners may be eligible for grants or financial assistance for solar panel installation through various government schemes. Eligibility can depend on factors such as income and the local authority under which their property is located. Pensioners should enquire with local authorities and energy providers about specific programmes and grants that may be available to help with solar panel installations.
Free solar panels are not specifically available for recipients of personal independence payment. However, initiatives such as ECO4 offer solar panel installations to low-income households, including those who receive various means-tested benefits.
Eligibility for the different solar panel grants varies significantly, often requiring a person to reside in specific areas, meet income thresholds or live on low energy–efficiency properties. Before applying, ensure you understand and meet all criteria to avoid wasted effort. You can check the websites of grant administrators first, as they typically detail all the requirements.
