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If you are considering installing solar panels at your home, the good news is that there is financial help available, be it loans or grants. You can even have panels on a subscription.
If you are interested in a grant, there are a number of options, depending on where in the UK you live and what you earn. Most are for those on low incomes in homes with poor insulation.
Home Upgrade Grant
Up to £630m of funding is available for local authorities to spend on energy efficiency and low carbon heating in this, the second phase of the endearingly titled HUG, which runs to March 2025 and offers up to £18,000 in some areas.
It’s for people who live off the gas grid and you must earn as a household less than £36,000 to qualify.
Solar Together
This is a scheme to group buy solar panels, making use of the purchasing power of xxx and keeping costs down.
Solar panel providers bid for the chance to install the solar panels. It is more of a bulk discount than a grant. It is available in certain local authorities who have signed up to the scheme.
Energy Company Obligation 4 (ECO4) grant
If you or someone you live with qualifies for state benefits, then the ECO4 grant could be for you.
It is a government efficiency scheme designed to tackle fuel poverty and cut carbon emissions.
As the name suggests, this is the fourth version of the scheme and it runs to 31 March 2026 and it is funded by big energy companies and administered by energy regulator Ofgem.
You can get help if you earn less than £31,000 as a family, live in private housing – ie not council-run – and receive one of the following benefits:
Working Tax Credit
Universal Credit
Pension Guarantee Credit
Pension Savings Credit
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Child Benefit
Housing Benefit
If you own your house, it must be rated D or worse and if you rent, E or worse for energy efficiency.
You can apply with your energy company for up to £10,000 of funding. The scheme is for broad energy efficiency, so you might find that insulation and a smart thermostat are better uses of the funding for your energy use.
Welsh Government warm homes nest scheme
Naturally, this scheme is only for those who live in Wales. You will need to own a home or be a private tenant and receive a means-tested benefit or earn a low income.
Finally, you will need ot be in a home with an energy efficiency rating of E or worse. If your rating is D and you or someone you live with has a health condition, you may also qualify.
Again, it includes a plethora of improvements including insulation and heating systems.
There is no listed claim limit, although the Welsh Government said in 2023, that the average claim awa £2,457.
Home Energy Grant and Loan Scheme
This scheme is for those living in Scotland and now covers solar thermal panels – ones which heat water rather than generate electricity – and hybrid units which do both.
A £5,000 interest-free loan is available for these panels.
The criteria are much more relaxed than other schemes and anyone in Scotland can apply if they are doing so for their own home.
