The honest answer first: there is no universal grant that pays for solar panels for an ordinary owner-occupier. Anyone telling you there is, is selling something.
What does exist is a mix of tax relief, an export payment and targeted schemes for lower-income households. Some of it is worth a lot. Here is the whole picture, including the schemes that have closed, because most of the misleading advice online involves a scheme that no longer runs.
Last reviewed 4 Nov 2026.
What is open now
| Scheme | Who it is for | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Zero VAT | Everyone, residential property | 0% VAT on installed solar, batteries and heat pumps until 31 Mar 2027 |
| Smart Export Guarantee | Anyone with Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certification and a smart meter | Payment for the electricity you export |
| ECO4 | Low-income, fuel-poor and vulnerable households, England, Wales and Scotland | Fully or partly funded measures, sometimes including solar. Closes 31 Dec 2026 |
| Warm Homes Loan Scheme | Owner-occupied and private rented homes | A government loan scheme, announced but not yet open to households. Details on gov.uk |
| Warm Homes: Local Grant | Low-income households whose energy performance certificate (EPC) rates the home D to G, England | Funded measures through your council |
| Nest | Low-income households in Wales meeting the tests | A funded package that can include solar panels |
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme | England and Wales | £7,500 towards a heat pump. Nothing towards solar |
| Home Energy Scotland | Scotland | Heat pump grant and interest-free loan. Nothing for standard solar panels or batteries |
Zero VAT
Installing solar panels, battery storage or a heat pump in residential property currently carries 0% VAT, until 31 Mar 2027.
Two things worth knowing:
- It reverts to 5%, not to 20%. If someone tells you to hurry because VAT is about to jump to twenty per cent, they are wrong.
- A battery on its own qualifies. You do not need to install it alongside solar. This was not always the case and a lot of older guidance says otherwise.
On a £6,600 system the relief is worth over a thousand pounds, so it is the largest single piece of help most households will get.
Sources: VAT Notice 708/6 and HMRC guidance on batteries. Checked 4 Nov 2026.
The Smart Export Guarantee
Not a grant, but it is money. Suppliers pay you for the electricity you export. Rates and how it works are covered on export payments.
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme
Government has announced a Warm Homes Loan Scheme for home energy improvements. As at 4 Nov 2026 it was not yet open to households. It is a government scheme and we are not part of it.
We cannot advise you on it and we do not arrange it For what it offers, who qualifies and whether it is open, go to gov.uk and search for “Warm Homes Loan Scheme”.
Source: Warm Homes Loan Scheme, lender phase 1. Checked 4 Nov 2026.
ECO4
ECO4, the fourth Energy Company Obligation, is open and closes on 31 Dec 2026. There is no successor scheme.
It is administered by Ofgem, and it can fully or partly fund insulation, heating upgrades and in some cases solar for low-income, fuel-poor and vulnerable households.
Who qualifies Households on certain benefits, or identified as low-income or vulnerable. It applies in England, Wales and Scotland, not Northern Ireland.
Solar is not automatic It qualifies only in some circumstances, including where the home already has, or is getting in the same project, a hydronic heat pump, electric storage heaters or electric heating meeting a responsiveness test.
Two things to know before you get your hopes up Eligibility is assessed by the installer or the scheme administrator, not by us. And the extension did not increase supplier targets, so funding can run out before the closing date.
Start with your local council or an obligated supplier. We cannot assess you for it and we cannot apply on your behalf.
Sources: Extending the ECO4 end date, government response and Ofgem. Checked 4 Nov 2026.
Help for lower-income households
In England, the Warm Homes: Local Grant supports low-income households in homes rated EPC D to G. It is worth 500 million over 2025 to 2028 and is delivered through local authorities, so there is no single national application. Start with your council’s website.
In Wales, Nest provides a funded package of energy efficiency improvements that can include solar PV, battery storage, insulation and a heat pump or an efficient boiler. It is means tested and uses an EPC test as well.
In Scotland, see the section below, because the position on solar is different.
In Northern Ireland there is no equivalent solar grant. The zero VAT rate does apply.
Schemes that have closed
These come up constantly and none of them is available.
The Feed-in Tariff closed to new applicants after 31 Mar 2019. It paid a generous government-set rate for twenty years and it is the reason so much old advice promises returns that are no longer possible.
The domestic Renewable Heat Incentive closed on 31 Mar 2022. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme replaced it.
Sources: Ofgem, FiT closure; DHRI closure. Checked 4 Nov 2026.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Energy schemes are partly devolved and the differences are significant.
Scotland Scotland is outside the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and runs Home Energy Scotland instead, which is more generous on heating: a £7,500 grant plus a £7,500 interest-free loan, with a £1,500 rural uplift, and it is not means tested.
But Scottish Government funding for domestic solar PV and battery storage was withdrawn on 6 Jun 2024 and has not been reinstated. If you are in Scotland, there is currently no grant or loan for your panels through that scheme. Zero VAT and the Smart Export Guarantee still apply.
Wales Inside the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and Nest is available on top for households that qualify.
Northern Ireland No equivalent solar grant, and outside the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Northern Ireland also sits outside the Great Britain electricity market arrangements, so the Smart Export Guarantee position is not the same. Check with your supplier directly.
Heat pumps are funded separately, and generously
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £7,500 towards an air source, ground source or water source heat pump in England and Wales, rising to £9,000 for eligible properties off the gas grid between 21 Jul 2026 and 31 Mar 2027.
It pays nothing towards solar. Full detail on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Be careful of
- “Free solar panels.” Usually either a rent-a-roof arrangement, where somebody else owns the panels and keeps the export income, or an out-of-date reference to a closed scheme.
- “Government grant” used loosely. Zero VAT is tax relief. The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is a payment for a product you are selling. Neither is a grant, and describing them as one usually precedes a pushy sale.
- Anyone promising free solar through ECO4. Solar only qualifies in narrow circumstances, and the scheme closes on 31 Dec 2026.
- A scheme with a deadline that keeps moving. Real deadlines are published on gov.uk.