Questions people ask us

Yes, across Great Britain, from 27 August 2026. The regulations were made on 16 July 2026 and came into force that August. Before then, these panels could not lawfully be sold, supplied or used here, because the electricity safety rules required compliance with a standard that would not let a plug and socket connect generating equipment.

Usually not, though it is never guaranteed. The panel relies on the existing permitted development right for small scale solar. Meet the conditions and you do not apply. Miss one and you do, and the government expects the fees and paperwork to cost more than the kit saves.

The right was rewritten the same day plug-in solar became legal. The new wording rules out a plug-in installation on a wooden wall, a balcony or timber cladding, stated for houses and for blocks of flats alike. Most of these panels are sold for balconies, so a lot of people get caught out by it.

Then a wall facing a highway is off limits, and the same goes inside a World Heritage Site. A listed building's grounds, or a scheduled monument, take you outside the right altogether, whatever else is true of your home. Listed status brings both planning permission and listed building consent into play as well.

No more than 200 mm from a surface that abuts a highway, and no more than 400 mm from any other surface. On a pitched roof it has to sit below the ridge and stand no more than 200 mm proud. On a flat roof the limit is 600 mm above the roof.

That is when the twelve month changeover ends. Up to 27 August 2027 you can follow either the old rules or the new ones. Beyond that date, the new set is all that is left.

800 VA maximum apparent power to the mains, 3.5 A maximum current, up to 2000 W of PV modules, up to four modules per inverter and no more than two in series in any string. Above 960 W of module capacity, the specification calls for a professional assessment of whether the installation is suitable.

A compliant kit is type tested against G98 and listed on the Energy Networks Association's type test register, with its manufacturer holding confirmation that it was assessed as compliant before going on sale. Not on that register means not through the assessment.

No. Extension cables, multi-way adaptors, RCD adaptors and travel adaptors are all ruled out, and that warning has to be printed on the unit and repeated in the instructions. A socket in the wrong place gets fixed with a socket in the right one.

Only where the plug and socket will be mounted outside, and then it needs an IP55 rating or better. That is the part an electrician prices.

It might. A compliant panel's instructions have to tell you to check, so ring your insurer before it is delivered.

These figures are modelled at Brighton for one 800 watt panel, with losses set to 14 per cent and no shade. A south facing roof pitch makes 897 kWh a year, a frame on open ground makes 890, a south facing wall makes 645, and an east facing wall makes 424. No UK region beats our roof figure, though it is a ceiling rather than a forecast. What you save depends on how much you are using while the panel is generating, and batteries sit outside the approved kit.

No, not inside the approved kit. The interim product specification covers neither a standalone battery nor a solar device with storage built in. People who responded to the consultation said this reduces what you get back, but batteries stayed out anyway.