Plug in solar is legal.
Up to £110 a year. Renters too.
From 27 August you can buy a solar panel, plug it into a normal socket and use it. No installer, no scaffolding, no planning. Kits up to 800W. The government says up to £110 a year off a bill. Here is what that actually looks like.
🔌 What you can buy
Kits up to 800W, sold at Amazon, Argos, Currys, B&Q, Screwfix, Wickes and British Gas. They passed independent safety testing before the rules changed.
A balcony, a flat roof, a south facing wall or a garden fence all work. Renters and leaseholders still need the landlord or freeholder to say yes.
🧮 The maths
An 800W kit in a decent spot makes around 600 units a year. Use two thirds of that yourself, at 26p a unit, and you are at about £110. Rooftop solar saves up to £480 by comparison.
The catch is the word yourself. Plug in kits do not export. Anything you do not use when the sun is out is simply gone.
So the payback depends on daytime use. A fridge, a router and a laptop cover most of it. A washing machine at 1pm covers the rest.
🏠 Who it is for
Renters, flats, and anyone who was never going to spend £6,000 on a roof. That is millions of homes that were locked out of solar entirely.
It is also a training wheel. Once you are watching a live generation number on your phone, you start moving things to the sunny hours without being told. That habit is worth more than the panel.
£110 a year is not going to change anyone's life. Letting five million renters into solar for the price of a television might. The important word in the announcement was not solar. It was plug.