Solar panel grants in Kent and south-east London: what you can claim

The schemes at a glance

Most of the help with solar panels and batteries comes through the tax system and export payments, not a grant cheque. This is what was available on 15 October 2026. Each scheme is explained below, with sources at the end.

The 0% VAT rate for home solar and batteries, until 31 March 2027

HMRC’s VAT Notice 708/6 applies a zero rate to installing certain energy-saving materials in residential accommodation from 1 May 2023 to 31 March 2027. Solar panels are on the list. Electrical storage batteries installed in homes were added from 1 February 2024. That covers a battery fitted with new panels, a battery added to panels you already have, and a battery fitted on its own.

Two conditions matter. The relief applies to installation: equipment supplied without fitting is standard-rated. And it ends: from 1 April 2027 the rate goes back to the reduced rate of 5%. On an installation priced at £10,000 before VAT, that would add £500.

If you want the zero rate, leave time for a survey and any planning check, and ask for the VAT rate in writing. Coutts Electrical’s guide prices on our solar panel installation page are stated “inclusive of VAT currently at 0%”, and the VAT that applies to your job is confirmed in the written quotation. For the prices themselves, see what solar panels and batteries cost in Kent.

Getting paid for what you export: the Smart Export Guarantee

The Smart Export Guarantee is a government-backed scheme, run by Ofgem, that requires some electricity suppliers to pay you for low-carbon electricity you export to the grid. A supplier with at least 150,000 domestic electricity customers on 31 December of the previous year is a mandatory SEG licensee: it must offer an export tariff and cannot opt out.

To qualify:

• your system is solar PV, or another eligible technology, in Great Britain, with a capacity of no more than 5MW
• the installation and installer are certified through the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), or a scheme accredited as equivalent, such as Flexi-Orb
• you have a meter that provides half-hourly export readings, typically a smart meter
• you aren’t already receiving export payments under the Feed-in Tariffs scheme.

You apply directly to an SEG supplier, which doesn’t have to be the company you buy electricity from, although some suppliers’ tariffs are only for their own customers.

Suppliers set their own rates and terms; Ofgem’s only rule on price is that the rate must always be above zero. Two examples, read on 15 October 2026: Octopus Energy’s Outgoing Octopus paid 12p per kWh exported, at a rate that can change, and its Prime Outgoing Octopus paid 16p per kWh between 4pm and 7pm and 9p at other times, fixed for 12 months. Both were for Octopus customers.

Coutts Electrical is MCS certified for solar PV (TrustMark licence 2677315), and MCS registration and the certificate are included as standard in all our installs. Compare any export rate with what you pay per unit for electricity, because each unit you use yourself saves you that price. A battery moves more of your daytime generation into the evening, and our guide to whether solar is worth it in Kent works through the payback.

ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) makes energy suppliers fund upgrades for low-income, fuel-poor and vulnerable households. A nine-month extension means it now ends on 31 December 2026, and suppliers must complete their measures by then. The Great British Insulation Scheme, which funded insulation, was not extended and ended on 31 March 2026. The government says there will be no successor supplier obligation; extra grant funding goes to low-income households through its Warm Homes Plan instead.

Who qualifies. For an owner-occupied home, ECO4 covers homes rated D to G. Someone in the household must receive a qualifying means-tested benefit (Ofgem calls this the Help to Heat Group), or the council must refer the household under its flexible eligibility rules, known as ECO4 Flex. Privately rented homes must be rated E to G.

Where solar fits. Solar PV is not a stand-alone ECO4 measure. Ofgem’s delivery guidance allows it only where the home’s heating, either before the project or installed as part of it, is a hydronic heat pump, a high heat retention electric storage heater, or an electric heating system with a SAP responsiveness rating of 0.8 or more. It can’t be fitted where a non-electric main heat source is planned. It is subject to minimum insulation conditions, and each home is capped at 10 kWp of solar in total, counting any panels already there. A battery can be fitted during an ECO4 retrofit, but it earns no ECO4 score.

How to apply. Through an energy supplier or your council’s ECO4 Flex route; they arrange the survey and the installer. With the scheme in its final months, ask whether they’re still taking on new homes first.

Warm Homes: Local Grant in Bromley, Sevenoaks and nearby councils

The Warm Homes: Local Grant is a government-funded scheme, delivered by councils, for low-income households in England. GOV.UK sets the basic test:

• the home is privately owned, by you or your landlord
• it has an EPC rating of D, E, F or G
• household income is usually £36,000 a year or less, though you may still qualify above that if you live in certain postcode areas or someone in the household gets certain benefits.

If you’re eligible and your council has funding, it arranges a survey, then organises and pays for the agreed work. That can include insulation, an air source heat pump, smart controls and solar panels. You don’t pay for the work if you own the home; if you rent, your landlord may need to pay for some of it. DESNZ’s policy guidance for councils (updated June 2026) also allows a home battery, but only alongside new or existing solar panels, and only where it cuts the household’s bills. You apply online through GOV.UK (if you need help with the form, call 0800 098 7950), and the council usually contacts you within 10 working days to arrange a survey.

Funding goes to named councils. The government’s list, updated 2 July 2026, shows this for our area:

In Orpington and the rest of Bromley, and in Sydenham, the Greater London Authority delivers the grant with its partner Sureserve; you still apply through the same GOV.UK online form. London adds a savings test: household savings must be under £25,000, not counting pensions, unless someone is eligible for Pension Credit or gets a means-tested benefit. The GLA reports high demand, and applications beyond each council’s queue limit go on a waiting list.

In Sevenoaks and Westerham, Sevenoaks District Council has its own allocation, so apply through the same GOV.UK form and the council will be in touch. Neither Tonbridge and Malling nor Maidstone appears on the list; if you live there, ask your council what help it offers.

Switch Together Kent: group buying, not a grant

Kent County Council, working with all 12 Kent district and borough councils and Medway Council, promotes Switch Together Kent, formerly Solar Together Kent, a group-purchase scheme for solar panels and battery storage run by iChoosr. Homeowners, landlords and small businesses in Kent can register for a free, no-obligation quote for up to 25 panels, or for a battery on its own if they already have panels. Pre-vetted installers bid in a reverse auction and you get a personal recommendation with a price. Kent County Council says that by September 2025 the scheme had facilitated more than 3,920 solar PV and battery installations and 250 EV chargers.

On 15 October 2026 registration was closed. Switch Together’s Kent page said it wasn’t open in the area and invited people to register to hear when the next scheme launches, and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council’s page said the spring registration had closed. No date for the next round had been published.

It’s a discount route, not funding: you still pay for the system, and the VAT and export rules above apply as normal. The council’s page notes that solar is generally permitted development, but conservation areas and listed buildings may need consent; our guide to planning permission for solar panels in Kent explains how to check your address. For when going direct to a local installer may suit you better, read our guide to Switch Together Kent.

Bromley, Croydon and Lewisham are London boroughs, outside the Kent and Medway partnership, so check with Switch Together before registering an address there, even one with a Kent postal address. Solar Together London included all 32 boroughs, but the GLA’s January 2026 disclosure lists programme closedown among the work it funded, and no London round had been published by 15 October 2026.

Warm Homes Loan Scheme: a cheaper loan, not a grant

Under the Warm Homes Plan, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero pays a grant to participating lenders to bring down the interest on loans for low-carbon home upgrades. Its scheme rules (September 2026) say:

• lenders can lend to owner-occupiers and private landlords, with no income threshold but their own credit and affordability checks
• loans are capped at £15,000 for solar PV and £15,000 for a battery, on its own or paired with solar
• panels and batteries must be MCS-certified products fitted by an MCS-certified installer
• the scheme won’t fund replacement roofing or other structural work needed before solar goes on.

The rules describe an initial consumer launch phase from September 2026, but the GOV.UK lender page, updated 17 September 2026, names no participating lenders. If you’re offered finance, ask whether the product is part of the scheme, and compare the total repayable with paying upfront.

EV chargepoint grants

From 1 April 2026, OZEV’s household chargepoint grants pay up to £500 per socket, and funding runs until 31 March 2027. Two can apply to a home:

• Flat owners and renters. You own and live in a flat, or rent and live in any home, and have designated private off-street parking. You must also keep, lease or have been assigned an eligible plug-in vehicle, or have ordered one due within 3 months. The grant is 75% of the cost of buying and installing a socket, up to £500.
• Households with on-street parking. Up to £500 towards a chargepoint if you have only on-street parking and install a cross-pavement solution, such as a charging gully.

For the flats and renters grant, you must use an OZEV-authorised installer and an eligible chargepoint, and the installer deducts the grant from your invoice and claims it after installation. If you own a house with a driveway, neither household grant applies. Coutts Electrical is on GOV.UK’s list of OZEV-approved chargepoint installers, and our EV charger installation page lists the chargers we fit.

What doesn’t exist

• A general solar grant for any homeowner. The grant routes above are for low-income households. If you don’t qualify, the help is the VAT relief, export payments, group buying and, where a lender takes part, a cheaper loan.
• A grant for a battery in a home without solar panels. Batteries get 0% VAT until 31 March 2027, but ECO4 gives a battery no score, and the Warm Homes: Local Grant funds one only alongside new or existing solar panels.
• A fee to check eligibility. The GLA says it and its delivery partner never charge for eligibility checks or installation, and has had reports of people being asked for £300 to £1,500. If you suspect fraud, contact Trading Standards.

Before you sign anything, check the installer on the MCS or TrustMark register. Coutts Electrical’s TrustMark entry (licence 2677315) lists it as an electrician and an MCS solar panel installer (PV), with NICEIC as its scheme provider, and we’re members of the Renewable Energy Consumer Code (member 00072268). If you’d like a survey and a written quotation, get in touch.

Sources

• GOV.UK (HM Revenue and Customs), “VAT on energy-saving materials and heating equipment (VAT Notice 708/6)”, sections 2.1, 2.3, 2.7 and 2.19, updated 31 January 2024, accessed 15 October 2026: gov.uk
• Ofgem, “Smart Export Guarantee (SEG)” and “Smart Export Guarantee: generators”, accessed 15 October 2026: ofgem.gov.uk
• Ofgem, “Smart Export Guarantee: electricity suppliers” (mandatory licensee threshold), accessed 15 October 2026: ofgem.gov.uk
• GOV.UK, “Smart Export Guarantee” (certification, meter and Feed-in Tariff rules), accessed 15 October 2026: gov.uk
• Octopus Energy, “Outgoing Octopus” export tariffs, rates read 15 October 2026: octopus.energy
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, “Extending the ECO4 end date: government response”, updated 23 January 2026: gov.uk
• Ofgem, “ECO4 Delivery Guidance”, version 4.0, updated 26 March 2026 (paragraphs 1.4 to 1.5, Table 1, paragraphs 5.208 to 5.220): ofgem.gov.uk
• GOV.UK, “Apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant to improve a home”, accessed 15 October 2026: gov.uk
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, “Warm Homes: Local Grant – Policy Guidance for Local Authorities”, updated June 2026 (section 1.3 delivery window to 31 March 2028; section 7.5 domestic batteries alongside solar PV): assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, “Warm Homes: Local Grant successful local authorities”, updated 2 July 2026: gov.uk
• Greater London Authority, “Warm Homes: Local Grant”, accessed 15 October 2026: london.gov.uk
• Kent County Council, “Switch Together Kent”, accessed 15 October 2026: kent.gov.uk
• Kent County Council, “Group-buying scheme to help Kent residents invest in renewable energy opens again”, 22 March 2023 (reverse auction and personal recommendation): news.kent.gov.uk
• Switch Together (iChoosr), “Switch Together Kent” solar panels page, accessed 15 October 2026: switchtogether.co.uk
• Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, “Switch Together Kent”, accessed 15 October 2026: tunbridgewells.gov.uk
• Greater London Authority, environmental information response on Solar Together London (MGLA050126-1282), 26 January 2026: london.gov.uk
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, “Warm Homes Loan Scheme: Scheme Rules”, September 2026: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
• GOV.UK, “Warm Homes Loan Scheme: apply to participate as a lender (Phase 1)”, updated 17 September 2026: gov.uk
• Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, “Changes to electric vehicle chargepoint grant schemes from 1 April 2026”, updated 7 July 2026: gov.uk
• Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, “Electric vehicle chargepoint grants”, updated 1 April 2026: gov.uk
• Find a grant (GOV.UK), “Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant for Renters and Flat Owners”, accessed 15 October 2026: find-government-grants.service.gov.uk
• GOV.UK (Office for Zero Emission Vehicles), “Find an electric vehicle (EV) chargepoint installer”, Coutts Electrical Contractors Ltd listed for commercial and residential installations, searched 15 October 2026: gov.uk
• TrustMark, register entry for Coutts Electrical Contractors Ltd, licence 2677315, accessed 15 October 2026: trustmark.org.uk
• Renewable Energy Consumer Code, member 00072268, Coutts Electrical Contractors Ltd: recc.org.uk