Short answer: since 27 August 2026 you can legally plug a solar kit of up to 800 W into an ordinary 13 A socket in England, Wales or Scotland. It must meet the government’s Interim Product Specification (IPS v2). You can have one per household, and you must register it with your electricity network operator. It is not permitted in Northern Ireland. Kits pay 20% VAT and get no export payment, so the saving comes from the electricity you use as the panels generate it. That is about £133 a year for a typical London home with a south-facing balcony, in Fortyeight’s model.
This guide covers what the law says, the conditions that catch people out, how much a kit generates by orientation and region, and what it saves. To check your own home, use the free plug-in solar checker.
What changed on 27 August 2026
The change came in SI 2026/848, made on 16 July 2026 and in force from 27 August 2026. It does two things.
- Plugs (whole UK). It amends the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 so that a standard BS 1363 plug can be approved for a “plug-in microgenerator”.
- Connection rules (Great Britain only). It amends the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002. A plug-in microgenerator may only be installed and run if it complies with the Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification v2, published by DESNZ on 16 July 2026.
The legal definition is narrow:
- solar PV only,
- a maximum rated AC output of 800 W or less,
- connected by a standard plug and socket, and
- not designed to charge storage from the grid. Kits with a battery that charges from the mains fall outside it. If a kit includes a battery, ask the seller how it is covered.
There is no separate GOV.UK guidance page. The government’s 26 August 2026 announcement points to the Energy Saving Trust checklist, written with DESNZ.
The conditions in IPS v2
These are the rules a buyer can actually check.
| Condition | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Inverter up to 800 VA / 3.5 A | Check the inverter label. A larger inverter “limited in software” is a question for the seller. |
| Panels up to 2,000 W DC in total | You can connect more panel than 800 W. Above 960 W DC, the IPS suggests a professional check of your wiring. |
| Straight into a wall socket | No extension leads, multi-way adaptors or plug-in RCD adaptors. |
| RCBO protection | The circuit needs an RCBO. An MCB with an upstream RCD “may also be acceptable, subject to verification through further testing”. |
| No rewireable fuses | A home with an old rewireable-fuse board is not suitable. |
| Dedicated-ish circuit | The EST advises using a circuit that does not also supply lighting or hard-wired appliances. |
| G98 type-tested | The device must be type-tested to G98 and listed on the ENA device register. |
| One per household | G98 Issue 2 Amendment 1 (2026) limits it to one device until G98 is amended. |
If you are not sure what protects your sockets, an electrician can tell you in a short visit. It is the cheapest part of the job and the one most likely to rule a home out.
Registration is mandatory
Under ESQCR regulation 22(2)(c), your network operator (DNO) must be told before or at the time of commissioning. The Energy Saving Trust says registering at myplugin.solar is “a legal requirement”. It takes a few minutes. Do it before you plug in.
Planning and building rules
England. SI 2026/896, also in force from 27 August 2026, treats plug-in solar as solar PV under Part 14 permitted development, so you normally need no planning application. Permitted development does not apply if:
- the house, or the block of flats, is listed;
- the panel goes on a wooden wall or balcony, or a timber-clad exterior;
- you are in a conservation area or World Heritage Site and the wall or balcony faces a road;
- the panel sticks out more than 0.2 m from a wall or balcony next to a road, or more than 0.4 m elsewhere.
Wales and Scotland. The EST says to check the requirements in your area. We have not found a Welsh or Scottish instrument equivalent to SI 2026/896 as of 18 October 2026, so ask your council’s planning department.
Building regulations. The EST notes that fixing brackets may count as building work that has to meet building regulations even where no formal approval is needed. If you are drilling into the structure, ask building control.
Renters, leaseholders and flats. Get permission from your landlord, freeholder or managing agent before you buy. Our guide to plug-in solar for renters covers what to ask for, and the plug-in solar page generates the letters.
How much an 800 W kit generates
Orientation matters more than location. These figures are EU JRC PVGIS 5.3 annual yields (SARAH3 radiation 2005–2023, 14% system losses) multiplied by 0.8 kWp. They assume no shading.
| Place | 35° south | Vertical south | Vertical east | Vertical west |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | 925 kWh | 662 kWh | 439 kWh | 461 kWh |
| Exeter | 842 kWh | 605 kWh | 426 kWh | 423 kWh |
| London | 815 kWh | 594 kWh | 417 kWh | 399 kWh |
| Cardiff | 834 kWh | 596 kWh | 402 kWh | 421 kWh |
| Birmingham | 774 kWh | 568 kWh | 397 kWh | 384 kWh |
| Leeds | 758 kWh | 563 kWh | 386 kWh | 378 kWh |
| Manchester | 709 kWh | 517 kWh | 366 kWh | 355 kWh |
| Aberdeen | 714 kWh | 545 kWh | 349 kWh | 352 kWh |
| Glasgow | 682 kWh | 506 kWh | 343 kWh | 348 kWh |
A panel hung vertically on a south-facing balcony railing makes about 27% less than the same panel tilted at 35°. On an east- or west-facing railing it makes about half what a tilted south panel does. A panel propped on a flat roof or in a garden at a proper tilt beats the railing.
What it saves
Plug-in solar earns nothing for exports. The export tariffs guide explains why. The value is in the electricity you use at the moment the panel makes it. Fortyeight’s model runs a full year of half-hours: PVGIS hourly generation shapes against an Elexon Profile Class 1 household load, priced at Flexible Octopus (27.93p/kWh in London, including 5% VAT, as fetched on 25 October 2026).
London, typical household (2,500 kWh a year), 800 W kit:
| Mounting | Generated | Used in the home | Wasted export | Saving per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35° south (garden or flat roof) | 815 kWh | 583 kWh (71%) | 233 kWh | £163 |
| 35° east | 654 kWh | 493 kWh (75%) | 161 kWh | £138 |
| Vertical south (railing) | 594 kWh | 476 kWh (80%) | 118 kWh | £133 |
| Vertical south-east | 559 kWh | 447 kWh (80%) | 112 kWh | £125 |
| Vertical east | 417 kWh | 349 kWh (84%) | 67 kWh | £98 |
| Vertical west | 399 kWh | 343 kWh (86%) | 57 kWh | £96 |
The headline check: 594 kWh × 80% ≈ 476 kWh, and 476 kWh × 27.93p ≈ £133.
A smaller household uses less of the output. At 1,600 kWh a year, Ofgem’s “low” typical use, the same vertical south kit in London is 68% self-used and saves about £113. Elsewhere, a vertical south kit at 2,500 kWh saves about £144 in Brighton, £120 in Manchester and £116 in Glasgow.
If someone is at home during the day, more of the output gets used. Our calculator can use your real half-hourly data instead of the standard profile. See how to download your smart meter data.
Payback
We have not verified UK kit prices, so this table uses illustrative prices. Remember that kits pay 20% VAT, because a retail sale is standard-rated and the 0% rate covers only installed materials.
| Kit price (incl. VAT) | £133/yr (London, vertical S) | £113/yr (low use) | £98/yr (vertical E) |
|---|---|---|---|
| £400 | 3.0 years | 3.5 years | 4.1 years |
| £600 | 4.5 years | 5.3 years | 6.1 years |
| £800 | 6.0 years | 7.1 years | 8.2 years |
Add an electrician’s check if your consumer unit needs one, and any mounting hardware. Savings rise and fall with the unit price. During the electricity VAT holiday (1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027) each kWh is worth about 5% less than our long-run basis assumes.
Adding a battery to plug-in solar rarely pays on its own, because an 800 W kit leaves little surplus to store. In our model a 5 kWh battery adds only about £30 a year on Flexible. A battery makes sense on a time-of-use tariff for other reasons. See whether home batteries are worth it, or run the calculator.
This is a checklist, not legal advice. It reflects the law and guidance as of 18 October 2026. Check the IPS and the EST checklist for the current version before you buy.