No 10 has no immediate plans to subsidise the cost of plug-in solar panels which go on sale on Thursday, but suggested local authorities and charities would be able to do so.
The panels, which are plugged directly into a mains socket like any other device and then placed on balconies and outdoor spaces, are officially made legal on Thursday and will be stocked by major retailers priced at up to £600.
Asked by The i Paper if subsidies would be available for poorer households, energy minister Martin McCluskey appeared to leave the door open, saying there were no plans “at the moment”.
It led to claims by poverty campaigners that the much-anticipated roll-out of plug-in solar power could “entrench the divide between people who can afford to take energy saving measures and those who must cut back on energy use due to a lack of affordability”.
The announcement that the panels will now be legal to buy came as Ofgem raised the energy price cap by 4 per cent, or £73, to £1,935 a year from October – the highest level in three years.
Responding to the increase, Andy Burnham said: “We’ll continue to look as we go forward at how we get energy prices down in the long term, and that’s what we need to do too.”
Argos among those selling from Thursday
Plug-in solar panels are cheaper than traditional solar panels, which require installation, and reduce a household’s energy bills by generating electricity and reducing the amount drawn from the grid.
While the technology is widely used in countries like Germany, it has been illegal in the UK up until now under safety regulations.
However, after the completion of an independent safety study, the Government has declared that the technology is safe to use with UK wiring and new regulations will come into effect on Thursday allowing the kits to go on sale.
McCluskey said that the Government expected the price of single panel kits to settle at between £400 and £600, and that Argos would be among those selling them from Thursday with “other retailers to follow soon after”.
Single panel kits could save households up to £110 a year on their bills, with each kit producing up to 800 watts – enough to power 20 per cent of an average home’s electricity use – or roughly sufficient to run a fridge, television, Wi-Fi router, laptop, phone charger and an Xbox S at once when the sun is shining.
With the kits still costing hundreds of pounds to buy, The i Paper asked McCluskey whether there were any plans for government grants to reduce the upfront cost for lower-income households.
He said: “At the moment we’re not proposing delivering them through a government scheme from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
“But obviously local authorities, charities, others will have their own funds that they could choose if they want to subsidise plug-in solar or to purchase plug-in solar for their residents… there’s nothing standing in their way of doing that.”
Ministers will ‘look more closely’ at subsidies
McCluskey said that ministers would “look more closely at” whether subsidised units would be “something in the future that we might provide through government schemes”. He said if local authorities wanted to do it now they had his “enthusiastic” support and “should get on and do it”.
The Government had previously indicated that it would pilot free plug-in solar panels for some households under its Warm Homes Plan.
Plug-in solar is seen as particularly promising for people like renters and those in flats, who have struggled to benefit from traditional solar in the past.
Many renters will still have to get permission from their landlords to use the kits, but McCluskey urged landlords not to stand in the way.
“We have written to the National Landlords Association, making quite clear the benefits of plug-in solar, and would hope that that would be looked on favourably by landlords,” he said. “I don’t see a reason why a landlord should needlessly withdraw consent or not provide consent for that when the safety case is robust.”
The Energy Secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, said that plug-in solar would be a “simple, affordable way for households to take control of their energy bills and start saving straight away” and that it would allow people to benefit from “clean homegrown energy”.
Fears over energy divide
But poverty campaigners have questioned whether cash-strapped local authorities can afford to give out grants, and suggested the Government could do more to make them more affordable.
Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “Households struggling with further increases in energy bills or in energy debt cannot find several hundred pounds up front, however good the payback looks over four years.
“The danger is this could entrench the divide between people who can afford to take energy saving measures and those who must cut back on energy use due to a lack of affordability. In the current climate, expecting charities or local authorities to cover this cost is unrealistic.”Jonathan Bean from Fuel Poverty Action added: “We should all be getting our fair share of the cheap clean energy from our wind and sun. Government must make solar power, storage and cheap tariffs available to everyone, not just a privileged few.”
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