UK Solar News

Policy changes, SEG rates, grants and industry news, curated for Herne Bay, Beltinge and Greenhill homeowners weighing up a DIY plug-in setup or an MCS-certified install.

Grants

Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant rises to £9,000 for oil and LPG homes, relevant to Kingsdown and the villages off mains gas

From 21 July 2026 the Boiler Upgrade Scheme increased its heat pump grant from £7,500 to £9,000 for homes currently heated by oil or LPG, while the ECO4 scheme that has funded some solar installs closes at the end of December 2026 with no direct replacement yet live.

29 July 2026 · OVO (solar-and-heating.ovo.com)

MCS standards

MCS solar standard tightens again with MIS 3002 issue 6.0, worth asking any installer quoting a CT6 flat-roof job

MIS 3002 issue 6.0, available for reference from 18 March 2026, is the latest update to the MCS Solar PV Installation Standard, and every recent revision in this cycle has moved toward stricter documentation and mounting requirements, not fewer.

29 July 2026 · MCS (mcscertified.com)

Export income

SEG export rates now span 1p to 32p per kWh, worth checking before assuming your MCS install is still on a good deal

There are around thirty live Smart Export Guarantee tariffs on the market as of July 2026, and Octopus Outgoing, previously the cleanest no-battery-required flat rate, dropped from 15p to 12p per kWh on 1 March 2026, a 20% cut with no change on the homeowner's end.

29 July 2026 · EnergyPlus

VAT

0% VAT on solar and batteries ends 1 April 2027, and the deadline matters more for MCS installs than DIY kits

Solar panels and battery storage installed at a UK home currently carry 0% VAT under HMRC's relief, but that rate rises to 5% from 1 April 2027, adding roughly £250 to a typical £5,000 MCS-certified install in Herne Bay, Beltinge and Greenhill.

29 July 2026 · Sunsave

New solar news added regularly. Questions about how any of this affects your own roof? Ask us directly.