The short version
There is no general grant for home solar. The Warm Homes: Local Grant can include solar PV for lower-income households in homes rated EPC D to G, until 31 March 2028. Switch Together Solar is group buying, not a grant. Installed solar carries 0% VAT until 31 March 2027, and the SEG pays for exported units.
The short answer: no general grant
Leaflets and cold calls sometimes suggest that a grant will pay for anyone’s solar panels. It will not. No scheme open to Northwich households today pays for solar on every home. The help that does exist falls into four kinds: a means-tested scheme aimed at lower-income households in poorly rated homes; a group-buying arrangement that lowers the price through competition; a VAT relief that applies to every household; and export tariff rules that pay for surplus electricity. Each is explained below, along with two older schemes whose names still come up.
Warm Homes: Local Grant in west Cheshire
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is delivered locally. For Cheshire West and Chester, which includes Northwich, enquiries and eligibility checks are handled by a consortium managed by Cheshire East Council, according to the council’s home energy support schemes page. Applications start on GOV.UK.
Who can apply
- The home must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D, E, F or G. An EPC rates a home’s energy efficiency from A, the best, to G, the worst.
- Owner-occupiers can apply, and so can private tenants.
- The household must meet one income route: someone in it receives an income-related benefit; or household income is £36,000 or less before tax; or it is £20,000 or less after housing costs; or the home is in an eligible postcode area.
Private landlords can take part for homes they let, but after the first property they must contribute at least half of the cost. The scheme runs until 31 March 2028.
What it can cover
The scheme can include solar PV, but it is not a solar scheme as such. Measures are decided for each home, and the result may be insulation or heating as well as, or instead of, panels. A household that qualifies should not assume panels will be offered; the assessment of the home decides.
Finding your EPC rating
Your rating is on the certificate produced when the home was last sold or let, and certificates can be looked up on the national EPC register by address. If there is no certificate, or the old one no longer reflects the home, ask the consortium how it deals with that before you assume you are in or out.
Who rents and who owns in the town wards
The scheme is open to owner-occupiers and private tenants. The 2021 Census shows how those groups divide in the three wards that carry the Northwich name. The census does not measure EPC ratings or the income tests, so it cannot say how many households would qualify.
| Ward | Households | Owned | Private rented | Social rented |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwich Leftwich | 2,279 | 55.9% | 16.7% | 25.8% |
| Northwich Winnington & Castle | 4,065 | 70.4% | 20.8% | 7.5% |
| Northwich Witton | 2,336 | 53.0% | 29.1% | 16.9% |
Social tenants are not among the groups named on the council’s page for this scheme. If you rent from the council or a housing association, ask your landlord what it plans for your home. Private tenants need their landlord’s agreement; more on that in renters and flats.
A note for Witton landlords
Witton has the highest share of private renting of the three town wards, at 29.1% of households. For a let home to be considered, the tenant’s household has to meet an income route and the home has to be rated D to G. The landlord’s contribution rule bites after the first property: from the second home onwards, the landlord must pay at least half of the cost of the work. For a landlord with several homes, the scheme shares the cost rather than covering it, so it is worth working out the landlord’s share before a tenant is encouraged to apply.
Questions to put to the consortium
- Does my home’s EPC rating and my household’s income put me inside the scheme?
- Who carries out the assessment of the home, and when?
- Is solar PV among the measures likely to suit this property, or is something else a higher priority?
- If I rent, what does my landlord need to sign, and what will the landlord be asked to pay?
- How long does the process usually take from application to installation?
Switch Together Solar
Switch Together Solar is not a grant. It is a group-buying scheme run by Cheshire West and Chester Council with neighbouring councils. Households register their interest, vetted installers certified under MCS bid against each other in a reverse auction, and each registered household then receives a personal offer at the winning price. Registering costs nothing and carries no obligation to buy.
Systems bought through the scheme come with a 10-year insurance-backed guarantee as standard.
Across the borough, 473 people had solar fitted through the 2023 to 2025 rounds. The latest registration window closed on 25 September 2026. Watch the council’s page for news of the next round, and if your roof needs unusual work, such as structural strengthening, ask how the scheme deals with extras before accepting an offer.
Group buying or going direct?
Group buying and a direct quote suit different households. In a group round, the auction sets the price and the scheme sets the standard terms, which takes away much of the haggling and narrows the field to vetted firms. Going direct takes more effort but lets you pick the firm, the equipment and the design, and compare several surveys of your own roof. On an older Northwich house where the roof structure needs a careful look, that individual survey may matter more than a few pounds on the price. Nothing stops you registering for a future group round and collecting direct quotes at the same time.
VAT relief: the help every household gets
HMRC’s VAT Notice 708/6 sets a 0% rate for solar panels and batteries fitted in homes until 31 March 2027, with 5% applying from 1 April 2027. This applies to every household, with no means test and no application. It is built into the price rather than claimed back afterwards, so the thing to check is that each quote shows the rate it has used.
Export tariffs under the SEG
Once panels are running, surplus electricity can be sold under the SEG, Ofgem’s export tariff rules. Large suppliers have to offer an export tariff above 0p per unit for systems up to 50 kW that carry MCS certification and have a meter that records exports. There is no single rate; suppliers set their own. It is payment for electricity supplied rather than a grant, and a unit used at home is usually worth more to you than one exported, as export and self-use explains.
ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme
ECO4, the fourth round of the Energy Company Obligation, runs only until 31 December 2026, and only so that energy suppliers can finish work. It is not a route to a new solar installation for a Northwich household. The Great British Insulation Scheme, often shortened to GBIS, ended on 31 March 2026. Anyone presenting either as a fresh opportunity should be treated with caution.
Loans
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is a loan, not a grant, and has to be repaid; the government’s factsheet explains who it is aimed at. Paying for solar more generally, including how to read a quote against published prices, is covered in the cost guide.
How the routes fit together
These routes are not alternatives to each other. The VAT relief applies to any qualifying installation in a home, whichever way it is paid for. The export tariff rules apply to any installation certified under MCS once a suitable meter is in place, so a household helped by the Local Grant or buying through Switch Together can still sign up for an export tariff afterwards. The only real choice is between ways of paying: the means-tested scheme if you qualify, a group round if one is open, or a direct purchase from savings or borrowing. Whichever applies, the paperwork at the end is the same, and it is worth keeping safe for the day the house is sold.
Spotting a misleading offer
- A caller who says a grant will cover panels for any household, without asking about income or the EPC rating.
- Anyone asking for a fee to register you for a scheme. Switch Together registration costs nothing, and the Local Grant application starts on GOV.UK.
- Pressure to sign quickly because a scheme is supposedly about to run out.
- A firm that presents itself as part of the council or the government without being able to show it.
Check any scheme against the council’s support schemes page, and check any firm in the ways described in choosing an installer.
Steps for a Northwich household
- Find your EPC rating. If it is D to G, read the Local Grant criteria and work out whether you meet an income route.
- If you might qualify, start on GOV.UK and let the consortium assess the home.
- If you do not, keep an eye on the council’s Switch Together page for the next round, and gather independent quotes alongside it.
- Whichever route you take, make sure the installation is certified under MCS, so you can sign up for an export tariff.
- If you rent, talk to your landlord before anything else.
How quickly solar has spread across the borough is shown in solar take-up locally. Off-gas households, who may also be weighing up heat pump support, should read off-gas homes around Northwich. Quick answers to the questions asked most often are gathered on the Northwich solar FAQs.
Scheme rules change. Everything here was read from the council, GOV.UK, HMRC and Ofgem pages on the date shown at the top. Confirm the current position with the scheme itself before you apply or sign anything.