The answer first
The main route is Cheshire East’s Warm Homes: Local Grant, funded until 31 March 2028, which can include solar PV for owner-occupiers and private tenants in homes rated EPC D to G who pass its income test. Switch Together’s 2026 round has closed. Installed solar carries 0% VAT until 31 March 2027, and exports can be paid under the SEG scheme.
The schemes side by side
| Scheme | What it does | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Warm Homes: Local Grant (Cheshire East) | Grant for insulation and renewables, solar PV included, for eligible households | Open; funding until 31 March 2028. |
| Switch Together | Group purchase of panels and batteries organised with the council | Registration for 2026 shut on 25 September 2026. |
| VAT relief | 0% VAT on solar and batteries installed in homes | Until 31 March 2027, then 5%. |
| The SEG scheme | Payment for electricity exported to the grid | Continuing. |
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme | Help towards a heat pump in place of fossil-fuel heating; not solar | Current terms on GOV.UK. |
| ECO4 | Supplier-funded home energy work | Finishing work already under way. |
The Warm Homes: Local Grant in Cheshire East
Cheshire East Council runs the Warm Homes: Local Grant locally, as part of the national scheme described on GOV.UK. The council’s funding runs until 31 March 2028. It pays for insulation and for renewable measures, and the measures it lists include solar PV and heat pumps. Each condition below has to be met; meeting one or two is not enough.
The home
The property must have an Energy Performance Certificate rating of D, E, F or G. The current rating for most homes can be found on the national EPC register. A house rated C or above is outside the scheme, however old or cold it feels, and a home without a recent certificate may need an assessment first.
Who lives there
The grant is for owner-occupiers living in the property as their main home, and for private tenants. The household must pass one of three income tests: a member is on an income-related benefit, or total income comes to £36,000 or less before tax, or £20,000 or less once housing costs are paid. The council’s page explains how each is checked. A second home does not meet the main-home condition.
What gets installed
The council aims for the work to move the home up two EPC bands or more. That target shapes the package: in a poorly insulated house, insulation and heating may come before panels, and solar PV is one option among several rather than an automatic part of every job. A household interested in panels can say so, but the assessment decides what is offered.
Rented homes
For a private tenant, the landlord must agree to the work, and after their first property landlords are expected to contribute at least 50% of the cost. How a tenant can raise it, and what a landlord weighs, is covered on renters and landlords.
Insulation schemes
The Great British Insulation Scheme ended on 31 March 2026. Insulation remains part of what the Local Grant can fund, and for many homes it is the work that does most for the EPC rating.
Switch Together
Switch Together, formerly Solar Together, is a group-buying scheme that Cheshire East runs with neighbouring councils. Households register their interest, the scheme gathers them into one large purchase, and each household then decides whether to accept the offer it receives. It is not a grant: the household pays, and the aim is a competitive price through volume. The price offered depends on the round and on how many households take part, and any offer can be turned down. According to the council, the scheme has put solar on more than five hundred homes across Cheshire East, almost 2.9 MW in all, together with 3.22 MWh of batteries.
Registrations for the 2026 round were taken between 3 August 2026 and 25 September 2026, and that window has passed. The round also invited households that already had panels to register for a battery. No date has been given here for another round. The scheme’s share of local take-up is put in context on solar take-up around Nantwich.
VAT relief
No VAT is charged on solar panels and batteries fitted to homes until 31 March 2027, under HMRC’s VAT Notice 708/6; after that the rate rises to 5%. The relief is automatic: there is nothing to apply for, and the rate is built into the firm’s price. It applies to every household, whatever its income. If an invoice shows VAT at a rate that does not match the notice for the date of the work, raise it with the firm before paying.
The SEG scheme
The SEG scheme, run by Ofgem, is not a grant either. It requires large electricity suppliers to offer a tariff above 0p per unit for electricity exported from eligible systems up to 50 kW, which for household solar means MCS certification and a meter that records exports. Rates and terms vary between suppliers. How exports fit around a household’s own use is shown on export and self-use.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme helps with the cost of replacing fossil-fuel heating with low-carbon heating, such as a heat pump, in England. It does not pay for solar panels. It matters around Nantwich because so many village homes heat with oil or LPG, and a household thinking about both panels and a heat pump should read its current terms on GOV.UK and the heating notes on off-gas villages.
ECO4
ECO4 runs only until 31 December 2026, and only so that energy suppliers can finish work already under way. A household that is not already part of an ECO4 project should treat it as unavailable and look at the Local Grant instead. The dates are summarised on Cheshire West and Chester’s support-schemes page, which covers the national schemes as well as its own area.
Consent still comes first
A grant pays for work; it does not grant planning permission. If a home is listed, panels need planning permission and Listed Building Consent before any funded installation can go ahead, and the same applies to the walls or flat roofs that the conservation-area rules leave outside permitted development. Applications take weeks, and the Local Grant’s funding runs only until 31 March 2028, so a household in the centre of Nantwich should check its position early. The rules are set out on listed buildings and solar and the conservation-area page.
Applying for the Local Grant
Applications go through the council’s own page, which explains the steps and the evidence it needs. Expect questions about the home’s EPC rating, the household’s income or benefits and, for tenants, the landlord’s details and consent. Gather those papers before starting, keep copies of everything sent, and note any reference number given. If the household is turned down on one test, check whether another of the three income routes fits before giving up.
Offers that arrive unasked
Cold calls, leaflets and doorstep visits sometimes promise grant-funded panels. Some are genuine routes into real schemes; others are sales pitches using the word grant loosely. Before agreeing to anything, look the scheme up yourself on the council’s website or GOV.UK, contact it using details you found independently, and ask whether the caller is part of it. Check the firm on the MCS register and Companies House, and never pay a fee simply to secure a grant. The fuller set of checks is on choosing an installer.
Keeping the records
Whatever route pays for the panels, keep the paperwork together: any grant offer letter, the contract and invoice, the MCS certificate, the grid notification or approval, and the warranties. A buyer, a lender or a future tenant will ask for them, and an export tariff cannot be set up without the MCS certificate. The documents a buyer expects are listed on buying a home with solar.
If no scheme fits
Most households will pay for panels themselves, with the VAT relief applied. Doing so does not rule out a later Local Grant application for insulation or heating, if the household’s circumstances change while the scheme is still running. The price guide and the ways to pay are on solar costs. Borough-wide figures on how many sites already have solar, drawn from the DESNZ regional renewable statistics, show how common panels have become. Short answers on grants and everything else are gathered on the FAQ page, and a question about eligibility for a particular home can go through the question form.