Is plug-in solar legal in the UK? Current status

This page tracks the actual legal position, with dates and primary sources, and is updated as things change. It is not a buying guide — we will not recommend kits until they are lawful to use here. If you have read elsewhere that plug-in solar became legal in April 2026, that is a misunderstanding, and we explain exactly where it comes from below.

The short answer

• Can I legally buy and use one today? No. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s own consultation states that plug-in microgeneration products “cannot demonstrate compliance with PSSR and ESQCR and therefore cannot be legally placed on the market or used by consumers”. That remains the position until commencement.
• When does that change? 27 August 2026. The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 and Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 (Amendment) Regulations 2026 — SI 2026/848 — were made on 16 July 2026 and laid before Parliament on 17 July 2026. Regulation 1(2) reads: “These Regulations come into force on 27th August 2026.”
• What still has to happen? Nothing further in Parliament. The instrument is made and laid; it simply has not commenced yet. The Government has committed to publishing consumer guidance alongside commencement.
• Is the technical specification settled? Broadly yes — and this corrects what we said here in July. The Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification version 2 was published on 16 July 2026 and is named directly in SI 2026/848, so it is the standard a compliant product has to meet. It remains explicitly an interim specification, with a longer-term British Standard intended to succeed it.
• Should I buy now to be ready? That is your call. If you do, buy only a kit that states compliance with the Interim Product Specification version 2, and expect to be limited to one device per household rather than one per circuit — see what is settled and what is not below.

How we got here — the timeline

24 March 2026 — the Government announcement

The Government announced it would make plug-in solar available “within months”, naming Currys, B&Q, Amazon, Lidl and Iceland as retail partners and EcoFlow as a manufacturer partner. The announcement framed the appeal plainly: power used “directly through a mains socket like any other device, without an installation cost”.

On the same day, the Institution of Engineering and Technology issued a safety warning that has been widely ignored in the coverage since. Its position was unambiguous: “Plug-in solar systems remain not yet legal to use in the UK.”

15 April 2026 — BS 7671 Amendment 4 (the bit everyone gets wrong)

The IET and BSI published Amendment 4 (2026) to BS 7671:2018, the Wiring Regulations. Amendment 4 introduced a new chapter covering stationary secondary batteries, reflecting the growth of home energy storage.

Amendment 4 is not the instrument that legalises plug-in solar. A great many UK sites currently state that 800 W plug-in solar became legal in April 2026 because of it. That is wrong. The barrier to plug-in solar is not the Wiring Regulations — it is the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations and the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002, which is why the Government had to consult on amending them separately, and why the instrument that finally does it is SI 2026/848 and not Amendment 4.

16–30 June 2026 — the DESNZ consultation

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero consulted on a regulatory amendment plus an Interim Product Specification. The specification sets the minimum technical standards a plug-in solar device must meet to be lawfully connected to the grid, covering electrical design, British plug requirements, mounting systems and fire protection. The consultation drew 466 responses.

16 July 2026 — the Government response, the specification and the instrument

Three things happened on the same day. Over 85% of respondents agreed with the proposed Interim Product Specification, and the Government confirmed it would proceed with refinements. Version 2 of the specification was published. And SI 2026/848 was made, then laid before Parliament the following day.

27 August 2026 — commencement

The date the amendments take effect. We will update this page that day rather than rewriting it, so the record of what was true beforehand stays intact.

What the instrument does — and where it does not apply

SI 2026/848 does two separate jobs, and they do not cover the same territory. The split is set out in regulation 1(3) and 1(4), and it is easy to miss:

• Regulation 2 amends the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 — the product-and-plug side. It lets an approved body accept a plug-in microgenerator’s plug that conforms to BS 1363 in every respect except the provisions prohibiting a generator connection. It extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
• Regulation 3 amends the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 — the grid-connection side, rewriting regulation 22(1)(c) so that a plug-in microgenerator is measured against the Interim Product Specification rather than the general British Standard requirement. It extends to England and Wales and Scotland only.

So the connection leg of this reform does not reach Northern Ireland on 27 August. That is consistent with the Interim Product Specification version 2, which notes that Engineering Recommendation G98 applies to Great Britain only, that Northern Ireland has its own separate connection requirements set out in Engineering Recommendation G98/NI, and that applying the specification there “is subject to further consideration and may require amendment”. If you are in Northern Ireland, do not read the 27 August date as applying to you. We have not found a published instrument or timetable resolving the position there, and we are not going to guess at one — we will add it here when it exists.

For a fuller reading of the instrument itself — the definition in full, what an IPS-compliant product looks like, and what stays the same — see what changes on 27 August 2026.

What is settled, and what is not

Some of what this page previously flagged as expectation is now written into the instrument. Keeping the two apart matters:

Settled — in SI 2026/848 itself:

• An 800 W ceiling on maximum rated AC output, measured at the inverter’s output terminals, not at the panels.
• Solar only. The definition covers electricity generated by the direct conversion of sunlight, so other plug-in generation technologies are out of scope.
• Battery storage is excluded. A device designed to import energy for the purpose of storing it for later supply does not meet the definition and takes none of the benefit of the exception. This is a hard divergence from Germany, where storage is the single largest area of consumer demand, and it is among the most commonly misreported details of the reform.
• Compliance is assessed against the Interim Product Specification version 2, which the instrument names directly.

Not settled:

• The G98 amendment that would allow more than one device per household has not been published, and has no date. The Interim Product Specification version 2 permits one device per circuit, but its own scope section says current network requirements — Engineering Recommendation G98 Issue 2 Amendment 1 2026 — restrict this to one device per household, “which applies unless and until that is amended”. In practice, expect to be limited to a single device at launch however many circuits you have. This is the most widely missed limit in current UK coverage.
• Consumer guidance is promised at commencement, but had not been published as at this update.
• The Northern Ireland position, as set out above.
• The interim specification is explicitly a stopgap. A longer-term British Standard is intended to replace it, with no timeline yet.

What the IET wants you to know about your wiring

This part deserves more attention than it gets, because it is the bit that does not go away when the law changes. Feeding electricity into a socket is not the same as drawing it out, and UK housing stock is old.

The IET’s warning covers three specific risks:

• Ageing wiring and historic DIY alterations. Many homes “may not safely accommodate power being fed back into sockets or circuits”.
• Older RCDs. “Some older RCDs were never designed for electricity flowing back into the circuit, as can happen with plug-in solar. This can stop the RCD from tripping when it should, meaning it may not protect you during a fault.” An RCD that fails to trip is a serious matter — that device is what protects you from electrocution.
• Variability between homes. “What may be safe in one home may pose a significant risk in another.”

The IET’s recommendation is that consumers “should have their electrical installation professionally checked for suitability before using any plugin generation equipment”. Note that this is advice about your existing installation, and it will still be sound advice after 27 August. A product being legal to sell does not make a 1970s consumer unit suitable for reverse power flow.

Why this is worth being patient about

Germany has had plug-in solar for years and adds roughly half a million devices annually. The German rules are settled: 800 W AC at the inverter, up to 2,000 W of modules, a single registration in the Marktstammdatenregister, and no notification to the local network operator at all. That is roughly the destination the UK is heading toward, with the notable exception of storage, which Germany permits and the UK definition excludes.

The UK is roughly two years behind, and the last mile was regulatory rather than technical. As of this update it is a few weeks — a specific few weeks, with a date on it.