News · 10 June 2026 · Updated 15 September 2026 · 3 min read

Five UK Electrical Bodies Just Urged Caution on Plug-In Solar

On 9 June 2026, ECA, Electrical Safety First, the IET, NICEIC and SELECT issued a joint statement asking the Government to get the safety framework in place before plug-in solar was sold to consumers. The framework then arrived, and plug-in solar became legal on 27 August 2026. Here is what the statement said, and what it means now.

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Adeniyi Adeniji, Founder of Plug Solar Hub
I track UK plug-in solar standards and policy so households can decide on facts, not headlines. This piece reports the joint statement and links the primary source. If I have read it wrong, email me and I will correct it.
Published: 10 June 2026 · Updated: 15 September 2026
Update, 15 September 2026. This post reports a moment in June 2026, and the situation has moved on. The bodies asked for product standards, safe install routes and network notification before sale. All three arrived. The DESNZ Interim Product Specification v2.0 was published on 16 July 2026, Ofgem approved EREC G98 Issue 2 Amendment 1 on 11 August 2026 under DCRP/MP/26/02, and SI 2026 No. 848 came into force on 27 August 2026. A kit showing Compliant on the ENA G98 Type Test Register may now be plugged into an ordinary 13A socket and self-notified to your network operator afterwards. No electrician, no prior permission. 48 kits from 13 manufacturers are listed and 15 are on sale, the cheapest at £432 when we last read the price at the seller. The electrician route now applies only to kits that are not on the register. The rest of this post is left as written, with the dated corrections marked.

The statement landed on 9 June 2026. Five organisations that sit at the centre of UK electrical safety and competence, the ECA, Electrical Safety First, the IET, NICEIC and SELECT, put their names to one message: they support cheaper, cleaner energy, but plug-in solar should only be sold to consumers once the right product checks, standards and guidance are in place.

It is not a ban, and it is not a U-turn on legalisation. It is a call for sequencing: get the framework in first, then sell. That is the position I have taken on this site since I started writing about plug-in solar, so I want to report it straight and say plainly where I stand.

What the statement actually says

The bodies set out six safety concerns, all of which come down to one idea: an easy-looking product could be connected to a home electrical system that was never designed for it.

  • Two-way power flow. Plug-in solar sends electricity back into the home's wiring, not just draws it. Some household protective devices may not behave as expected if the circuit has not been assessed for that. Our RCBO protection explainer shows what good protection looks like.
  • Fire risk in older homes. More than half of UK homes are over 100 years old, and ageing or damaged wiring connected to one or more units could overheat.
  • Product standards may not be ready. If kits reach shops before clear UK standards and enforcement exist, buyers could end up with mixed-quality or unsafe imports. The statement specifically flags flat cables sold to run under doors.
  • Network visibility. If kits are sold like ordinary appliances with no notification, network operators lose sight of what is connected, and many units in one building could add up.
  • Insurance and liability. It is not yet clear how insurers would respond to a fault on a self-installed, undeclared unit.
  • Improvised setups. Extension leads, adaptors and panels fixed unsafely on balconies raise the risk of overheating, trips, or panels falling from height.
In the bodies' own words: "As safety-critical electrical products, they should only be sold once the right product checks and guidance are in place. Without clear standards, there is a real risk of danger in people's homes, problems for the electricity network, and damage to public trust in greener energy." Source: the joint statement, 9 June 2026, linked below.

What it does not say

This matters, because a statement like this is easy to misread as opposition. It is not. The Government's own commitment, in the gov.uk announcement of 24 March 2026, was to legalise plug-in solar "with tailored safety standards." The industry bodies are pressing for those tailored standards to exist before products hit the shelves, not arguing against access to cleaner energy. They say so directly: careful checks "are not a barrier to progress, they are what make progress safe and trustworthy."

It also does not say plug-in solar is inherently unsafe. A quality grid-tied kit, installed correctly, behaves predictably. The concern is the gap between a product that looks plug-and-play and the unknown condition of the wiring it meets.

The line I held in June, and what replaced it

Until 27 August 2026 I wrote the same thing on every page of this site: no UK-certified plug-in solar kit existed, the compliant install was a hardwired connection by a CPS-registered electrician plus G98 notification, and the missing piece was the DESNZ Interim Product Specification. In June 2026 five industry bodies said much the same in their own words, and I think that pressure is part of why the framework was built properly rather than quickly.

What I got wrong in the detail was the trigger. Like most coverage at the time, I expected a new BSI standard to be the switch that turned the route on. That route was abandoned. What actually opened it was the Interim Product Specification v2.0 on 16 July 2026, then EREC G98 Issue 2 Amendment 1 approved by Ofgem on 11 August 2026, then SI 2026 No. 848 in force on 27 August 2026. I would rather correct that plainly than leave it standing, because on this topic one uncorrected error costs a reader real money.

What it means for you today

If you were about to buy a kit and plug it straight into a socket, that is now the compliant route, provided the kit is listed. What to do:

  • Check the exact model on the ENA G98 Type Test Register. Compliant means you may plug it into an ordinary 13A socket and self-notify your network operator afterwards. Match the model number, not just the brand.
  • Use the electrician route only for an unlisted kit. A CPS-registered electrician, a hardwired connection and G98 notification. The detail is on the BS 7671 page and the G98 guide.
  • Take the physical safety points seriously. The six concerns above have not evaporated. Mount panels so they cannot fall, use the plug and lead supplied rather than an extension or an adaptor, and do not run a flat cable under a door.
  • Read the socket question in full: what is legal for solar panels that plug into a socket.

What we are doing: keeping the register count and the prices current, and dating every reading. The statement did not stop legalisation. I think it shaped it, and the framework is better for it.

Common questions

  • No. The joint statement urged the Government to put product standards, enforcement, safe install routes, network notification and consumer guidance in place before plug-in solar was sold to consumers. It was not a ban and not a reversal of the planned legalisation; it was a call to get the safety framework in first. That framework then arrived, and plug-in solar became legal on 27 August 2026.
  • A quality grid-tied kit installed correctly can be safe. The statement's concern was an easy-looking product being connected to ageing or unassessed home wiring without checks, which can raise the risk of overheating, fire or electric shock. The answer the framework gave is the ENA G98 Type Test Register: a kit showing Compliant has been type tested against the DESNZ Interim Product Specification v2.0, and only such a kit may be plugged into a 13A socket. Mount the panels securely, use the plug and lead supplied rather than an extension or an adaptor, and do not run a flat cable under a door.
  • Check the exact model on the ENA G98 Type Test Register first. If it shows Compliant you may plug it into an ordinary 13A socket and self-notify your network operator afterwards, with no electrician and no prior permission, because SI 2026 No. 848 and EREC G98 Issue 2 Amendment 1 came into force on 27 August 2026. 48 kits from 13 manufacturers are Compliant and 15 are on sale. Until 27 August 2026 the only compliant route was a hardwired connection by a CPS-registered electrician with G98 notification, and that route now applies only to kits that are not on the register.

Sources

If the standards picture moves, this post is updated and the change logged on the changelog. Email me at [email protected] if you spot an error.

Related: Solar panels that plug into a socket · BS 7671 & plug-in solar · BSI 2026 tracker · G98 guide

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