The consultation landed on 16 June 2026. After two years of "expected", "forthcoming" and "watch this date", this is the document that actually proposes the legal mechanism. It is open for just two weeks, closing at 11:59pm on 30 June 2026, and DESNZ expects to publish a summary of responses by 22 July 2026. I am responding as Plug Solar Hub, and if you have a stake in this, as a buyer, a renter, a landlord, an installer or a retailer, you can respond too. I will show you how at the end.
The first thing to flag is that this is not the route I, or much of the trade, had been tracking. The expectation was a BSI plug-in solar product standard. What DESNZ has actually proposed is different, and worth getting right.
What is actually being proposed
The consultation seeks views on two specific things: amendments to the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 (the PSSR), and a new Interim Product Specification that compliant products must meet. Two further pieces move alongside it: an amendment to Engineering Recommendation G98 to allow these devices to connect to the low-voltage network, and amendments to the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 (ESQCR), which DESNZ says are being handled separately and are not part of this consultation.
The framing matters. DESNZ describes this as a transitional approach to open the market in the short term, while longer-term changes to the enduring standards, including BS 1363 and BS 7671, are considered. So the Interim Product Specification, modelled on the German standard DIN VDE V 0126-95 with UK modifications, is the thing that defines a legal kit for now. An enduring British Standard is described as later work, not the immediate route.
Why the law blocks plug-in solar today
The reason you cannot legally buy and plug in a kit today is narrow and technical. The PSSR require plugs to conform to BS 1363, and BS 1363 does not permit plugs and sockets to be used to connect electricity-generating equipment. The PSSR do not explicitly ban plug-in solar, but because BS 1363 will not accommodate generation through a socket, a plug-in solar product cannot demonstrate compliance, so it cannot lawfully be placed on the market or used. The proposed amendment is a limited, specific carve-out: allow plug-in solar to connect via a standard UK plug, but only if the product meets the Interim Product Specification.
The numbers that define a legal kit
This is the part buyers will care about most. The Interim Product Specification sets hard limits on what a compliant device is:
- 800VA maximum apparent power supplied to the installation, and a maximum current of 3.5A.
- Single phase, rated up to 253V AC at 50Hz.
- Panels capped at 2000W DC total module power. Devices with more than 960W of panels should consider a professional assessment of the wiring before installation.
- One device per household, defined as a single dwelling with its own consumer unit. The specification notes this may change to one per circuit depending on the consultation outcome.
- No batteries. Solar-plus-battery units, plug-in storage, building-integrated PV and anything other than solar PV are explicitly out of scope.
What a compliant product has to do
Beyond the headline limits, the specification sets out the engineering controls that make a socket connection safe. The plug must be designed to BS 1363-1 with partially insulated pins so live parts cannot be touched, and a non-rewireable moulded plug fitted with a BS 1362 fuse not exceeding 5A. The inverter must use anti-islanding protection, so that if the supply is lost the inverter voltage is removed, and if the plug is pulled, dangerous voltage must be cleared from the pins within 2 seconds. Outdoor components and outdoor plug arrangements need an ingress rating of at least IP55. Mounting systems must come with a structural analysis demonstrating they withstand UK wind and snow loads, calculated using the UK National Annexes to the relevant Eurocodes, and must not obstruct escape routes or compromise fire compartmentation. Multi-way adaptors, travel adaptors and plug convertors are not permitted.
What the safety study found
The proposals rest on an independent electrical safety study, carried out by Arceio Limited with laboratory partner Eurofins E&E UK and published alongside the consultation. It tested six commercially available devices under a strict no-modification boundary, meaning connection to representative UK domestic circuits with no changes to fixed wiring, consumer units or protective devices. The headline conclusion is reassuring: plug-in PV can behave safely and coherently on UK circuits within defined export limits. Protective devices kept working, anti-islanding disconnection occurred within required limits, no sustained unsafe energisation was seen after a protective device operated, and reverse-current testing found no localised thermal hotspots at the tested export levels.
The study is honest about what is not yet resolved, and this is the bit I would not gloss over. Product quality was not uniform across the six devices: there was variation in export-limitation behaviour, in voltage and frequency thresholds, and in conducted emissions. In particular, conducted EMC at maximum rated export power was noticeably higher than the Class B limits that apply to domestic premises, and the study says conformity in that area cannot yet be treated as fully resolved. Its conclusion is not that plug-in solar is unsafe, but that a UK product specification is needed precisely to close those gaps. That is the case for doing this properly, not quickly.
The savings reality check
The consultation's analytical annex is refreshingly candid about money. A typical 800W plug-in kit costs around £400 to £600 in Europe, excluding installation, against a median UK rooftop install cost of £1,595 per kW in 2025/26, so the entry cost is genuinely lower. But the annual saving is modest, and orientation decides it. DESNZ models a south-facing array at 30 degrees saving around £110 a year, and a vertical east or west-facing array saving around £70 a year, both for an average home with daytime occupancy, no battery and no export payment. As I have argued on the savings calculator, the maths only really works with daytime self-consumption and good orientation. The annex agrees.
The German evidence
DESNZ leans heavily on Germany, the most developed plug-in solar market. It estimates as many as 3 million devices were installed there by the end of 2024, with registered stock rising from around 0.9% of households at the end of 2023 to around 3% by the end of 2025. Germany got there through a sequence of reforms: zero VAT from 2023, an increase from 600W to 800W in 2024, tenancy-law changes that made installation a privileged modification for renters, and technical standardisation in late 2025. DESNZ is candid that the UK differs, with more flats and rented homes, more leasehold consent friction and lower average irradiance in places, so it treats the German data as informative about direction rather than a direct forecast.
What I think
I welcome this. It is the document that finally creates a legal product, and the limits are sensible: 800VA, one per household, no batteries, a proper anti-islanding and contact-protection regime. The instinct to require compliance before market access, rather than relying only on after-the-fact product-safety law, is the right one.
My genuine concern is pace. A two-week consultation window, a response summary expected by 22 July 2026, and a stated ambition to enable rollout "within months", leaves very little time to stand up the things that make a product standard meaningful: enforcement and market surveillance, a working notification route, a register of compliant products, and clear consumer guidance. One could argue the cost-of-living and energy-security pressure justifies moving fast, and there is force in that. On the other hand, the safety study's own unresolved EMC finding and the variation across devices are exactly the kind of thing a register, independent verification and surveillance are there to catch. My view is that the specification can be ready on this timeline, but sales should not run ahead of the enforcement and guidance that sit around it.
On one device per household versus one per circuit, I land on per-household for now. A modern home with several well-protected radial circuits could probably host more safely, but in flats, houses in multiple occupation and older shared-wiring stock, multiple untracked devices are harder to notify and easier to push past safe current levels. Start at per-household, prove the registration and notification arrangements, then revisit per-circuit with clear conditions.
Common questions
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Not yet. The consultation, open from 16 to 30 June 2026, proposes the changes that would make plug-in solar legal: an amendment to the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 and a new Interim Product Specification. Until those changes are made and compliant products reach the market, the legal route does not yet exist. DESNZ expects to publish a summary of responses by 22 July 2026.
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A device must be single phase, rated up to 253V AC at 50Hz, with maximum apparent power not exceeding 800VA and maximum current not exceeding 3.5A. Total PV module DC power is capped at 2000W, and devices above 960W of panels should consider a professional assessment of the wiring. Only one device is permitted per household, with no batteries, connecting via a BS 1363 plug fitted with a 5A fuse and partially insulated pins.
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The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 30 June 2026. Respond online through the Citizen Space platform, or by email to [email protected]. State whether you are responding as an individual or an organisation, and make clear which question each comment relates to.
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No. Earlier expectations pointed to a BSI product standard. The route DESNZ is actually proposing is an amendment to the Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994 plus a DESNZ Interim Product Specification modelled on the German DIN VDE V 0126-95 standard, with G98 and ESQCR changes alongside. Enduring British Standards, including any revisions to BS 1363 and BS 7671, are described as longer-term work.
Sources
- DESNZ, Plug-in solar: Regulatory amendment and interim product specification, published 16 June 2026, closing 30 June 2026.
- DESNZ, Plug-in Solar Consultation document, June 2026 (consultation questions and policy intent).
- DESNZ, Plug-in Solar Analytical Annex, June 2026 (costs, savings and take-up evidence).
- DESNZ, Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification, Version 1.0, June 2026 (technical limits and requirements).
- Arceio Limited with Eurofins E&E UK, Plug-in PV Systems in the United Kingdom: Electrical Safety, Compatibility and Implementation Considerations, June 2026 (the safety study).
If the picture moves, this post is updated and the change logged on the changelog. Email me at [email protected] if you spot an error.
Related: BSI 2026 tracker · BS 7671 & plug-in solar · Solar panels that plug into a socket · G98 guide · June 2026 industry safety statement