The network-side rule that decides whether your kit is allowed to connect got signed off on 11 August 2026 and took effect on 27 August. Here is what it changes for buyers, and what it does not.
We have been waiting on one last signature for plug-in solar, and on 11 August 2026 it quietly landed. Ofgem approved the change to Engineering Recommendation G98, the Distribution Code rule that decides whether a small generator is allowed to connect to the grid. That was the final lock. It opened on 27 August 2026, the same day the ban lifted, and since then the plug-in route has worked end to end: a compliant kit, connected by you, notified to your network operator, no electrician in the loop for the connection itself.
Plug-in solar now has a place in the rules. G98 defines a "plug-in micro-generator" at 800W or less and sets out how it connects. Until then the code simply did not allow a customer to plug a generator in. Since 27 August 2026, it does.
You connect it, and you tell the network. The change removes the installer requirements for a compliant plug-in kit, so you can connect it yourself and notify your DNO. A simplified consumer notification form has been introduced, with a digital journey on the way.
It is solar only. The rule names plug-in storage too, but only in anticipation of future work. Batteries stay excluded from the plug-in route for now, exactly as before.
Strip out the code-committee language and this is a short, useful list. These are the points I would want to know before spending anything.
One kit per home. Not one per socket, one per home. The government's product spec had floated "one per final circuit", but the decision is explicit that G98 takes precedence, so a household is the limit. For an 800W setup that is plenty, and it keeps your notification simple.
You notify, you do not ask permission. This is connect-and-notify, not connect-if-allowed. For a compliant, type-tested kit the network cannot refuse the connection, though it retains its normal powers to act if there is a genuine network problem at your address. I wrote the honest version of that on can a G98 notification be refused.
The paperwork just got easier. The old G98 route was built for electricians filling in installer forms. The decision introduces a simplified consumer form, and notes the ENA is building a digital consumer notification journey on its Connect Direct platform. So the notify step is being designed for a homeowner, not a contractor. My G98 form walkthrough covers the current forms and I will update it the moment the consumer version goes live.
Type tested, but without the installer hoops. The kit still has to be type tested to G98 and listed on the register. What drops away for a plug-in device is the installer stuff: no installer-competency requirement, no photo of your cut-out, no wiring, labelling and isolation checks, no loss-of-mains functional test. One thing does not drop away: your home wiring still has to meet BS 7671. The exemptions are about the device and its connection, not your house. More on that on the BS 7671 page.
You can keep your existing rooftop solar. A plug-in kit is allowed to run alongside a permanently wired system, as long as the combined registered capacity stays inside G98's existing 16 A per phase limit. Go above that and the bigger G99 rules apply instead. Useful if you already have panels and want to top up.
The responsibilities that are still yours. The decision is blunt that legalising the device does not remove your duties: installation safety, any effect on home insurance, and landlord or freeholder permission if you rent or share a building. Ofgem specifically welcomes the government publishing consumer guidance for launch, and tells buyers to read it first.
Legalisation was always going to need two things to line up: the government changing product and electricity safety law, and the network operators changing the code that governs what connects to their wires. The first was confirmed in the July government response. This decision is the second. Without it, you could have owned a perfectly legal kit on 27 August and still had no lawful way to connect it, because the DNOs would have been stuck with a code that did not recognise a customer-plugged generator. Ofgem approving DCRP/MP/26/02 removes that gap, and it deliberately timed the change to switch on with the legislation so there is no awkward window in between.
The proposal came from the Energy Networks Association in April, went through a consultation that closed on 30 June with twelve broadly supportive responses, and was recommended by the Distribution Code Review Panel in July. NESO, the system operator, asked for deployment monitoring so the cumulative effect of a lot of small systems can be watched, and the government has committed to that. None of it changed the buyer picture on 27 August, but it is the reason the one-per-household limit exists: it is the simplest way to keep the network side predictable while uptake grows.
Nothing here changes the plan I would follow, it just confirms the date is real. In order:
For the full picture of what changed on the day, see the 27 August breakdown. I will update this page when the digital consumer notification journey goes live.
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