What homeowners need to know
The government’s £300 million Warm Homes Loan Scheme is designed to cut the cost of borrowing for solar panels, battery storage and low-carbon heating.
Here is what the published scheme rules actually say about the loan caps, who qualifies, and what it means if you have been putting off a solar installation because of the upfront cost.
What is the Warm Homes Loan Scheme?
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is the lending arm of the government’s wider Warm Homes Plan. It is aimed squarely at households who could comfortably manage a monthly repayment but do not have several thousand pounds sitting in a savings account — the group that has been priced out of solar by the upfront cost rather than the running cost.
The government is not the lender. This is the single most important thing to understand about the scheme, and the detail most often reported incorrectly. There is no government portal to apply through and no cheque from the Treasury. Loans come from FCA-authorised banks and lenders in the ordinary way. What the government does is sit behind those lenders with a capital grant, which the lender must pass on to the borrower as a lower interest rate.
The mechanism is a principal-reducing capital grant of up to 20% of the loan amount, paid to the lender after the installation has been verified. The scheme targets a reduction of up to around five percentage points from the lender’s normal rate on loans of three years or more.
What can the loan pay for?
The scheme rules set out a specific list of eligible measures. Several improvements homeowners assume are covered are explicitly excluded, so it is worth checking before you plan works around the loan.
Measures and loan caps as published in the scheme rules, September 2026
| Measure | Eligible | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Solar PV | Yes | £15,000 |
| Battery storage | Yes | 15000 |
| Heat pumps | Yes | £20,000–£35,000 |
| EV chargepoint | Yes | Only alongside solar or battery, within that cap |
| Insulation | No | — |
| Windows and doors | No | — |
| Roof repairs before install | No | — |
Other costs that form part of an eligible installation, include scaffolding, the grid connection application, the electrical work. All of these sit inside the relevant cap, rather than on top of it. An EV chargepoint can be funded, but only as part of a solar or battery installation, never on its own, and both the chargepoint and the installer must be OZEV approved.
Who qualifies?
The scheme is open to owner-occupiers and private landlords borrowing in a personal capacity. There is no income threshold and no minimum EPC rating, which makes it considerably broader than most previous energy schemes.
- Owner-occupiers — eligible, subject to the lender’s own credit and affordability assessment.
- Private landlords — eligible when borrowing personally. Owners of several properties may apply for a separate loan per property.
- Limited companies and SPVs — excluded. Business borrowing is outside the initial rules, which matters if your rental portfolio is held in a company structure.
Every application still goes through the lender’s normal creditworthiness and affordability checks. The government grant reduces the rate; it does not guarantee approval, and no installer or broker can promise you a loan.
What landlords should know about EPC C by 2030
Private rented homes in England and Wales are expected to meet EPC Band C by October 2030. Solar and battery storage contribute towards that rating and the running costs your tenants pay, but they are unlikely to get a poorly insulated property over the line on their own. If you are working towards the 2030 deadline, treat generation as one part of a plan rather than the whole answer, and get the property assessed before committing spend.
When does it start?
The first lender application window closed on 17 July 2026 and loans are expected to reach the public from September 2026, once product approvals are complete. A second lender window is expected later in 2026, with further lenders onboarding in early 2027.
Funding is drawn from a single central pot on a first-come, first-served basis. The government has committed to giving six months’ notice when forecasts show six months of funding left, and one month’s notice before it closes — so there is no need to rush, but the scheme will not run indefinitely.
Watch out for scams
New government schemes attract copycats. Nobody can reserve Warm Homes Loan Scheme funding on your behalf, guarantee approval, or take an upfront fee for access to it. Only participating lenders may use the official scheme branding. If you receive an unsolicited call, text or email offering you a “Warm Homes” loan, treat it with suspicion and check directly against the official guidance on GOV.UK.
Getting your property ready
The scheme requires an MCS-certified installation, and lenders verify that certification at quote stage and again after the work is complete. That makes the quote itself part of the application. Under the scheme rules a quote must be dated within the last six months, addressed to the applicant, on the installer’s headed paper, and must show the MCS certification number, the full installation address, an itemised cost breakdown and the system size in kW.
The practical steps are the same ones that make sense regardless of how you pay:
- Have your roof assessed for orientation, shading and condition — a tired roof is better repaired before panels go on it.
- Get a proper system design based on your actual electricity use, not a generic package.
- Check your installer’s MCS certification and ask who will hold the workmanship warranty.
- Understand what the system will realistically generate and save before you consider how to pay for it.
EGi Energy is an MCS-certified solar PV, battery storage and EV charging installer based in Litherland, Liverpool, working across Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire and the wider North West. We design and install systems for homeowners and businesses, and we handle the DNO application and certification as part of the job.
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About this article. This page is general information about a government scheme and is not financial advice, a quotation, or an offer of credit. Scheme details are drawn from the published Warm Homes Loan Scheme rules and may change. Always check the current position on GOV.UK.
Finance. EGi Energy does not provide finance directly. Flexible finance options are available through our funding partners. Loans are provided by FCA-authorised lenders and are subject to status, affordability and the lender’s own credit assessment.
Sources
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme: Scheme Rules, September 2026 — Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (PDF, 67 pages). The source for eligible measures, loan caps and the grant mechanism described above.
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme: apply to participate as a lender — GOV.UK. The publication page carrying the scheme rules and any later updates.
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme — Find a grant, GOV.UK.
Figures on this page were checked against the scheme rules on 20 September 2026.
