Solar Panels After the 2025 Budget: What Homeowners in Kent & London Need to Know

Quick answer: Did the 2025 Budget kill the case for solar?

No.

If anything, the 2025 Budget confirmed that solar remains a solid long-term investment, but the picture is a bit more nuanced than “good” or “bad”.

Here’s the simple version:

• No new solar panel grants or VAT cuts were announced for homeowners.
• The government is moving some green levies off electricity bills and onto general taxation, which should reduce electricity prices a little from 2026.
• That’s great news for monthly bills overall, but it slightly reduces the £ savings per kWh you get from solar.
• A major pot of money for home upgrades, the Warm Homes Plan, has been topped up and combined with an expanded Warm Home Discount, which is good news for the long-term retrofit market.

So if you’re a homeowner in Kent, London or the South East wondering whether to press “go” on solar and batteries, the short answer is:

Yes, solar still stacks up financially, and the Budget hasn’t changed that.

Let’s unpack what has changed and what it means for you.

1. What exactly did the Budget change on energy bills?

The big energy headline from Budget 2025 is about how we all pay for clean energy, not whether we invest in it.
The government has said it will:

• Fund 75% of the domestic Renewables Obligation from general taxation between 2026,29

1. This is an old scheme that supports renewable electricity (like wind and solar farms).
2. Up to now it’s been paid for via a levy on electricity bills.
3. Shifting most of that cost onto general taxation should lower electricity bills compared with where they’d otherwise be

• End the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) on bills from April 2026

1. ECO has funded insulation and upgrades for low-income households, again via levies on bills.
2. Scrapping it removes more cost from bills, but also reduces that specific pot of funding.

Treasury estimates suggest these changes will cut the typical household energy bill by around £150 a year in Great Britain from 2026, mainly by reducing policy costs on electricity.

For you as a homeowner, that means:

• Grid electricity should be slightly cheaper than it would otherwise have been.
• Gas bills don’t get the same level of help, so electricity remains the cleaner fuel and becomes relatively more attractive in the long term.

That last point matters a lot if you’re thinking about solar + batteries + a future heat pump.

2. Did the Budget introduce new grants for solar panels?

In a word: no.

Budget 2025 did not bring in:

• A new nationwide grant scheme specifically for rooftop solar
• Additional VAT cuts on domestic solar or batteries
• A new “pay-per-kWh” incentive for rooftop solar exports

Instead, the Budget mainly confirms that solar and storage will continue to be supported indirectly through the wider Warm Homes Plan and other retrofit schemes, especially for lower-income and fuel-poor households.

For typical TLGEC customers in Kent and London, often funding systems privately or via finance, the picture is:

• No surprise new freebies to wait for
• No sudden cliff-edge removal of support either
• A stable policy backdrop with ongoing national commitment to home efficiency and clean energy

In other words: if you were considering solar before the Budget, the fundamentals haven’t suddenly changed.

3. Does cheaper electricity make solar less attractive?

This is the smart question, and the answer is: a little bit, on paper, but not enough to change the overall story.

Here’s why:

• Solar panels save you money by replacing imported grid electricity with your own generation.
• If the government nudges electricity prices down by removing some levies, each kWh you offset is worth slightly less in £ terms.
• That can lengthen simple payback periods slightly compared with a “no-change” world.

However, three important points keep solar attractive:

1. Bills are still high in absolute terms
   Even with a £150 saving, projected bills remain far above pre-crisis levels for most homes.
   
2. Long-term volatility doesn’t go away
   Moving some levies to tax doesn’t shield you from gas price spikes, global markets, or future policy changes. Solar gives you something those can’t: decades of predictable, low-marginal-cost electricity from your roof.
   
3. Batteries and smart systems tilt the maths back in your favour
   A well-designed system in the South East, solar + battery + time-of-use tariffs, can still cover a very large share of your annual electricity use and reduce your exposure to peak prices.

The bottom line:

Yes, the Budget could trim the headline £ savings very slightly, but solar remains one of the most reliable ways to cut bills over 20,25 years.

4. Where does the Warm Homes Plan fit in?

The Warm Homes Plan is the government’s long-term programme to improve home energy efficiency and support low-carbon technologies.

• It already had a multi-billion pound envelope agreed at the 2025 Spending Review.
• Budget 2025 added a further £1.5 billion for tackling fuel poverty and expanded the Warm Home Discount.

While the exact scheme design is still being worked through, analysis so far indicates that solar PV and battery storage are expected to be part of the toolkit, alongside measures such as insulation and low-carbon heating.

Why that matters for you, even if you’re not a low-income household:

• It signals long-term commitment to home energy upgrades, not a sudden U-turn.
• It supports the overall health of the solar and heat pump market, training, supply chains, standards, which all feed into the quality and availability of installations in places like Kent and London.

5. So… are solar panels still worth it in 2025/26?

For most homeowners in Kent and the wider South East, we’d say yes, if you have the right roof, usage profile and time horizon.

Solar is likely to make sense if:

• You’re planning to stay in your home for 10+ years
• You use a decent amount of daytime electricity (or are happy to shift usage)
• You’re considering a battery, EV charger, or future heat pump
• You value energy independence and carbon reduction, not just the narrow payback number

Meanwhile, it might be less compelling if:

• Your roof is heavily shaded or poorly oriented
• You’re planning to move very soon
• You have very low electricity consumption and no plans to electrify heating or transport

The best way to find out is still a site-specific design and quote based on your:

• Roof area and orientation
• Measured or estimated electricity usage
• Plans for EVs / heat pumps / home working
• Appetite for including a battery

6. How The Little Green Energy Company can help

As a specialist solar and battery installer serving Kent, London and the South East, TLGEC focuses on premium, high-performance systems designed to last.

What that looks like in practice:

• Bespoke system design based on your roof, lifestyle and future plans
• Clear, realistic modelling of expected generation, bill savings and payback, with Budget 2025 changes factored in
• Options to integrate batteries, EV charging and future low-carbon heating
• Straightforward explanation of current policy, potential future schemes and any local incentives

Budget 2025 hasn’t removed the case for solar, it’s simply adjusted the backdrop. The core value of solar remains the same:

Turn unused roof space into long-term, predictable, low-carbon power for your home.

If you’d like to understand what that looks like for your property in Kent or London, the next step is simple:

👉 Book a free solar assessment with The Little Green Energy Company

We’ll review your home, run the numbers with the latest policy assumptions, and talk you through whether solar, with or without a battery, is right for you.