Grants, loans and group buying for solar in St Helens

At a glance

The Warm Homes: Local Grant

For St Helens, the government's Warm Homes: Local Grant is led by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, which holds £31,805,813 for six councils: Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. The council's sustainable warmth page sets out who it is for: privately owned homes with an EPC of D to G, where household income is usually £36,000 a year or less. It lists insulation, air source heat pumps, smart controls and solar panels among the measures.

National guidance adds the detail. Domestic batteries count as an eligible measure alongside solar. The cap is £16,600 per home for energy-performance upgrades, with a separate £16,600 for low-carbon heating, and owner-occupiers are not expected to contribute. The delivery window closes on 31 March 2028.

Many St Helens homes clear the rating test: 48% of the borough's homes are rated D or below, and three in four of those built before 1929 (ONS). Income is the narrower gate.

The Warm Homes Loan Scheme: spreading the cost

A government-arranged loan, not a grant. You apply to one of the approved lenders, not to the government. The scheme rules set caps of £15,000 for solar panels and £15,000 for a battery; the government puts a grant of up to 20% of the loan towards cutting the interest. You must own the home, and the work is normally done by an MCS-certified installer. The rules say the scheme will not fund replacement roofing or other structural work needed before panels go on, so any roof repairs are yours to pay for.

Working through the grant's tests

1. The certificate. Find the home's current band on the government's EPC register. C or better rules the grant out.
2. The household. A means-tested benefit, gross income under £36,000, or a postcode among the most deprived in England.
3. The tenure. Owners apply for themselves; a private landlord may be asked to contribute.
4. The measures. The scheme decides what each home gets, so ask whether panels are offered for yours.

The first test bites differently across the borough. In the St Helens North constituency 48.4% of homes with a certificate are rated C or above, against 58.06% in St Helens South and Whiston, so more northern homes sit in the eligible bands. If the grant does not apply, prices and worth it show what paying yourself involves.

Solar Together

The Liverpool City Region has run Solar Together, a group-buying scheme, in rounds: registered households are put together, pre-approved installers bid in a reverse auction, and each household gets a personal offer with no obligation. The first round saw 585 households have panels fitted. We could not confirm whether a round was open on 3 November 2026; the scheme's city-region page was not working. Treat any offer like a quote and compare it with the regional prices.

ECO4 is ending

The Energy Company Obligation runs only until 31 December 2026, and the government has said there will be no successor. The Great British Insulation Scheme closed on 31 March 2026. An offer of ECO-funded panels for installation in 2027 should be questioned.

VAT

Installed solar panels and batteries in homes are zero-rated until 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 the rate is 5%, which on a 3.5 kW system at the North West average would add about £320.

What is not on offer

• There is no grant that fits solar for every household in St Helens.
• The council does not sell panels at the door; check anyone who says they are calling on its behalf.
• "Free" panels in exchange for the roof usually mean someone else owns them and keeps what they earn; read the lease very carefully before signing.

Related pages

• Prices
• Worth it?
• Batteries
• Checking an installer

References

1. St Helens Borough Council: sustainable warmth and the Warm Homes: Local Grant
2. GOV.UK: Warm Homes: Local Grant, successful local authorities
3. Warm Homes: Local Grant policy guidance, DESNZ (updated June 2026)
4. GOV.UK service: Warm Homes: Local Grant
5. GOV.UK: search the register of energy performance certificates
6. GOV.UK: Warm Homes Loan Scheme
7. Warm Homes Loan Scheme rules, version 3 (September 2026)
8. Growth Platform: Solar Together in the Liverpool City Region (November 2023)
9. ECO4 end date: government response, GOV.UK
10. HMRC Notice 708/6: zero rate for installing solar and batteries in homes
11. Office for National Statistics: how energy efficient are homes in England and Wales