Allocation
- Watford (with Three Rivers)
- £3,750,031 (joint)
- St Albans
- £1,500,000
- Welwyn Hatfield
- £1,500,000
- Stevenage
- £1,500,000
- Broxbourne
- £1,070,786
- East Herts
- £1,500,000
- Dacorum
- £2,337,982 (GOV.UK)
- North Herts
- £1,500,000
- Hertsmere
- Not on the list
Watford · St Albans · Stevenage · East Herts · Dacorum · North Herts
Solar Panel Grants Hertfordshire: What You Can Actually Get
What exists in the nine council areas our Hertfordshire towns sit in, who each route is for, which council has no grant at all, and the VAT saving every home installation gets.
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Solar panel grants in Hertfordshire depend, more than in most counties, on which council collects your council tax. Eight of the nine councils our Hertfordshire towns sit in hold Warm Homes: Local Grant funding, each delivering it through its own partner; Hertsmere, covering Borehamwood and Potters Bar, holds none. There is no general grant for solar on a home here, and nobody can honestly promise a fully funded system without asking about your income, your home’s EPC rating and who owns it.
We are an installer, not a grant body. Home Comfort Enterprises (HCE) does not deliver any of these schemes: a grant decision belongs to the council and its delivery partner. Each route below is set out as its own source described it, with the date we read it, alongside our main solar panels Hertfordshire page.
Quick answer
Solar panel grants in Hertfordshire, in short:
- No general grant pays for solar on an ordinary Hertfordshire home; the funded route is the income-linked Warm Homes: Local Grant, held council by council
- Watford (with Three Rivers), St Albans, Welwyn Hatfield, Stevenage, Broxbourne, East Herts, Dacorum and North Herts are on the government’s grant list; Hertsmere is not
- Where councils state a ceiling it is up to £30,000 of fully funded measures per eligible home rated EPC D to G, and most name solar panels
- Switch Together (formerly Solar Together) was not active in any of the nine council areas on 19 October 2026; no round dates are published
- Ofgem says ECO4 runs until 31 December 2026, but East Herts’ grants page says it has closed to new applications; the Warm Homes Loan Scheme is lower-interest borrowing, not a grant
- 0% VAT applies to every residential solar panel and battery installation in Hertfordshire until 31 March 2027, then 5% from 1 April 2027
Sources: GOV.UK, Switch Together, Ofgem and East Herts Council, read 19 October 2026; council grant pages, read 15 October 2026; HMRC.
Who Hertfordshire’s grant routes are written for
GOV.UK sets the national gate for the Warm Homes: Local Grant, which Hertfordshire’s councils then deliver. England only. The home must be privately owned (by you or your landlord) with an EPC of D, E, F or G. Household income must usually be £36,000 a year or less; above that you might still be eligible if you live in a certain postcode area or someone in the household gets certain benefits. If you are eligible and your council has funding available, it arranges a home survey; GOV.UK says the council will usually contact you within 10 working days. Suggested improvements can include solar panels. The councils add their own routes inside that gate: Watford names selected streets, and every postcode on Dacorum’s eligible list, 119 in all, is in HP2 or HP3, which is to say Hemel Hempstead.
Ownership is part of the test, not just income, and Hertfordshire’s new towns and garden cities have large social-rented sectors. At the 2021 Census, 30.8% of households in Welwyn Garden City’s built-up area and 30.1% in Letchworth’s rented from a social landlord, and 20.4% of households across Stevenage borough rented from the council itself. GOV.UK’s wording is a home privately owned by you or your landlord, and we read that as not covering social housing: if you rent from a council or housing association, ask your landlord. Private renters can qualify, and landlords are treated differently by council. Dacorum may ask a landlord to contribute 50% for a rented home, and Stevenage fully funds one eligible home per landlord, with a 50% contribution for any more.
Sources: GOV.UK — Apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant · Watford Borough Council — Green energy schemes and grants · Dacorum Borough Council — Home energy efficiency grants and funding (page updated 6 July 2026) · Stevenage Borough Council — Warm Homes: Local Grant · ONS, characteristics of built-up areas, Census 2021 (table 6c) · ONS Census 2021 TS054 (Nomis). Council pages read 15 October 2026.
GOV.UK list updated 2 July 2026, re-read 19 October 2026
The Warm Homes: Local Grant in Hertfordshire, at a glance
Allocation from GOV.UK; delivery partner and measures from each council’s own page.
| Allocation | Delivered with | Solar on the council’s list? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watford (with Three Rivers) | £3,750,031 (joint) | National Energy Foundation | Solar PV named |
| St Albans | £1,500,000 | National Energy Foundation | Solar PV named |
| Welwyn Hatfield | £1,500,000 | National Energy Foundation | Not in the council’s examples: ask |
| Stevenage | £1,500,000 | National Energy Foundation | Solar panels named |
| Broxbourne | £1,070,786 | National Energy Foundation | Solar PV named |
| East Herts | £1,500,000 | Better Housing Better Health | Renewable energy installations named |
| Dacorum | £2,337,982 (GOV.UK) | E.ON | Solar panels named |
| North Herts | £1,500,000 | Not confirmed on a council page | Start with GOV.UK’s checker |
| Hertsmere | Not on the list | — | — |
Delivered with
- Watford (with Three Rivers)
- National Energy Foundation
- St Albans
- National Energy Foundation
- Welwyn Hatfield
- National Energy Foundation
- Stevenage
- National Energy Foundation
- Broxbourne
- National Energy Foundation
- East Herts
- Better Housing Better Health
- Dacorum
- E.ON
- North Herts
- Not confirmed on a council page
- Hertsmere
- —
Solar on the council’s list?
- Watford (with Three Rivers)
- Solar PV named
- St Albans
- Solar PV named
- Welwyn Hatfield
- Not in the council’s examples: ask
- Stevenage
- Solar panels named
- Broxbourne
- Solar PV named
- East Herts
- Renewable energy installations named
- Dacorum
- Solar panels named
- North Herts
- Start with GOV.UK’s checker
- Hertsmere
- —
Council by council: how Hertfordshire delivers the grant
Watford, St Albans, Stevenage and Broxbourne work with the National Energy Foundation, and each names solar PV or solar panels among the measures for privately owned or privately rented homes rated EPC D to G. Watford, St Albans and Broxbourne state a ceiling of up to £30,000 of fully funded improvements per eligible home, and Watford’s allocation is shared with Three Rivers. The qualifying routes are the national ones: household income under £36,000, a means-tested benefit or a qualifying postcode or street. See solar panels in Watford and solar panels in Stevenage.
Welwyn Hatfield also works with the National Energy Foundation, which assesses eligibility and co-ordinates the work, with up to £30,000 of improvements per home. Its Climate Hub lists insulation, draught-proofing, heating controls, double glazing and heat pumps as examples and does not name solar, although the national scheme’s suggested improvements include solar panels, so ask. A funded installation in Welwyn Garden City still needs Estate Management consent where the home is inside the scheme; see solar panels in Welwyn Garden City.
East Herts routes residents through the East Herts Home Energy Support Service, run by Better Housing Better Health, with up to £30,000 of measures per property, including insulation, efficient heating and renewable energy installations. Dacorum delivers with E.ON: eligible owners at EPC D to G can have approved improvements, which can include solar panels, paid for in full. GOV.UK lists Dacorum’s allocation as £2,337,982; the council’s own news release gave a different total, so we print GOV.UK’s.
North Herts was allocated £1,500,000 in its own right, according to GOV.UK, but we could not read a council page describing how it delivers the grant, so start with GOV.UK’s eligibility checker. In Letchworth, a funded installation still needs the Heritage Foundation’s consent. Hertsmere is the exception: it is not on the government’s list, either on its own or in another council’s consortium. If you live in Borehamwood or Potters Bar, see solar panels in Borehamwood for what does apply there.
Sources: GOV.UK — Warm Homes: Local Grant successful local authorities (re-read 19 October 2026) · Watford · St Albans · Stevenage · Broxbourne · ONE Welwyn Hatfield Climate Hub · East Herts · Dacorum council grant pages (read 15 October 2026) · WGC Estate Management Scheme · Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation.
Solar Together in Hertfordshire: the record, and the status on 19 October 2026
Group buying has worked here before. East Herts residents installed 1,438 solar panels through Solar Together in the twelve months to August 2023, a collective investment of over £1.7 million, according to the council. Watford, which rejoined in 2025, said more than 579 panels had been installed through it since 2021. Broxbourne’s last cohort brought 23 solar PV and 22 battery installations, and Hertsmere’s first two years brought 431 panels to 42 homes and businesses. Stevenage’s 2025 round had its deadline extended to 25 April 2025.
None of that is open now. On 19 October 2026 we read Switch Together’s Hertfordshire page and its pages for Hertsmere, Watford, Three Rivers, St Albans, Dacorum, Welwyn Hatfield, East Hertfordshire, Stevenage, North Hertfordshire and Broxbourne. Every one said: “Sorry, we’re not active in your area yet,” and invited residents to register for the next scheme. Its Surrey page, read the same day, did not. A group-buy is not a grant: the household pays for the system at a pooled price. If a Hertfordshire round reopens, compare its offer line by line against a survey quote for the same roof, as our guide to what is in a solar quote, line by line sets out.
Sources: East Herts — Solar panel group-buying scheme re-launches for 2023-4 (29 August 2023) · Watford — Solar Together scheme returns · Broxbourne — Solar Together Hertfordshire · Hertsmere — Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy 2025–2030 · Stevenage — Solar Together Hertfordshire (read 15 October 2026) · Switch Together — Hertfordshire and district pages · Switch Together — Surrey (both read 19 October 2026).
Want a Hertfordshire quote to hold against any offer?
Grant or no grant, a no-obligation survey gives you an itemised written quote for your roof, designed to your council’s rules and, in Welwyn Garden City or Letchworth, to the estate’s.
ECO4 and the Warm Homes Loan for Hertfordshire homes
ECO4 applies to measures installed from 1 April 2022 and runs until 31 December 2026, after a nine-month extension. That is Ofgem’s date. On the ground the door is narrower: on 19 October 2026, East Herts Council’s grants page said of ECO4 that “the scheme has now closed to new applications”. ECO4 is delivered through energy suppliers, not councils, so if someone offers you an ECO4-funded installation in Hertfordshire now, ask which supplier is paying and check it with them before anyone visits.
The other government route is borrowing, through the Warm Homes Loan Scheme. Government-backed loans through participating lenders: loan caps of £15,000 for solar PV and £15,000 for an electrical storage battery; government pays lenders a grant of up to 20% of the loan to reduce it; installers must be MCS-certified. The rules describe an initial consumer launch phase from September 2026. That makes it a lower-interest loan, not a grant; check GOV.UK for participating lenders, as we have not verified one.
Sources: Ofgem — Energy Company Obligation (ECO) · East Herts — Home and business grants, schemes and advice (both read 19 October 2026) · DESNZ — Warm Homes Loan Scheme rules (September 2026).
0% VAT and export payments on Hertfordshire installations
One saving needs no application and no income test. HMRC VAT Notice 708/6 puts residential installations of solar panels and batteries at 0% VAT until 31 March 2027, then 5% from 1 April 2027, batteries included whether fitted with panels or on their own. It applies equally to a council-funded installation, a future Switch Together offer and an independent quote. Our guide to VAT on solar panels and batteries covers the edge cases.
Export payments are not a grant either. Smart Export Guarantee rates, contract length and terms are set by each licensed supplier and must always be above zero. Payments use export meter readings. How much a Hertfordshire roof exports depends on what it makes and what you use at home: PVGIS puts an unshaded, due-south 4 kWp roof at about 3,938 kWh a year in Watford and about 4,034 in Bishop's Stortford. Export payments need an MCS-certified installation; HCE is MCS-certified for solar PV and battery storage, with certification held via NAPIT (member 73495). What the published cost and yield figures add up to is on our solar panel cost in Hertfordshire page, and the national picture on solar panel installation cost.
Sources: HMRC — VAT Notice 708/6 · Ofgem — Smart Export Guarantee · PVGIS 5.3 (European Commission Joint Research Centre), 14 Hertfordshire town runs (4 kWp, 35° tilt, due south, 14% system losses, building-mounted).
Grant offers in Hertfordshire: what to check first
If a caller, leaflet or advert offers “free solar panels” to a Hertfordshire home, read it as “no upfront cost for eligible households, with criteria”. The funded route here is the Warm Homes: Local Grant, delivered by your council and its named partner, and it starts with questions about income, benefits, your EPC rating and who owns the home.
- Ask which council and which partner, by name. In Hertfordshire that is the National Energy Foundation, Better Housing Better Health or E.ON, depending on the council. “A government scheme” is not an answer, and in Hertsmere there is no council grant to name.
- Funding does not replace consent. A grant-funded array in Welwyn Garden City still needs Estate Management consent where the home is in the scheme (and a retrospective application costs £281), one in Letchworth still needs the Heritage Foundation’s consent, and one in the Bishop’s Stortford Conservation Area still needs planning permission. Our guide to planning permission for solar panels in Hertfordshire goes council by council.
- The queue is the council’s, not an installer’s. An installer cannot sell you a place in it.
- Check the installer’s registers. We are NAPIT member 73495 and HIES Consumer Code member HCE/A/1392; the battery systems in our own job photos are EnSmart.
If you do not qualify, the sums still start with your roof, not a grant. Our battery storage page and how much solar panels can save show how the numbers work without one, and our solar panels in St Albans page carries the district’s own grant detail.
Solar panel grants in Hertfordshire: your questions
Are "free solar panels" offers in Hertfordshire genuine?
Only as an income-linked grant with criteria, delivered through a council. In Hertfordshire that is the Warm Homes: Local Grant, held by eight of the nine councils our towns sit in, which can fully fund approved measures for eligible households in homes rated EPC D to G. An offer that skips the questions about income, benefits, your home’s EPC rating and who owns it is selling something.
Is Solar Together open in Hertfordshire?
No. It now trades as Switch Together, and on 19 October 2026 its Hertfordshire page and its pages for Hertsmere, Watford, Three Rivers, St Albans, Dacorum, Welwyn Hatfield, East Hertfordshire, Stevenage, North Hertfordshire and Broxbourne all said it was not active in the area, inviting residents to register interest. It is a group-buy, not a grant: the household pays for the system at a pooled price.
Can I get the Warm Homes: Local Grant in Borehamwood or Potters Bar?
Not through Hertsmere Borough Council at present. Hertsmere does not appear on the government’s list of councils funded for the Warm Homes: Local Grant (updated 2 July 2026, re-read 19 October 2026), either on its own or as a member of another council’s consortium. GOV.UK’s eligibility checker is the place to confirm whether any route covers your address.
Is ECO4 still open to Hertfordshire households?
Ofgem says ECO4 runs until 31 December 2026, but East Herts Council’s grants page said on 19 October 2026 that the scheme has closed to new applications. For most Hertfordshire households, the income-linked route to ask about now is the Warm Homes: Local Grant through your council.
Is there VAT on solar panels and batteries in Hertfordshire?
Not on a residential installation at present: 0% until 31 March 2027, then 5% from 1 April 2027, under HMRC VAT Notice 708/6. It applies to every Hertfordshire household without an application, whether the system is grant-funded, bought through a future Switch Together round or quoted independently.
Get a straight answer for your Hertfordshire home
Send us your postcode and a recent bill, and we will tell you plainly whether solar stacks up on your roof without a grant, and what it would cost, itemised in writing. If your council’s Warm Homes: Local Grant looks open to your household, we will say so first. Call 0204 547 1892 or use the form.
Also see: solar panels across Hertfordshire · solar panel cost in Hertfordshire · planning permission in Hertfordshire