Crawley · Horsham · Mid Sussex
Solar Panel Grants Sussex: What You Can Actually Get
What exists for homes in Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex, who each route is for, where the queues stand, and the VAT saving every home installation gets.
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Solar panel grants in Sussex exist, but they are narrower than the word “grant” suggests. There is no general grant for solar on a home in Crawley, Horsham or Haywards Heath, and nobody can honestly promise a fully funded system without asking about your income, your health, your home’s EPC rating and who owns it. What does exist is real: one income-linked grant shared by every West Sussex district and borough council, with a waiting list; an energy company scheme, with a West Sussex variant, that ends on 31 December 2026; a lower-interest loan; a group-buy with no round open inland; and a 0% VAT rate on every residential installation.
We are an installer, not a grant body. Home Comfort Enterprises (HCE) does not deliver or arrange any of these schemes: a grant decision belongs to Warmer Homes, to the councils’ ECO4 Flex team or to the scheme itself. Each route below is set out as its own source described it on 19 October 2026, alongside our main solar panels Sussex page. If you live in Crawley, our post on whether there is a solar panel grant in Crawley works through what a Crawley roof earns with no grant at all.
Quick answer
Solar panel grants in Sussex, in short:
- No general grant pays for solar on an ordinary Sussex home; the funded routes are income-linked, and the Warm Homes grant in our council areas has a waiting list
- Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex are in the Portsmouth-led Warm Homes: Local Grant consortium (£34,807,254), delivered as Warmer Homes, which said on 19 October 2026 that it was oversubscribed
- Mid Sussex District Council describes upgrades worth up to £30,000 per eligible home until March 2028, on a first-come, first-served basis
- West Sussex’s ECO4 Flex route, run by Arun District Council, widens ECO4 to some households earning under £31,000 or with a qualifying health condition; ECO4 ends 31 December 2026
- Switch Together (formerly Solar Together Sussex) was not active in Crawley, Horsham or Mid Sussex on 19 October 2026; no round dates are published
- 0% VAT applies to every residential solar panel and battery installation in Sussex until 31 March 2027, then 5% from 1 April 2027
Sources: GOV.UK, Warmer Homes, Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex councils, West Sussex Energy, Switch Together, Ofgem and HMRC, read 19 October 2026.
Who Sussex’s funded routes are written for
For the Warm Homes: Local Grant, GOV.UK sets the national gate: the home must be in England, privately owned (by you or your landlord) and rated EPC D, E, F or G, and household income must usually be £36,000 a year or less, unless an eligible postcode or certain benefits apply. West Sussex Energy, the home energy advice site of the West Sussex Affordable Energy Partnership, adds the local terms for Warmer Homes: the programme is for owner-occupiers and private tenants only, funding is not available to council or housing association tenants, and a private landlord’s first property is fully funded while further properties need a contribution. Crawley Borough Council’s page puts the tenant’s side plainly: eligible private tenants need to ask their landlord to apply.
That ownership test bites hardest in Crawley. At the 2021 Census 22.9% of Crawley’s households rented from a social landlord, 17.5% of them directly from the council, against 11.5% in Horsham district and 10.8% in Mid Sussex, where almost all of it is housing association rather than council renting (1.2% and 0.7% from the council). If you rent your Crawley home from the council, the grant route is closed and the improvement question goes to your landlord. Private renting is the other large group, at 19.8% of Crawley’s households, 15.3% in Mid Sussex and 14.5% in Horsham.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant in Sussex, council by council
“Sussex” is two grant areas, not one. GOV.UK’s list, updated 2 July 2026, puts Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex, alongside Adur, Arun, Chichester, Worthing and Brighton and Hove, in the Portsmouth-led consortium with £34,807,254. East Sussex’s districts are in a separate consortium led by Lewes, with £4,781,852. The grant reaches our three council areas through the same door, the Warmer Homes scheme, and on 19 October 2026 its site said new households would be added to its waiting list, as the scheme was oversubscribed, while it awaited a decision from DESNZ on further funding. Its upgrades list names air source heat pumps, solar panels and wall insulation, and does not mention batteries. West Sussex Energy’s grants page still describes applications as open; we give the scheme’s own wording.
Crawley. Crawley Borough Council says it is part of the Warmer Homes consortium, which has secured government funding through the Warm Homes: Local Grant, and lists solar panels among the fully funded improvements, alongside insulation, heating upgrades, draughtproofing, air source heat pumps and heating controls, for eligible homeowners based on household income and the home’s energy efficiency rating. Residents register interest with Warmer Homes, online or by phone.
Horsham. Horsham District Council’s energy-saving page now sends residents to West Sussex Affordable Energy, whose Horsham page lists government and West Sussex grants for measures including solar PV and links to the West Sussex Energy grants page, where Warmer Homes is the route. GOV.UK lists Horsham as a member of the same consortium, so a Horsham household follows the Warmer Homes queue like everyone else in the county.
Mid Sussex. Mid Sussex District Council’s cost-of-living page describes the Warmer Homes Programme as a range of fully funded improvements up to a value of £30,000 for eligible residents until March 2028, open to owner-occupiers and private tenants, covering insulation, air source heat pumps and solar panels, and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. For a Haywards Heath household, read that alongside Warmer Homes’ waiting list.
Solar Together Sussex: a group-buy, not a grant
Solar Together Sussex is the group-buying scheme West Sussex County Council has led with iChoosr since 2020: registering carries no obligation, and a household that goes ahead still pays for the system, at a pooled price. In the 2021 round Sussex homeowners saved an average of 27% on solar panels and 37% on battery storage; the original contract expired in August 2024 and a successor pan-Sussex scheme was approved in March 2025. The county council now says its Solar Together programme has enabled the installation of 2,500 solar systems in people’s homes, and Crawley Borough Council reported more than 1,700 across the first two Sussex rounds.
The scheme now trades as Switch Together, and the old Solar Together Sussex address redirects there. On 19 October 2026 its pages for Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex and West Sussex all said it was not active in the area and invited residents to register to be told when the next scheme launches, while its Arun and Adur pages invited registration for a personal recommendation. That is a coast and Weald split inside one county, so check the page for your own district. If a round reaches you, 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; the scheme’s history in one town is in Solar Together in Crawley.
ECO4, ECO4 Flex and the Warm Homes Loan for Sussex homes
Ofgem says ECO4 applies to measures installed from 1 April 2022 and will run until 31 December 2026, following a nine-month extension. It is funded by energy suppliers, not by Sussex’s councils. West Sussex adds a local door to it: under ECO4 Flex, West Sussex Energy says Arun District Council manages eligibility declarations for residents of Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex and the other West Sussex districts, broadly where combined gross household income is under £31,000, or where someone has a long-term cardiovascular, respiratory, mobility or immune condition made worse by a cold home. The council’s role ends at the declaration; the survey and the work are between the household and an ECO installer. Its July 2026 update warns that changes to ECO4 have left many installers without access to funding, and that some ask for a contribution, so check any company before agreeing to anything.
The other government route is borrowing, through the Warm Homes Loan Scheme. Its rules cap loans at £15,000 for solar PV and £15,000 for a battery, and government pays participating lenders up to 20% of the loan amount to bring the interest rate down, with an initial consumer launch phase from September 2026. That makes it a lower-interest loan, not a grant, and we have not verified which lenders are taking Sussex applications; check GOV.UK for participating lenders.
Want a Sussex quote to hold against any offer?
Grant or no grant, a no-obligation survey gives you an itemised written quote for your roof in Horsham, Crawley or Haywards Heath.
0% VAT and export payments on Sussex 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 have qualified since 1 February 2024, with or without panels. It applies equally to a Switch Together offer, if a round reaches your district, and to an independent quote, and it reaches a battery on its own, which the grant does not: Warmer Homes’ upgrades list does not mention batteries. Our guide to VAT on solar panels and batteries covers the edge cases.
Export payments are not a grant either. Smart Export Guarantee rates are set by each supplier and must be above zero — they change on short notice, which is why we never print one. How much a Sussex roof exports depends on what it makes and what you use at home: PVGIS puts an unshaded, due-south 4 kWp roof in Horsham at about 4,099 kWh a year. Export payments need an MCS-certified installation; HCE is MCS-certified for solar PV and battery storage, with certification held via NAPIT (member 73495). If a battery is part of the plan, our battery storage page explains how it changes what you export.
Grant offers in Sussex: what to check first
If a caller, leaflet or advert offers “free solar panels” to a Sussex home, read it as “no upfront cost for eligible households, with criteria, and probably a wait”. The funded routes in Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex are income-linked: the Warm Homes: Local Grant through Warmer Homes, and ECO4 until 31 December 2026, including ECO4 Flex. Horsham District Council’s own advice on energy contact is worth repeating: unexpected contact, a sense of urgency and an offer that seems too good to be true are scam signals, you do not have to agree to anything in the moment, and Citizens Advice can check a company before you hand over details.
- Ask which scheme is paying, by name. “A government scheme” is not an answer, and neither is “the council” when the grant in all three of our council areas runs through Warmer Homes.
- The grant queue is not an installer’s. Warmer Homes holds the waiting list, and an ECO4 Flex declaration comes from Arun District Council. An installer cannot sell you a place in either.
- Check who owns the roof. If you rent from Crawley Borough Council or a housing association, the landlord decides; if you rent privately, the landlord applies. In a conservation area or the South Downs National Park, read our guide to planning permission for solar panels in Sussex.
- Check the installer’s registers. We are NAPIT member 73495 and HIES Consumer Code member HCE/A/1392.
What a Sussex roof earns without a grant
Without a grant, the sums start with light, and inland Sussex has less of it than the coast. The Met Office stations at North Heath, near Pulborough, and Charlwood, by Gatwick, averaged about 1,621 and 1,628 hours of sunshine a year over 1991–2020, against about 1,403 for the UK. For an unshaded roof at 4 kWp, 35° tilt, due south, 14% system losses, building-mounted, PVGIS 5.3 (European Commission Joint Research Centre) gives about 4,099 kWh a year in Horsham, 4,020 in Crawley and 4,246 in Haywards Heath. By our arithmetic the spread across the three towns is about 226 kWh. The Energy Saving Trust says an east- or west-facing roof gets around 15–20% less than a south-facing one, about 600 kWh or more on these figures, so roof direction and shade matter more than which Sussex town you live in.
On cost, the national anchor is the Energy Saving Trust’s: a typical 4.5 kWp system of around 12 panels costs around £7,600 installed (updated 27 August 2026). That is a UK figure, not our price, which comes from a survey. What moves it locally is on solar panel cost in Sussex, and the national breakdown is on solar panel installation cost. Town by town: solar panels Horsham, solar panels Crawley and solar panels Haywards Heath. The battery systems in our own job photos are EnSmart.
Sources: Switch Together: Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex, West Sussex, Arun, Adur · Warmer Homes, scheme status · Crawley Borough Council, Home energy · Horsham District Council, Save money on your energy bills · Mid Sussex District Council, Cost of Living Support · West Sussex Energy: Horsham District Council support, heating and insulation grants, incl. ECO4 Flex · West Sussex County Council, Our progress in tackling climate change · GOV.UK: grant allocations, apply page, Warm Homes Loan Scheme rules · Ofgem: ECO, Smart Export Guarantee · HMRC, VAT Notice 708/6 · ONS, Census 2021 TS054 tenure (Nomis) · Met Office: North Heath, Charlwood · European Commission JRC, PVGIS · Energy Saving Trust, solar costs (updated 27 August 2026). Solar Together Sussex history (2020 to 2025) as cited on our Horsham and Crawley pages. Read 19 October 2026 unless dated.
Solar panel grants in Sussex: your questions
Are "free solar panels" offers in Sussex genuine?
Only as an income-linked scheme with criteria. For homes in Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex the funded routes are the Warm Homes: Local Grant, delivered as Warmer Homes, which on 19 October 2026 said it was oversubscribed and running a waiting list, and ECO4 until 31 December 2026, including West Sussex's ECO4 Flex route. An offer that skips the questions about income, benefits, health and your home's EPC rating is selling something.
Is Solar Together Sussex open?
Not for Crawley, Horsham or Mid Sussex at the moment. Solar Together Sussex now trades as Switch Together, and on 19 October 2026 its pages for those three areas, and for West Sussex as a whole, said it was not active there, inviting residents to register interest. Its Arun and Adur pages, on the coast, invited registration for a personal recommendation instead. No round dates are published. It is a group-buy, not a grant: you still pay for the system, at a pooled price.
How do Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex households apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant?
Through Warmer Homes, not the council. GOV.UK lists all three councils as members of the Portsmouth-led consortium, and Crawley Borough Council and Mid Sussex District Council both send residents to the Warmer Homes website. On 19 October 2026 Warmer Homes said new households would join a waiting list while it awaited a government decision on further funding. Check GOV.UK's criteria first: a privately owned home rated EPC D to G, and usually a household income of £36,000 or less.
What is ECO4 Flex in West Sussex?
The council-led part of ECO4, which lets local authorities widen eligibility beyond benefit recipients. West Sussex Energy says Arun District Council manages declarations for residents of Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex and the other West Sussex districts, broadly for households with a combined gross income under £31,000 or a long-term health condition made worse by a cold home. The council only verifies eligibility; the survey and installation are between you and an ECO installer, and ECO4 ends on 31 December 2026.
Is there VAT on solar panels and batteries in Sussex?
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 Sussex household without an application, whether the system comes through a Switch Together round or an independent quote.
Get a straight answer for your Sussex 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 Warmer Homes or ECO4 Flex looks open to your household, we will say so first. Call 0204 547 1892 or use the form.
Also see: solar panels across Sussex · solar panel cost in Sussex · planning permission in Sussex