The government’s “rooftop revolution” promises solar panels on nearly all new homes. But, writes Mark Greatholder and Aliki Zeri of Foot Anstey, the legislative gaps already burn brightly
In a move aimed at accelerating the UK’s transition to clean energy, the government has announced its “rooftop revolution” as part of the Future Homes Standard to be implemented from 2025, which will require nearly all (approximately 90%) of new homes built in England to have rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels installed.
The installations will need to cover at least the equivalent of 40% of the ground floor area of a property or, where this is not possible, a “reasonable amount” of coverage.
The policy is designed to reduce household energy bills, cut carbon emissions, and boost the UK’s energy independence. The government estimates that a typical household could save around £530 per year on energy costs and the fact that consumers are self-generating could protect them from increased prices in what can be a volatile market.
While on the face of it, these requirements are clear, there remains a degree of ambiguity within the regulations which remains to be clarified. In particular, the coverage requirements are open to interpretation, as the regulations are not clear as to how a “reasonable amount” of coverage will be assessed. There is also ambiguity in respect of the exemptions.
Household savings: Behind the headlines
The government’s estimate as to how much a typical household could save will be their focal point for driving the policy. This figure is intended to be headline-grabbing, but it does not account for the fact that cost savings cannot be guaranteed (and will depend on the energy market and the technical performance of the installations) and does not appear to account for the inevitable maintenance and wider lifecycle costs of the systems.
In a typical housing development, the developer would deploy the capital for the equipment and its installation (which would then be baked into the sale price of the property).
Under some models, the obligation to maintain the equipment could then be retained by the developer, with the costs of such maintenance being recovered by way of a service charge, payable by occupiers. Another model might involve the obligation to maintain the equipment being passed on to individual households.
However, regardless of the model adopted, regular maintenance (and the costs that come with that) is critical to the solar panels operating optimally and, crucially, failure to maintain the equipment and ancillary infrastructure in line with the manufacturers’ warranties could result in such warranties being invalidated.
If a developer retained the obligation to maintain the solar panels, it would also need to retain rights for itself or a third party to access the relevant properties to undertake such maintenance. While these access rights are unlikely to have a significant impact on homeowners, any repair or replacement required might have.
A further complication is what happens at the end of the lifecycle – the developer will need to consider removal or replacement of the equipment, and who should incur such costs.
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