Solar grants and schemes for Crewe homes

The routes at a glance

Only the first of these is a grant in the usual sense, and it is aimed at households on lower incomes in less efficient homes. The others reduce the price, pay for exported power or spread the cost. Each is explained below, with the conditions that decide whether it applies to you.

Warm Homes: Local Grant in Cheshire East

Cheshire East Council’s page on help with heating your home describes funding available until 31 March 2028 for insulation and for renewables such as heat pumps and solar panels. The conditions, as the council sets them out, are:

• The home: rated EPC band D, E, F or G.
• The household: a homeowner living in the property as their main residence, or a private tenant.
• Income: someone receives an income-related benefit, or household income is no more than £36,000 before tax, or no more than £20,000 after housing costs.
• The aim: to improve the home by at least two EPC bands.
• Rented homes: the landlord is expected to contribute at least 50% after their first property.

The list of eligible measures includes solar PV, and high heat retention electric storage heaters where a heat pump is not suitable. Because the target is two EPC bands, the work is planned for the whole home. Panels may form part of a wider package, or other measures may come first if they do more for the rating. Meeting the conditions starts the process; it does not settle what will be installed. The national application route is described on the GOV.UK page for the Warm Homes: Local Grant.

Two groups in Crewe have particular reason to look closely. Homes heated by electricity alone are far more common in Crewe Central than across the borough, and the storage-heater measure is aimed at them; see electric heating in Crewe. And private tenants, who make up about four in ten households in Crewe Central and Crewe South, can be the eligible household, though the landlord must agree; see renting in Crewe.

Before applying: what to have ready

Applications depend on details of the property and the people living in it, and gathering them in advance saves time. Expect to need the home’s current EPC, or at least its rating from the national register, and evidence for the income route you are using, such as a benefit award letter or recent payslips. A tenant will need the landlord’s name and contact details and should have raised the work with them. Owners should be ready to show the home is their main residence. Exactly what is asked for is the council’s decision, so follow its page rather than this list.

Who in Crewe is most likely to qualify

The census cannot say which homes are rated D or below, or which households meet the income test, so nobody can map eligibility street by street. What it does show is where the scheme’s target groups are concentrated. Crewe Central and Crewe South have the highest shares of private renting in the town, and Crewe Central has by far the highest share of electric-only heating. Those are the households the Local Grant’s conditions describe, which is why this guide gives the scheme so much space. Ward figures are on Crewe homes by ward.

What it means for landlords

The council expects a landlord to contribute at least 50% after their first property, so the arithmetic changes for anyone letting several homes. Landlords also have wider duties on energy efficiency, which this guide covers on landlords and solar. A tenant who qualifies and raises the scheme can give a landlord a reason to act; the landlord still decides.

Switch Together

Switch Together is a group-buying scheme covering Cheshire and Warrington, known before as Solar Together. Cheshire East Council takes part. It is not a grant: households pay for what they buy, and the group is meant to secure a competitive offer. The council reports that the scheme has put solar on more than five hundred homes, almost 2.9 MW in all, together with 3.22 MWh of battery storage. Households that already had panels could register for a battery.

The 2026 round opened for registrations on 3 August 2026 and closed on 25 September 2026, so it is not open now. The council’s page is the place to watch for another round. How the scheme’s total compares with all the solar in the borough is covered on solar take-up in Cheshire East, and storage on batteries in Crewe.

VAT relief

HMRC’s VAT Notice 708/6 means no VAT is charged on panels and batteries installed in homes until 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 the rate becomes 5%. Every household benefits, with no application, because the rate is applied in the price. Check which rate each quote assumes if the work could finish near the change; prices by system size are on solar costs in Crewe.

Payments for exported electricity

Electricity sent to the grid can earn a payment under the SEG scheme. Larger suppliers must offer an export tariff paying more than 0p per unit for systems no bigger than 50 kW, certified under MCS, with a meter that records exports. Think of it as being paid for surplus power rather than as help with the cost of the panels; rates vary between suppliers. How much of a system’s output tends to be exported is on export and self-use.

The Warm Homes Loan Scheme

A government factsheet describes the Warm Homes Loan Scheme. As the name says, it is a loan, and it must be repaid. This guide does not summarise its terms; read the factsheet itself for who it is aimed at and how it works.

Energy-supplier schemes

ECO4 runs only until 31 December 2026, and only so that energy suppliers can finish work already under way. It is not a way to start a new solar project in Crewe, and anyone presenting it as one deserves a careful second look.

A separate supplier scheme, aimed at insulation, is already closed. The Great British Insulation Scheme ended on 31 March 2026. Both dates are set out on the support schemes page of Cheshire West and Chester Council, which covers the same national schemes.

What does not exist

There is no grant that pays for solar on every Crewe home, and no council scheme that hands out panels door to door. Be cautious with any caller, leaflet or advert promising panels paid for by a scheme you cannot find on the council’s own pages. Ask which scheme it is, check it independently, and never share bank details or sign on the doorstep. A genuine firm will give you time and a written quote; checks to make on any firm are on choosing an installer, starting with the MCS register.

Flats and listed homes

A grant does not remove the need for other consents. Panels on a block of flats still need the building owner’s agreement, as flats and solar explains, and for many flats other measures will be more practical than solar. Panels on a listed building still need planning permission and Listed Building Consent, and the grant’s timetable will not wait for a slow application, so raise the listing early.

Working out what applies to you

1. Look up the home’s EPC rating. If it is D or below, the Local Grant may be worth a look.
2. Check the income test against your household’s situation.
3. If you rent, speak to your landlord before or alongside any application.
4. If the home is one of the listed railway cottages, remember that any panels need planning permission and Listed Building Consent; see the railway cottages page.
5. If no grant applies, get several written quotes and compare them on the same basis.

Quick answers on grants and much else are collected on the FAQ page. For a question about a particular home and which routes might apply, use the question form.