Rented Home Rated EPC D? It Can Still Be Let After 2027. The Deadline Is October 2030
Some tenants are being told that a band D home can't be rented out past 2027. That isn't what the government decided. The legal floor today is band E, the higher standard applies from 1 October 2030, and a landlord who spends up to £10,000 without reaching it can register an exemption and keep letting.
There Will Be No Price Cap on Heating Oil. What the Government Agreed to Instead
Around 1.5 million UK households heat with oil, and nothing caps what they pay. The government has now said that won't change. What it has agreed to is a regulator for oil distributors, which it says will take time, and some smaller steps on deliveries and payment plans. None of it has a date.
Charging an Electric Car Without a Driveway: The Planning Rules Change in England on 21 October
Until now a household with no off-street parking needed planning permission for a home charger and for a cable channel across the pavement, on top of the council's consent to cross the highway. From 21 October the planning step goes for homes in England outside conservation areas and listed-building curtilages. The council's say over the pavement does not.
291,000 Solar Installations in a Year, the Most Since 2012: Where They Went, and Why Batteries Are Following
There are now more than 2.1 million solar installations in the UK. Every nation and English region grew over the last year, with Wales, the North East and the West Midlands growing fastest. Batteries are close behind: MCS counted 36,000 certified battery installations in the first half of 2026, nearly double a year earlier, and 92% went onto homes that already had solar. Heat pumps went the other way.
What 3,700 Heat Pump Owners Said After a Winter: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme's Final Evaluation
Nine to 21 months after installation, 91% of Boiler Upgrade Scheme households were satisfied with their heat pump, up from 80% just after it went in. Among owners who could say how their bills had changed, 61% reported a fall and 19% a rise. Owners on time-of-use or heat pump tariffs were far more likely to report lower bills than those on standard tariffs, and servicing turned out dearer than many expected.
Living Near a New Pylon Line? £250 a Year Off the Electricity Bill Is Planned From 2027, and 43 Projects Are on the First List
The government's Bill Discount Scheme would take £250 a year off the electricity bill of households within 500 metres of new transmission infrastructure, for 10 years. The first 43 projects are named. Payments are expected in the first half of 2027, the law that creates the scheme has not yet been made, and a project only counts once its main construction has started.
Warm Home Discount 2026/27: Eligibility Was Fixed on 23 August. What Happens Next Depends on Which Letter You Get.
There is nothing to apply for in England and Wales, and the qualifying date has already passed. What a household can still do depends on whether a letter arrives, which letter it is, and whether the name on the electricity bill matches the name on the benefit.
Northern Ireland's £100 Oil Card Tests Whether You Qualified in April, Not Whether You Qualify Now
Around 340,000 households are in scope, and the test is not the one a household would naturally apply to itself. Eligibility rests on having met a benefit or income test on a single day in one of two qualifying months — and the second of those months has not happened yet.
Half a Million Grid Connection Applications Later, the Permission Step Is Still the One Nobody Mentions
Solar panels, a heat pump, a battery or a fast charger all need permission from the local network operator before or shortly after they are connected. The Energy Networks Association has now processed half a million of those applications through one platform. Here is who does it, what it costs, and the question worth asking an installer.
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme Is Not a Grant. It Is £300 Million Spent Making the Loan Cheaper.
DESNZ published the end-user privacy notice on 17 September, which is the part of a scheme that appears when households are about to be involved. The Scheme Rules set out what it funds, what it caps, and who can borrow. It covers the whole United Kingdom, and the clause that says so is easy to miss.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme Just Had Its Biggest Month Ever. The £9,000 Oil Grant Is Nearly All of the Jump.
July was a record: 8,150 applications, 81% up on June. Most coverage stopped there. The government's own statistics show 3,037 of those applications came through the £9,000 off-gas-grid route that opened in July, which is 37% of the month and very close to the whole of the increase.
The Solar Planning Rules Changed on 27 August, and Plug-In Panels Cannot Go on a Wooden Fence
Plug-in solar became legal on 27 August. The same day, a separate Order changed what you may install without planning permission — and it rules out the two places people most obviously put a plug-in panel: a wooden fence and a timber-clad wall or balcony.
VAT Comes Off Electricity in Great Britain on 1 October. In Northern Ireland It Stays at 5%.
The VAT cut announced in July and arriving on 1 October is a Great Britain measure. The Order made on 7 September zero-rates domestic electricity in England, Wales and Scotland and moves Northern Ireland to a new line in the reduced-rate schedule, where it stays at 5%. The government's own guidance for households does not say so.
October's Energy Price Cap: Up 4% to £1,723, and the VAT Cut Is Already Inside That Number
Two announcements on the same day, 26 August, and they are being reported as if they add up. They do not. The £45 the VAT cut saves is already netted into the £1,723 cap. The rise is gas; electricity is close to flat and its standing charge falls.
Plug-In Solar Becomes Legal on 27 August 2026 — What the Regulations Say, and What They Don't
The rules are real and they are dated. Plug-in solar is not legal yet: the instrument was made on 16 July 2026 and comes into force on 27 August. Here is what it permits, the 800W ceiling, the condition most coverage skips, and why MCS places these kits outside its scope.
Warm Homes: Local Grant in 2026 — Two £16,600 Cost Caps, Not One £30,000 Figure
The Warm Homes Plan is usually described with a single per-property maximum, and its consumer route runs in England only. The guidance that governs its consumer route does not describe one — it sets two caps, by measure type, that councils may average across a project.
Heating With Oil or LPG? The Boiler Upgrade Scheme Pays £9,000, Not £7,500 — Until March 2027
Most coverage of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme quotes a flat £7,500. For one group of households it is £9,000 — and unlike the scheme itself, the extra £1,500 has a deadline in March 2027.
UK Home Energy Grants in 2026: Every Scheme That's Actually Open
The grant landscape changed in 2026, though not the way this article first reported it. ECO4 runs to 31 December 2026 and the work must be finished by then. Here is what is open, what each scheme pays, and who can claim it.