Batteries
Solar batteries and grants in Liverpool
A battery stores daytime solar electricity for the evening. It's the add-on most often asked about, and the funding picture is the same as for panels: the council scheme can include one for eligible households, and everyone else pays, with the same VAT relief and loan option.
Where you stand
PV batteries are on Liverpool City Council's list of measures under Warm Homes: Local Grant, so an eligible home could be offered one if the survey recommends it. Otherwise, battery installation in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, and a Warm Homes loan can cover battery storage.
Who decides: The council's survey, for the grant; you and any lender, if you pay.
The grant
Batteries on the council lists
Liverpool City Council's page lists PV batteries among the energy efficiency measures it may offer under Warm Homes: Local Grant, alongside solar PV itself. The Combined Authority's list for Halton, Knowsley, St Helens and Wirral includes PV batteries too. Sefton Council's page lists solar panels among its possible measures but doesn't mention batteries separately.
The government's guidance to councils adds the rules behind that. Domestic batteries can only be installed under the scheme where they complement existing or new solar panels. Battery installs were paused in November 2025 while a product standard was settled and resumed on 2 February 2026. The guidance says batteries should only go in where they bring bill savings, asks the retrofit coordinator to check whether a time-of-use tariff would suit the household, and expects a working smart meter.
As with panels, the household doesn't choose. The retrofit survey recommends the measures that suit the home within the budget. A battery makes most sense where panels are already fitted or being fitted, and where the household uses a good share of its electricity in the evening.
What a battery does
Where a battery helps, and where it doesn't
Solar panels produce most in the middle of the day, when many homes use least. Without a battery, the surplus goes to the grid, where the Smart Export Guarantee pays for it at whatever rate your chosen supplier offers. With a battery, some of it is stored and used later, so you buy less from the grid.
Whether that's worth the cost depends on the size of your panels, how much electricity you use and when, your import and export tariffs, and the battery's price and lifespan. Those vary too much between homes for one figure to be honest, so we don't give one. Ask any installer quoting for a battery to set out its assumptions in writing.
The routes
Ways to fund a battery
| Route | Covers batteries? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Warm Homes: Local Grant (Liverpool) | Can do | PV batteries are on the council's list; the survey decides |
| Warm Homes: Local Grant (Combined Authority) | Can do | PV batteries on its list for Halton, Knowsley, St Helens and Wirral |
| Warm Homes loan | Yes | Battery storage systems are on GOV.UK's list; homeowners; MCS installer |
| VAT relief | Yes | Installation in a home zero-rated until 31 March 2027, then 5% |
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme | No | Heat pumps and biomass boilers only |
Paying yourself
VAT and loans for batteries
HMRC's VAT Notice 708/6 includes batteries among the energy-saving materials whose installation in homes is zero-rated until 31 March 2027. The notice also covers batteries installed on their own, without panels. As with panels, a battery bought to fit yourself is standard-rated.
GOV.UK's Warm Homes loan eligibility page lists battery storage systems among the improvements a loan can pay for, alongside solar panels and heat pumps. You must own the home, and the installer must usually be MCS certified. We don't name lenders or rates; see paying yourself.
Choosing an installer
Battery certification is separate
MCS certifies installers technology by technology. An installer certified for solar panels isn't automatically certified for battery storage. If you're paying for a battery, or using a loan that requires an MCS installer, check the installer's certification for batteries on the MCS website.
Ask too about the battery's usable capacity, its warranty and what happens at the end of it, where it will be fitted, and how it's protected against overheating. A sensible installer will discuss whether a battery suits your use at all, rather than adding one to every quote.
Doorstep offers
Batteries "paid for by a scheme"
Battery offers can be an opening line in cold calls: a firm says a government scheme will pay for a battery, then asks for details or a deposit. There's no national scheme paying for home batteries. The council and Combined Authority schemes are the only grant routes here, and they're reached through the GOV.UK portal or the council's own pages, never through a caller. See grant scams.
Exports and batteries
Batteries and export payments
A battery changes how much you export rather than whether you can. You still need an MCS certified installation and a meter that records half-hourly exports to receive Smart Export Guarantee payments. Some suppliers' tariffs are designed around homes with batteries; compare them before choosing. See solar in Liverpool for what panels here produce.
Battery questions
Can Warm Homes: Local Grant pay for a battery?
PV batteries are on Liverpool City Council’s and the Combined Authority’s lists of possible measures. Whether a home gets one depends on the survey and the budget, like every other measure.
Can I get a battery added to panels I already have?
Through the grant, only if the council’s survey recommends it. Paying yourself, battery installation in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, and a Warm Homes loan can cover battery storage for homeowners.
Does the Boiler Upgrade Scheme fund batteries?
No. It pays towards heat pumps and biomass boilers only.
Does a battery need an MCS installer?
For a Warm Homes loan, GOV.UK says the installer must usually be MCS certified. Battery storage is its own MCS technology, so check the installer is certified for batteries, not just panels.
Sources for this page
- Liverpool City Council › Apply for a Warm Homes Local Grant, read 3 November 2026
- Liverpool City Region Combined Authority › Warm Homes Local Grant, read 3 November 2026
- Sefton Council › Warm Homes Local Grant, read 3 November 2026
- DESNZ › Warm Homes: Local Grant policy guidance for local authorities, July 2026 (PDF), read 4 November 2026
- GOV.UK › Warm Homes loan: eligibility, read 3 November 2026
- HMRC › VAT Notice 708/6, energy-saving materials and heating equipment, read 3 November 2026
- GOV.UK › Boiler Upgrade Scheme: what you can get, read 3 November 2026
- MCS › Find a certified installer, read 3 November 2026
- GOV.UK › Smart Export Guarantee, read 3 November 2026
A question about solar funding in Liverpool?
Tell us what you're trying to find out. Your message reaches SEO-DONS LTD, which publishes this guide, and we answer by email. We don't run any grant scheme, decide eligibility or install panels, but we can point you to the scheme and the council that does.
What happens next
- Your message reaches SEO-DONS LTD, publisher of this guide.
- We answer by email, pointing to the scheme or council that applies.
- Any application is made to the council or scheme itself.