Plug-in solar panels that can help to reduce household energy bills without the need for professional installation or planning permission will be legalised in the UK from next month.
Tucked away in an amendment to the ‘Plugs and Sockets’ regulations is a new set of rules that effectively legalises the panels for home use from August 27.
Previously, the British Standard for standard household plugs contained restrictions that prohibited using a plug to feed electricity into a socket. In reality, the hardware has already been available to consumers, but because it was technically illegal to use it as intended, retailers were operating in a legal grey area.
The government has acknowledged that the technology is already widely used and legal in Europe, but to counter fears over safety, it has introduced a strict ‘interim product specification’ that plug-in solar kits must meet to ensure they are safe to be plugged directly into a UK socket without an electrician.
The rules mandate that the...
