Warm Homes Loan Scheme 2026: 0% and Low-Interest Loans for Solar Panels, Batteries and Heat Pumps Explained

If you want solar panels or a battery but have been put off by the upfront cost, this scheme is designed to make spreading the cost cheaper than a standard bank loan. Below, we explain exactly how it works, what it costs, who qualifies and how to apply, and how Fit Solar can get you a quote and a Warm Homes Loan in one go.

Warm Homes Loan Scheme: key facts at a glance

What is the Warm Homes Loan Scheme?

The Warm Homes Loan Scheme (WHLS) is the finance part of the government's £15 billion Warm Homes Plan, first announced in January 2026 with the aim of upgrading up to 5 million homes by 2030 and tripling the number of homes with rooftop solar. It is not a grant and you do not apply to the government. Instead, the government pays grant funding to approved lenders so they can offer you a much lower interest rate (in some cases 0%) on a loan for clean energy technology. You borrow from the lender, the money pays your installer, and you repay the lender over an agreed term. The scheme was published in a GOV.UK factsheet on 27 October 2026, and the following day's Budget confirmed it as the next stage of the Warm Homes Plan. The government expects it to support around 100,000 homes in this first phase, with more lenders and loan products added as the scheme grows.

Warm Homes Loan vs Warm Home Discount vs Warm Homes: Local Grant

The names are confusingly similar, so here is the difference:

• Warm Homes Loan Scheme: 0% or low-interest loans for solar, batteries and heat pumps. Open to any homeowner, any income, UK-wide.
• Warm Home Discount: a once-a-year discount on your electricity bill for people on certain benefits. Nothing to do with installing technology.
• Warm Homes: Local Grant: free upgrades (insulation, solar, heat pumps) for lower-income households in England, delivered by local councils. No loan to repay.
• Boiler Upgrade Scheme: a grant of £7,500 (or up to £9,000 for some off-gas homes) towards a heat pump in England and Wales. Can be combined with a Warm Homes Loan.

How much can you borrow under the Warm Homes Loan Scheme?

You can borrow up to £15,000 for solar panels and a further £15,000 for a home battery, so a typical solar-plus-battery system is comfortably covered. The caps per technology, as set by the government, are: These are the scheme's upper limits, not a guaranteed amount. Each lender decides how much it will lend you based on its normal affordability and credit checks.

What interest rate will you pay on a Warm Homes Loan?

There is no single rate. Some lenders are offering 0% interest, particularly on solar panels and batteries, and the rest offer rates up to 5 percentage points lower than they would normally charge. So a loan that would usually cost 8% could cost around 3% through the scheme. For comparison, the cheapest mainstream personal loans were around 5.9% APR at launch.

Worked example: borrowing £10,000 over 7 years

The government uses this example in its factsheet. Figures are fixed monthly repayments with no fees. Terms run from a minimum of 3 years up to 30 years with some lenders. A longer term lowers the monthly payment but, unless the loan is interest-free, increases the total you repay.

Who is eligible for a Warm Homes Loan?

Most UK homeowners are eligible. Unlike most energy grants, there is no income limit and you do not need to be on benefits. To qualify you need to:

• Own and live in the property, or be a private landlord borrowing in your own name
• Live in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland
• Be installing an eligible technology (solar, battery, heat pump and so on)
• Use an MCS-certified installer
• Pass the lender's normal affordability, credit and eligibility checks

Can tenants apply? No. If you rent, you cannot take out a Warm Homes Loan yourself, but your private landlord can apply to upgrade the property. Do I need good credit? You need to pass the lender's standard checks, so your credit history matters. Each lender also sets its own extra conditions, and some only lend in certain areas.

Which lenders offer Warm Homes Loans?

Ten lenders are taking part at launch, and how you access each one differs. Most lend through partner installers, so you get the loan as part of your installer's quote, while a few let you borrow directly and use any MCS-certified installer. The practical upshot: for most homeowners, the easiest way to get a Warm Homes Loan is through an installer that already works with a participating lender, so the quote, the finance and the installation are handled together.

Can you combine a Warm Homes Loan with a grant?

Yes. You can use a Warm Homes Loan alongside the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales, or Home Energy Scotland grants in Scotland, to cut the cost of a heat pump further.

• Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS): £7,500 towards most air source and ground source heat pumps. A higher grant of up to £9,000 is available until 31 March 2027 for certain off-gas homes replacing oil or LPG heating. Your MCS installer claims it for you and deducts it from the price. The Budget on 28 October 2026 confirmed BUS funding of £400 million in 2027–28.
• Warm Homes: Local Grant (England): if you are on a lower income, check this first. Eligible households can get insulation, solar or a heat pump fully funded, with nothing to repay.

The grant reduces the price, and the loan spreads whatever is left. For example, a £13,000 heat pump install minus a £7,500 BUS grant leaves £5,500, which you could cover with a Warm Homes Loan. The BUS does not cover solar panels or batteries on their own, so for a solar-plus-battery system the Warm Homes Loan is the main source of government support.

Will a Warm Homes Loan for solar panels save you money?

It can, and the key test is simple: compare your monthly loan repayment with your expected monthly energy saving. If the saving is bigger, the system pays for itself from day one. The government estimates that a heat pump, solar panels and a battery together could cut energy bills by up to £550 a year, with a further £300 a year possible on a time-of-use tariff. Real-world results vary widely by roof, location and usage. In the government's own case studies, a Birmingham household with 14 panels and a battery projects savings of £1,050 a year, and a Stirling homeowner with a 10.8 kWp system and 11.52 kWh battery estimates £400–£500 saved in year one after costs.

Illustration: a solar and battery system on an interest-free loan

If you borrowed £10,000 at 0% over 10 years, your repayment would be £83.33 a month (£1,000 a year). If your system saves more than about £1,000 a year, you are better off every month. Spread over a longer term, the repayment falls further, to £41.67 a month over 20 years at 0%. These figures are illustrations, not quotes. Your Fit Solar survey will give you a property-specific estimate of generation and savings so you can put it side by side with real loan terms. For a quick idea first, try our solar panel calculator.

Why solar plus a battery works so well with the scheme

• A battery lets you use more of your own solar power in the evening instead of exporting it cheaply.
• Time-of-use tariffs let you charge the battery from the grid at cheap overnight rates.
• Export payments under the Smart Export Guarantee add income for surplus power.
• Protection from price shocks: the more of your own electricity you generate and store, the less exposed you are to rising energy prices.

How to get a Warm Homes Loan with Fit Solar: step by step

You don't apply to the government. You apply through an approved lender, and as a Fit Solar customer we arrange that for you with Propensio or Selina Finance as part of your quote. Here is how it works:

1. Book a free survey. We visit your home, check your roof, shading and energy use, and talk through what you want from your system.
2. Get your quote and savings estimate. We design a solar and battery system for your home and show the cash price, the monthly repayment and your estimated savings side by side.
3. Choose your finance. We take you through the Warm Homes Loan options from Propensio and Selina Finance, including the term, the total repayable and whether the loan is secured or unsecured.
4. Apply through us. We submit your application to the lender, who runs its normal affordability and credit checks.
5. We install your system. Our MCS-certified team fits and commissions everything, handles the DNO paperwork and registers your system. The lender pays for the work.
6. Start saving. We set up your monitoring app and help you choose a smart tariff and register for Smart Export Guarantee payments.
7. Keep your paperwork. We give you your quote, finance agreement, invoice and MCS certificate for your records.

On a lower income in England? It is worth checking first whether the Warm Homes: Local Grant could fund the work outright, with nothing to repay.

5 things to check before you sign a Warm Homes Loan

The scheme is good news, but it is still borrowing. Consumer groups including MoneySavingExpert have flagged a few points worth checking:

1. Secured or unsecured? The scheme allows both. A secured loan is tied to your home, which could be at risk if you cannot keep up repayments.
2. Total cost over the full term. A 20- or 30-year loan has a low monthly payment but, unless it is 0%, can cost far more overall.
3. The price of the system itself. A 0% loan is only a good deal if the installation is fairly priced. Compare the cash price, not just the monthly figure.
4. Fees and early repayment. Check for arrangement fees, whether the rate is fixed and whether you can pay off early without a penalty.
5. Scams. Expect cold callers claiming to be "from the government scheme". The government does not phone to sell loans. Only deal with MCS-certified installers and named participating lenders.

At Fit Solar, we show you the cash price and the finance price side by side, so you can see exactly what the loan costs. You can also see our prices before you book.

Get solar panels and a battery with a Warm Homes Loan from Fit Solar in Gloucestershire

Fit Solar, the multi-award-winning solar and battery installer based in Stroud, is now offering the Warm Homes Loan Scheme to customers, so you can install solar panels and battery storage with nothing to pay upfront and 0% or low-interest repayments. When you choose Fit Solar, we:

• Survey your home for free and design a solar and battery system sized to your roof and your energy use
• Give you a clear quote showing the cash price, the monthly repayment and your estimated savings side by side
• Arrange your Warm Homes Loan through two of the scheme's approved lenders, Propensio and Selina Finance, as part of the same quote, so you can compare both
• Install to MCS standards as a fully MCS-certified installer, with a 25-year panel guarantee and our Fit Care aftercare
• Register your system and help you set up export payments and the right tariff

We install across Gloucestershire, including Stroud, Gloucester, Cheltenham and the Cotswolds. See what our customers say in our case studies. Call 01453 705915 or email startsaving@fitsolar.energy. Loans are subject to the lender's status, affordability and credit checks. Book your free Warm Homes Loan survey →