Solar panels must be fitted on all new homes from 2027 in net zero push
New rules will mandate that housebuilders fit solar panels on the roofs of almost every new-build home from 2027, in a move slammed as an “ideological crusade”.
According to a report in The Times, the policy change would add around £3,300 to the cost of building a semi-detached or terraced house, with a £4,000 premium on a detached home.
Andy Mayer, energy analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “The person most relevant to deciding what should go on a new home is the person buying it, not a Minister in the grip of an ideological crusade.
“If the Government’s claims about savings of £1,000 per household a year were credible, there would be no need for a mandate.”
The government has pledged both to build 1.5m houses within this parliament, and to decarbonise the energy grid by the end of the decade.
In Q4 of 2024, 42 per cent of new houses were fitted with the panels – up from 13 per cent in the same period in 2023.
Mayer added: “The timing of this announcement in a week where 60 million Europeans experienced a catastrophic blackout event due to over-supply of solar on the Spanish grid shows extraordinary contempt.”
No heir to Blair?
The report comes just a day after Sir Tony Blair slammed current net zero policies as “irrational” and “a strategy doomed to fail”.
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesperson hit back at the PM’s Labour predecessor, describing the government’s stance on net zero as “very practical and pragmatic”.
Though Starmer appears to have taken energy secretary Ed Miliband’s side in this scuffle – which involves three of the six living present and former Labour leaders – his spokesperson would not confirm that Miliband will stay in post for the duration of the parliament.
The Prime Minister is heavily tipped to be planning his first major reshuffle later this year.
However, Blair did get an endorsement from a surprising source: the once-Corbyn backing Unite Union. Its general secretary, Sharon Graham, said that Unite was “not against net zero but it will not be achieved without serious investment in new jobs”.