Grant Recipients under Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF) may resume installing domestic batteries from 2 February 2026, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has confirmed in an addendum to the scheme guidance1. Domestic batteries installed alongside solar PV panels were made an eligible measure under the scheme in June 2025, but installations were paused in November 2025 because no Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) product standard was in place1.
DESNZ said it has developed an interim solution to allow installations to restart, and that the decision was supported by the MCS Battery Storage Working Group, which gave assurance that domestic batteries on the UK market carrying UKCA or CE marking, as required in the MCS Battery Installation Standard, are sufficiently safe for inclusion in its schemes1.
"Grant Recipients may resume installation of domestic batteries as of 2nd February 2026."
Batteries installed by Grant Recipients before they received notice of the pause will be treated as legitimate spend forming part of the grant, provided all other requirements of the guidance are met1. DESNZ said it will give advance notice of any further requirement and will not retrospectively require compliance with a future standard, so batteries installed now under this guidance will be funded1.
The guidance states that domestic batteries can only be installed under the Warm Homes schemes where they complement existing or new solar PV, and should only be installed where they drive energy bill savings for the household1. Grant Recipients must ensure installation complies with the latest quality and installation standards, including MCS (MIS3012), PAS 63100 and PAS 20351. The guidance recommends that the Retrofit Coordinator checks whether a preferable time-of-use tariff is available to the household, and that installation takes place where there is a working electricity smart meter, or alongside one, so the full benefits can be realised1.
The addendum also covers other measures. Air-to-air heat pumps are not eligible for WH:SHF until they can be MCS certified, which is expected in 20261. Heat batteries will not be eligible until they can be MCS certified, following an MCS consultation on a Thermal Energy Storage System Standard in March 2025 and a pilot announced in September 20251. Phase change material heat batteries for hot water are not a formally recognised technology category in SAP and cannot currently be installed through the scheme1. SAP-eligible monitoring technologies, such as Smart Meter Enabled Thermal Efficiency Ratings (SMETERs), are eligible where they form part of a technology or measure that can be modelled in RdSAP or SAP1.
Why it matters for households
For social housing tenants, the resumption means a battery can again be fitted alongside solar panels through the scheme, allowing surplus daytime generation to be stored and used in the evening rather than exported. The guidance ties eligibility to bill savings, so the value to a household depends on how the battery is used and on the tariff it is paired with. The recommendation to check for a time-of-use tariff and to have a functioning smart meter points to where much of the saving is realised: charging when electricity is cheap and drawing on the battery when it is not. The interim arrangement rests on existing UKCA or CE marking rather than a dedicated MCS product standard, and DESNZ has said it will not apply any future standard retrospectively to batteries installed under this guidance. Households wanting to understand what a battery installation involves can read the guide to the home battery installation process, and those weighing up whether storage is worthwhile without solar should see whether solar panels are needed for VAT-free battery storage. Safety questions are covered in how safe home battery storage systems are.
What happens next
The delivery window for WH:SHF Wave 3 runs to 30th September 2028, and Grant Recipients must spend all grant funding by 31 March 20281. Following a further £295m of grant funding announced through the Warm Homes Plan for financial year 2026/27, delivery using co-funding has been extended to March 20301. DESNZ has said it will communicate to Grant Recipients in advance of any further requirement coming into effect1. No date has been reported for the introduction of an MCS product standard for domestic batteries.
Sources1 cited
- WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance, assets.publishing.service.gov.uk