Carlisle MP calls for mandatory solar panels on new-build homes

The industry supports mandatory panels on new builds

Calls for solar panels on new-build homes to be made mandatory have been made by the MP for Carlisle.

Conservative John Stevenson's amendment to the government's Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill would require panels on houses built after April 2025.

Writing for Conservative Home he said the benefits would be "substantial".

The government was criticised in 2015 for removing subsidies for solar panels and, in 2019, for stopping solar feed-in tariffs for new users.

But trade association Solar Energy UK said the industry no longer needed subsidies.

In a report published this week, it also called for mandatory solar panels on new-build homes.

Mr Stevenson, who chairs the Northern Research Group, said they could "increase our renewable energy supply, reduce residential energy bills, and boost our domestic solar panel industry".

John Stevenson said the market for new-build panels would be large

He added: "Had we had this policy in place five years ago, just think of the number of households who would have benefitted with regard to their energy bills today."

The government was accused of being "misguided" in scrapping feed-in tariffs and incentives but Mr Stevenson said it had been right as they "added charges to bills in order to subsidise a particular technology".

A scheme for mandatory panels was different because it would be "cost neutral to the Treasury", he said.

The scheme would "encourage the market to find a solution" which was a "far more preferable route than financial incentives or subsidies", he added.

Gemma Grimes, director of policy for Solar Energy UK, which represents solar energy companies, said Mr Stevenson was "right that the best time to put solar on a house is when it gets built".

Its research suggested panels on new homes could cut bills by more than £1,000 per year, she said.