A Labour donor has told Andy Burnham to put solar panels on Greater Manchester‘s council houses. The request, reported by The Telegraph, is not about climate symbolism, it is about cash. A typical social tenant spends £1,200 a year on electricity. Solar could cut that by a third. For a city with 80,000 council homes, the aggregate saving runs into tens of millions.
The intervention, as reported by The Telegraph, lands at a moment when the gap between private and social housing solar uptake is widening. Ofgem data shows that in 2023, 5% of social homes had solar panels, compared with 18% of owner-occupied houses. The difference is not demand, it is capital. Councils borrow at higher rates than private landlords and face competing pressures on repairs, fire safety, and temporary accommodation.
Who pays and who saves
The economics are straightforward. A 3.5 kW solar array, typical for a two-bedroom terrace, costs £5,000-£7,000 installed. Under the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), a household selling surplus power back to the grid earns about 15p per kWh. Combined with self-consumption, the payback period is now typically 8-10 years, down from 15 years a decade ago. For a council housing stock with 30-year roof cycles, the arithmetic works.
But the question is who shoulders the upfront cost. Government grants such as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund cover only part of the bill. The rest falls on council budgets already squeezed by rising temporary accommodation costs, up 40% in Manchester since 2020, according to council papers seen by the Local Government Association. Burnham’s office has not yet confirmed whether the donor’s suggestion will be taken up, but the pressure is mounting from both tenant groups and the climate committee.
The EPC deadline changes everything
There is a regulatory clock ticking too. The government has proposed that all rented properties, including social housing, must achieve an EPC rating of C by 2030. Currently, more than half of England’s 1.6 million council homes are rated D or below. Solar panels alone cannot lift a property from E to C; they typically add only 5-10 points on the 100-point EPC scale. But paired with loft insulation, cavity wall fill, and a heat pump, they are the final piece that pushes a property over the threshold.
For private homeowners reading this, the same logic applies. The 2030 EPC C target covers private rentals too, though owner-occupiers are exempt. Yet the technology cost trajectory is the same: solar is now cheaper per watt than at any point since 2010, and the SEG tariff means you are paid for every unit you export. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that a typical 3.5 kW system saves a household £300-£400 a year on electricity bills. At current prices, that is a 7-10% return on investment, better than most savings accounts.
What this means for your roof
The council housing debate matters for every homeowner because it tests the government’s willingness to subsidise solar at scale. If Burnham’s donor gets his way, Greater Manchester could become a testbed for bulk procurement, panels bought by the thousand, installed by a single contractor, at a cost per home perhaps 30% lower than the retail price. That would put downward pressure on installation prices across the market. It would also normalise solar on the kind of roofs, terraces, semis, flats, that many private homeowners also have.
The catch is that council housing stock is not uniform. Some properties have south-facing roofs; many do not. Some are in conservation areas or high-rise blocks where structural surveys are needed. The Solar Trade Association has warned that a one-size-fits-all approach risks wasting money on unsuitable roofs. A better model, it argues, is a street-by-street audit, starting with the homes that have the best solar potential, south-facing, unshaded, with a strong roof structure.
Homeowners looking at their own roofs should do the same audit. Check orientation on Google Maps. Look for shading from trees or neighbouring buildings. Get a quote from at least three MCS-certified installers. The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) database lists accredited companies in every region. Do not rely on a single salesman’s estimate.
The final piece is timing. Solar installation lead times have fallen to 4-8 weeks in most parts of the UK, down from 12-16 weeks during the 2022 energy crisis. The government’s 0% VAT on energy-saving materials is in place until 2027. For households on standard variable tariffs, the SEG export rate is fixed by your supplier at the time of installation. Act now, and you lock in today’s prices. Wait, and the next tariff review could lower the export rate. The donor’s question to Burnham is the same question every homeowner should ask themselves: why is the panel not already on the roof?
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on your local authority. The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund provides grants to councils for energy upgrades, including solar, but not all councils have applied. Contact your housing officer or energy advice team to ask if your property is included in any planned retrofit programme.
In most cases, no. The Energy Act 2023 prevents landlords from increasing rent to recover the cost of energy-efficiency improvements funded by grants. If the council uses its own capital, rent rises are capped by the government's rent standard, typically CPI plus 1% per year.
