Reports say the lack of mandate for domestic battery energy storage to be installed under the Future Homes Standard is government backpedalling, but the technology has never been proposed as part of the building standard.
January 6, 2026
This month, the UK government is due to publish its Future Homes Standard, a piece of legislation that will set out requirements for newly built residential properties in England.
The inclusion of a mandate to include measures to improve the carbon emissions from domestic properties, namely rooftop solar PV, as well as insulation and heat pumps, has been a demand from the solar industry for quite some time.
In June 2025, it was confirmed by the government that virtually all new build properties would be required to have rooftop solar PV installed, in most cases covering at least 40% of the property’s floor area. 
Recent headlines have suggested that the government is backpedalling on the requirements of the Future Homes Standard (FSH). Reports say it has been confirmed that battery energy storage installation will not be enforced under the legislation.
The government has never said domestic battery energy storage would be included in the FSH.
According to a report in the Guardian, published on 2 January, ministers have ceded to pressure from housebuilders and are unlikely to stipulate that domestic battery energy storage be installed as standard alongside other renewable technologies.
Housebuilders lobbied against the inclusion of batteries, which would entail an upfront cost to the developer.
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The government has, alongside its pledge to unleash a rooftop solar revolution, promised to build 1.5 million new homes over the course of its time in power. It was this that, until June, seemed to slow the government in committing to an FSH that mandated inclusion of solar.
In a move described by energy secretary Ed Miliband as “common sense”, FSH will see building regulations explicitly promote solar for the first time. While the addition of battery storage would have been a further win (or indeed, common sense), it was never suggested that January’s legislation would mandate domestic battery installation in new build properties.
Speaking to Solar Power Portal, Chris Hewett, CEO of Solar Energy UK, the trade association representing the solar and energy storage industries in the UK, explained: “If the Future Homes Standard was being drawn up now, I have no doubt that it would effectively mandate the installation of a battery system. 
“The truth of the matter is that the standard has been under development since 2019, when the battery market was very different, in terms of availability, cost and capacity. Adding the technology would not have been considered at the time.
“Doing so now would mean more rounds of consultation and more delay to implementing the regime. That would be in no-one’s interest, given that the FHS virtually requires solar PV – a huge policy win for the sector that we should all celebrate.”
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Despite the clear reticence of property developers, consumers benefitting from rooftop PV installations could need little more encouragement than the further savings offered by energy storage alongside their solar panels to install the technology themselves.
Hewett summarised these: “A home battery storage system is quite fantastic – especially when combined with solar PV. It allows the power generated to be stored, so that it can be consumed or sold when the price is highest. Conversely, it also allows power to be imported cheaply overnight, providing a vital benefit even in the dark days of winter.”
Figures from the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), which certifies domestic renewables installations, show that in November the number of certified solar panel installations in 2025 surpassed 203,125 – the previous annual record set in 2011. 
MCS also noted that by the end of September, certified battery storage installations had increased by 122% compared to the equivalent period in 2024, with total installation now reaching 59,000.
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The organisation has called for the inclusion of battery storage in the FSH, publishing a report in September 2024 that called the FSH’s omission of the technology a ‘significant missed opportunity’.
Its modelling at the time suggested households with solar generation and energy storage technologies would pay about £24 per month on energy bills. 
A recent article for Solar Power Portal written by Alanna Loder-Symonds, sustainability director at consultancy EQONIC Sustainability, part of battery technology firm EQONIC, puts the annual savings for a three-bed property with both solar PV and battery energy storage installed between £600-£1,000, with a return on investment seen in 5-12 years.
Mandating that energy storage be installed in all newly built properties would clearly be a step toward achieving the government’s pledge to lower all domestic energy bills by 2030. Leaving the installation to the property owner will not prevent uptake, but it will slow it, and for the time being, restrict access for those with lower incomes.
That said, many technology providers offer payment options that assuage high upfront cost. 
Wider uptake of energy storage will also benefit the electricity grid. As Hewett said: “On a national scale, they also improve our energy security and play a role in avoiding the expense of reinforcing the grid – and could help in cutting the need for curtailing renewable energy generation. Costs are also tumbling.”
Per analysis by Carbon Brief, in 2025, electricity demand rose for the second consecutive year by 4TWh to reach 322TWh. 
This increase chimes with projections by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which sets the carbon budget needed to hit legally binding net zero commitments by 2050, that electricity demand will double by the same year.
The strain that this will put on the electricity grid means major infrastructure upgrade is necessary, but domestic demand growth can be mitigated by use of battery energy storage. 
The National Energy System Operator’s (NESO’s) ‘critical enablers’ that it set out in its Future Energy Pathways to net zero include managing demand growth and reducing the cost of energy for consumers, something that mandating the installation of domestic energy storage systems would achieve.
Broadly then, while it is heartening to see that ministers are not backtracking on the FSH, the omission of battery storage from the standard is worth highlighting as an area that needs addressing. 
“We will have to see how housebuilders respond to consumer demand, going above and beyond the legal minimum to build zero-bills homes, as some are now – and how many buyers of new solar homes retrofit battery systems. So it would make sense for the FHS to ensure that all homes with solar are ‘battery ready’, so that installations are cheap and easy,” Hewett concluded.
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Molly Green
Senior Reporter, Informa
Molly joined the team in 2024 and has led coverage on the UK sites. Now shifting to a more global view, Molly is interested in how legislation shapes market dynamics, covering the intersection of policy design, investment patterns, and energy transition pathways. 
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