FlatWatt

Plug-in solar, explained for renters

Can you take plug-in solar with you when you move?

Yes, and that portability is the point. But you owe your network operator two notifications, not one, and the second is the one everybody forgets.

By Romuald

Rules and product details last checked on .

An electricity meter cabinet on the outside wall of a British brick house, its door open to show the meter and the supply number label.
Illustration generated for FlatWatt, not a photograph of a specific installation. The supply number shown is invented and does not begin with a real distributor ID, so do not read it as an example.

Key takeaways

  • Yes. A plug-in kit is not fixed to the building and is yours to take, which is the main reason it suits renters at all.
  • You owe two notifications, not one: tell the old operator you are removing it, and tell the new one you are connecting it.
  • Removal is an ongoing responsibility under the industry rules, not a courtesy. The paperwork exists: G98 has a form for it.
  • Your new address may have a different network operator, and it will certainly have different sunlight.
  • Check the new place before you commit to a mounting: a wooden balcony is now outside permitted development.

Yes, you can take it, and you should. Portability is the whole argument for plug-in solar over a rooftop system. A rooftop array is an improvement to somebody else’s building. A plug-in kit is an appliance you own, like a fridge, and it moves with you.

What almost nobody mentions is that moving creates an obligation at both ends.

The notification everybody forgets

When you first connect a kit you have to tell your network operator, under regulation 22 of the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002. Most people who have read anything about this know that much.

The part that gets left out is that the duty does not end there. Among the ongoing responsibilities an owner takes on, the industry guidance lists informing your operator if you remove or replace the generating unit. G98 provides a form for exactly that purpose: Form D, the decommissioning confirmation.

The logic is straightforward once you see it. Your operator maintains a picture of what is connected to the local network so it can plan and operate it safely. A record that says a generator is at your old flat, when it left in a van eight months ago, makes that picture worse.

So a move means:

  1. Tell the old operator you have removed it. Their records should not show generation at an address that no longer has any.
  2. Tell the new operator you have connected it, before or at the time you switch it on, exactly as you did the first time.

Neither is difficult. Both are easy to skip.

Your new operator may not be the same one

Network operators are regional, and there are six across Great Britain. Moving from London to Manchester changes yours. Moving across a city usually does not.

The reliable way to check the new one is the first two digits of the MPAN on the electricity bill at the new address, which we set out in the guide to notifying your operator.

Do not assume the process is identical. Each operator publishes its own forms.

Check the new place before you move the panel

Two things change with the address, and one of them can stop you.

Where you are allowed to mount it. From 27 August 2026 a planning order removes permitted development rights for plug-in solar fixed to a wooden wall, balcony, fence or enclosure, or to a timber-clad block of flats. If your old flat had a metal railing and the new one has a timber balcony, the mounting that was fine before is not the easy route any more.

What it will produce. A south-facing balcony in Bristol and a north-facing one in Glasgow are not the same proposition. Ours is not a rhetorical example: the difference between the best and worst combination in our modelling is more than fourfold. Run the new address through the calculator before you decide where to put it, or whether to bother.

Practical notes on the move itself

  • Photograph the installation before you dismantle it, including how the microinverter is connected. Reassembly is easier with a picture.
  • Keep the documentation. The type-test reference and the manufacturer’s paperwork are what you will need for the notification at the new address, and they are what proves the kit is the compliant thing it claims to be.
  • Panels are fragile in transit. They are glass. Corner protection and a flat load are worth the trouble.
  • Leave nothing behind. If you drilled anything, the deposit conversation is easier if you made good. If you used a clamp or a weighted frame, there is nothing to make good, which is the argument for choosing one in the first place. The government’s guidance on deposits and deductions is worth reading before you dismantle anything.

What we have verified, and what we have not

Verified against a primary source. That the planning order removing permitted development rights for timber mountings comes into force on 27 August 2026, quoted in our guide on where you can put a panel.

From industry guidance. The obligation to inform your operator when you remove or replace a generating unit, and the existence of Form D for decommissioning, come from the Energy Networks Association’s guidance to G98 rather than from legislation. We have not read the normative standard itself.

Not verified. Whether any operator actively enforces the removal notification, or what happens if you do not make it. We could not find that addressed in a source we can cite, and we are not going to guess at consequences.

Our editorial policy explains how we handle that distinction.

This page carries the date it was last checked. If you have moved a plug-in kit between operators and the process differed from this, tell us and we will correct it.