The Cut: Number 10 eyes up solar panels on supermarket shelves

• Execs from major retailers visit Downing Street to discuss plug-in plans
• Octopus Energy customers save £1bn by using smart tariffs
• Ministers continue clean up from ECO4 mess

The Strait of Hormuz is open again. That means energy bills should start to slump… right? Wrong. Unfortunately, billpayers are unlikely to see any savings this year because providers buy gas months in advance, meaning that electricity prices are staying frustratingly high. 

The truth is, we’re probably not going to see consistently cheaper energy until we get away from gas and start to make the most of solar and other renewables. On that, we have good news: the government is racing towards getting plug-in solar panels on the shelves of major retailers, as well as online. 

This week Amazon, Currys, Lidl, Asda and others joined a government roundtable to explore how billpayers can get plug-in solar panels in their homes as quickly as possible. This is great because the US-Iran war, and the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine, have proven how dependent we are on fossil fuels, as shown by the energy price cap increase. The only way to protect households from the next crisis is to make use of renewables, and plug-in solar panels will be a huge part of that. 

The government is also taking action elsewhere, namely in protecting families who are upgrading their homes, with the aim of making it easier and safer to install insulation. Ministers are planning to create a transparent public register of government approved installers and use powers to ban shoddy installers from getting involved in government schemes. 

Much of this comes from the ECO4 debacle, which led to accusations of fraud and misuse because there was no one paying attention to the work being done on people’s homes. It’s important because while we talk a lot about solar panels and heat pumps, insulation is often the first step towards making a home more energy efficient. 

We absolutely support the government’s efforts to make plug-in solar panels easier to buy, but we also urge them not to leave insulation behind. Families need confidence to improve their homes and free themselves from high bills. Hopefully the government will give them just that.

Major retailers to stock plug-in solar panels  

Whitehall was recently visited by executives of Amazon, Lidl, Asda and other big retailers, all with the aim of getting plug-in solar panels on shelves (or online) and ready for people to buy. The government said back in March that it was planning to relax laws around plug-ins, now it is apparently taking some big steps to do so. If they succeed, we might soon reach the point where it doesn’t matter if the Strait of Hormuz is open or closed, as far as our bills are concerned in any case.  

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Octopus Energy customers save £1bn thanks to smart tariffs

Since it introduced its Octopus Tracker tool in 2017, which tells customers when electricity is cheapest to use, the UK’s biggest energy provider has saved its customers about £1bn and £200mn in the past 12 months alone. We know smart tariffs can help people save loads of cash, this is more proof.

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Ministers vow to help families with insulation

We know ECO4 (scrapped but still extended until December) was a shambles, but people still need insulation when upgrading their homes. The government says it will have more transparency when it comes to installers to make sure families aren’t ripped off. 

Homey and Jacky launch new solar battery system

Smart home specialist Homey has partnered with solar technology provider Jackery to build for the SolarVault, a new 3 plug-in home battery series, which will give households live, up-to-date information on how much electricity they’re using.

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Average price of clean technology

Solar PV system: £7,901.16

Solar storage battery: £9,321.20

Air source heat pump: £13,696.79

Ground source heat pump: £2,1043.65

Number of the week

1 billion

That’s how many £ Octopus customers have saved in 2017 thanks to smart tariffs.

Written By

Maximilian Schwerdtfeger Deputy editor

Max joined The Eco Experts as content manager in February 2024 and became deputy editor in 2025. He has written about sustainability issues across numerous industries, including maritime, supply chain, finance, mining, and retail. He has also written extensively for consumer titles like City AM, The Morning Star, and The Daily Express.

He has represented The Eco Experts on national television several times, including the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live and ITV Tonight .

In 2020, he covered in detail the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) legislation on sulphur emissions and its effects on the global container shipping market as online editor of Port Technology International.

He also explored the initiatives major container ports and terminals have launched in order to ship vital goods across the world without polluting the environment.

Since then, he has reported heavily on the impact made by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices on the supply chain of minerals, with a particular focus on rare earth mining in Africa.

As part of this, in 2022 Max visited mines and ports in Angola to hone in on the challenges being faced by one of the world’s biggest producers of rare earth minerals.

His most recent sustainability-related work came much closer to home, as he investigated the eco-challenges faced by independent retailers in the UK, specifically looking at how they can cut emissions and continue to thrive.

Max lives in South London and is an avid reader of books on modern history. He has also recently learned to play the game Mahjong and takes every opportunity to do so. He is also yet to find a sport he doesn’t enjoy watching.

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Will Georgiadis

Since 2018, Will has been the engine of the Expert Reviews production team as sub-editor, senior sub-editor, and now production editor. Will is responsible for making sure that the content Expert Reviews publishes is of the highest quality; he also keeps the team’s vast workflow running smoothly and maintains the ancient and revered Expert Reviews style guide. With five years of experience behind him and thousands of articles edited, sub-edited and triple-checked, Will is confident that you won’t find a single mistake on the site – and if you think you have, you’re wrong.

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