Checking your roof, wall or garden
We check the planning rules before anyone quotes.
Read moreWho yours is
Great Britain is divided into fourteen distribution licence areas, and South West England is one of them. The operator for it is National Grid Electricity Distribution (South West) plc. We hold that as a working map, so confirm it on the operator's own postcode checker before you send anything.
There is also a route that does not depend on anyone's map. Ring 105. The call is free, it works anywhere in England, Scotland and Wales, and it connects you to the company that runs the distribution network where you live.
One name you may see
Older licence lists still call this company Western Power Distribution. It was renamed National Grid Electricity Distribution in 2022. It is the same network and the same wires under a new name.
What you send, and when
The government's own assessment describes registering the device with your distribution network operator as a short online form taking five to ten minutes, completed within 28 days of installation, carrying your name, your email address and the address it was installed at. It is signposted in the consumer guidance that comes with the device.
We describe that as what you are asked to do rather than as a deadline with a penalty attached, because the assessment is describing the intended process. This is a Great Britain system, and Northern Ireland sits outside it.
If you would rather not do it alone, we will go through the boxes with you on a call.
Why it is one per household
The Energy Networks Association raised the change on 1 April 2026, Ofgem approved it on 11 August 2026, and it took effect with the rest of the framework on 27 August. Engineering Recommendation G98 Issue 2 Amendment 1 restricts plug-in solar to one device per household. The product specification would allow one per final ring circuit, but it defers to the network rules, and the network rules are tighter.
The register the device has to be on
Before a manufacturer can sell one of these, it has to have the device type tested in line with G98, register it on the ENA Type Test Register, and hold confirmation that it was assessed as compliant. The register is the most useful check available to a buyer, because you can look it up yourself.
We only arrange devices that are on it. If you have already bought something and want to know where it stands, send us the make and model with your enquiry.
Questions about the form
Does the operator have to approve it first?
No. The framework treats a compliant device as something you register after it goes in, rather than something you apply for beforehand. A full rooftop system works the other way round.
What if I move house?
What is registered is the address the device was installed at, not you. Take the device with you and you should register it again at the new house, and there is nothing in the guidance to stop you doing that.
Is it different in Wales?
The connection side is the same across Great Britain. Planning is not. Wales has its own permitted development rules, they differ from England on flat roofs and standalone panels, and the Welsh guidance does not mention plug-in solar yet. We work in England, so we will tell you if your house is over the Severn.
The other things we arrange
On this page
- Who yours is
- What you send, and when
- Why it is one per household
- The register the device has to be on
- Questions about the form
Ask us about your house
Send us your postcode and tell us what the surface is made of. We will reply by email.
Send us your postcode