VAT on renewable technologies has been slashed to 0%, making a low-carbon home more accessible and affordable.

This is great news for homeowners across the country, who are motivated by the Scottish government target date of 2045 for zero greenhouse gas emissions, and want to make a positive impact on the climate in their own way.

With this exciting announcement from the Chancellor, we are hearing from customers that the reduction in VAT, from 5% on some materials, to 0% on all materials and the cost of installation, is what they needed to hear before deciding to install solar panels, air or ground source heat pumps, or internal and external insulation.

With a series of ever-changing grants and loans on offer, until now it has been tricky for people to work out what help is available to them, but this change offers a blanket reduction in cost which is proving significant to many of our domestic customers.  It makes renewables immediately more accessible, and that will lead to mass uptake, which in turns will push costs downwards – in fact, The Treasury estimates that this change will wipe £65million off of the total cost of energy saving measures over the next 40 years.

So, what might this 0% VAT rate mean for you, the homeowner? The Chancellor envisions that you could save around £1000 on the installation of solar panels, as well as approximately £300 on your energy bills each year – and remember there are still a range of grants and loans on offer, though they do require a little bit of research.

Saltire is already a well-established name in renewable technologies, and we’re currently working on solar panel and air source heat pump projects right across the country. Few of our competitors have amassed the experience that our Renewables Division has, and we’re anticipating that this VAT reduction will mean we’ll be working on a huge amount of homes over the next few years.