The government’s approach to energy storage is fundamentally inconsistent: it recognises the importance of smarter, more efficient homes and lower bills in retrofit policy conversations, while preparing to sign off a new-build standard that treats storage as an optional extra. The Future Homes Standard is expected to mandate solar, high insulation and low‑carbon heating but explicitly back away from requiring batteries, despite widespread industry expectation that storage would sit alongside rooftop solar in the core specification for new homes.

This creates a policy gap where the UK talks about modern, flexible, low‑carbon homes but regulates only for generation and efficiency, not for the flexibility that makes those investments work best. It also means millions of homes risk being built “solar‑ready” on paper but structurally unprepared for cost‑effective storage retrofits, with inverters, wiring and plant space not designed for later battery integration.

Leaving batteries out of the Future Homes Standard risks repeating the errors that have already driven higher bills in the existing stock. Analysis has shown that past decisions to weaken new‑build standards have added around £1,000 a year to the energy bills of some households, costing billions more nationally than if low‑carbon rules had been maintained. The current proposal risks a new wave of “stranded” new-builds that boast panels on the roof but still rely heavily on the grid at peak times or help to manage grid demands.

Looking at other International markets highlights this further. Countries that rapidly deployed solar without pairing it with storage have ended up with periods of excess daytime generation – pushing wholesale prices down, curtailing low‑carbon output and putting pressure on networks