About & methodology
What we do
The UK is mid-transition on balcony / plug-in solar. BS 7671 Amendment 4 (in force 15 April 2026) created the legal opening, but the BSI product standard for true plug-and-play DIY kits is still pending (expected ~July 2026). That gap matters — a lot of US and German content gets imported wholesale into the UK conversation and ends up misleading readers.
We exist to fill that gap with UK-specific, source-checked, plain-English coverage of:
- The legal timeline — what changed, what’s pending, what you can actually do today.
- The G98 DNO notification process — a free 10-minute step most sites skip.
- UK-distributed kit availability — not pretending Amazon US listings work for British buyers.
- UK economics — the energy price cap, self-consumption only (no SEG), realistic payback.
Editorial principles
- If we don’t know, we say so. Expected dates are marked as expected. UK Amazon stock that’s intermittent is marked “watch”, not silently linked.
- Verify against primary sources. IET (BS 7671), ENA (G98), Ofgem (price cap), DNO portals, BSI announcements. We cite where we can.
- UK numbers only. Rates in pence/kWh. Kit availability against Amazon UK. Payback at the current price cap, not the global average.
- Update on change, not on a schedule. When BSI publishes the product standard or a kit’s UK stock situation shifts, the relevant page gets revised — not the entire site.
- No “just plug it in, fully legal now” copy. Not while the BSI standard is pending. We’d rather lose the SEO click than mislead a reader.
Funding & conflicts of interest
BalconySolarHub is reader-supported. We participate in the Amazon Associates programme (UK) — if you buy a kit through one of our Amazon UK links we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We do not:
- Accept paid placement (no “sponsored picks”).
- Accept free product in exchange for reviews.
- Run display ads.
If a kit gets recommended, it’s because we think it’s the right buy for that reader — not because the commission is higher.
Get in touch
Spotted a stale fact, a new BSI announcement, or a DNO portal that has moved? Let us know. The faster the corrections, the more useful the site.