Electricity North West Limited
Most of the region
- Greater Manchester
- Lancashire
- Cumbria
If you live in Manchester, Bolton, Preston, Lancaster or Carlisle, this is almost certainly your operator.
Painted render terraces in the rain at Blackpool.
We supply and fit plug-in solar panels for homes in the North West, and tell you which network to notify.
Two different companies run the electricity network in the North West, so a house in Liverpool and a house in Manchester notify different people. Send us your postcode and we'll work out which one is yours, check where the panel would go, and arrange an electrician if you need one.
- We check your surface before anyone quotes
- No manufacturer pays us anything
- If your house isn't suitable, you'll hear that from us first
Your postcode and the spot for the panel
Six boxes
Your name, postcode, email and the surface you have in mind. Back comes an email naming your operator, the rule for that surface, and a yearly figure.
We reply by email. Your details stay with us and we take no commission.
Two network operators cover the North West. We work out which one is yours
Electricity North West runs the network across most of the region. SP Manweb runs it in Merseyside and Cheshire, and in North Wales. You need to tell whichever one covers your address.
SP Manweb plc
Merseyside and Cheshire
- Merseyside
- Cheshire
- with North Wales
If you live in Liverpool, Birkenhead, Chester or Warrington, your operator is SP Manweb. Its area runs west into North Wales.
A corner house at Dingle Lane in Liverpool.
Please check it rather than take our word for it. Our map of the licence areas is a working one. You can put your postcode into the operator's own checker, or ring 105 free from anywhere in England, Scotland or Wales and they'll put you through to the operator for your address.
What you'd get from a panel in the North West, by where it goes
These figures are from PVGIS, for a point in Manchester and an 800 W device with 14 per cent system losses and nothing shading it.
689KWH A YEAR
A south facing roof pitchAt 35 degrees with nothing in the way. This is the best figure for the region.
684KWH A YEAR
A frame on open groundAt 30 degrees in the garden. Almost the same as the roof.
505KWH A YEAR
A south facing wallFlat against the wall. About three quarters of the roof figure.
359KWH A YEAR
An east facing wallFlat against the wall. About half the roof figure.
Manchester is the lowest of the English regions on an ideal roof. A frame on open ground here still makes more than an ideal roof in Inverness, which models at 628 kWh a year. Treat all four figures as a ceiling, because they assume nothing shades the panel. They also tell you what a panel makes. What you save depends on how much of it you're using at the time, and batteries aren't part of the approved class.
Timber walls and balconies fall outside the rewritten planning rules
The permitted development right for solar on a house changed on 27 August 2026. For plug-in solar it no longer covers wooden walls, balconies or timber cladding.
If your balcony is timber, or your wall is clad in it, you'd need planning permission to put a panel there. We check this before anyone quotes you.
Here is what the right does allow on a house. Up to 200 mm of projection on a wall that abuts a highway, and up to 400 mm on other walls. On a pitched roof it has to stay under the ridge and stand no more than 200 mm off the tiles. A flat roof allows 600 mm of height above the roof.
You cannot use it on a wall that faces a highway in a conservation area or a World Heritage Site. You cannot use it on a scheduled monument, or anywhere inside the grounds of a listed building. The listed building itself needs planning permission and listed building consent.
There's a transitional year. Until 27 August 2027 you can follow the old rules or the new ones.
What you can ask us to do
We'll do as much or as little of this as you want.
Surface and planning check
Before any quote
We look at where the panel would go and tell you whether the rules cover it.
Read this page
Fitting and outdoor sockets
If a socket is needed
You can plug it in yourself, and an electrician fits a weatherproof socket if you need one.
Read this pageWhich operator covers you
Within 28 days
Electricity North West or SP Manweb, and the form they need within 28 days.
Read this pageWhat counts as a compliant plug-in solar device
These limits come from the interim product specification and the network rules.
800 VA
The most a plug-in solar device can put into the mains. The panels themselves can add up to 2000 W, so panel wattage and output are two different numbers.
One per household
G98 was changed in 2026 to allow one device per household. The specification allows one per final ring circuit, and the network rule is the one that applies.
Four modules
Up to four PV modules on one inverter, and no more than two in series in any one string.
IP55
The lowest rating allowed for the plug and socket if they are fitted outside the house.
28 days
You fill in a short online form with your name, email address and installation address within 28 days of installing it. This applies in Great Britain.
On the register
A device has to be type tested and entered on the ENA Type Test Register before anyone can sell it. A kit missing from that register has not been assessed by anybody.
You cannot plug one into an extension cable, a multi way adaptor, an RCD adaptor or a travel adaptor. That warning goes on the device and in the instructions. If the panels add up to more than 960 W, the specification asks for a professional view on whether the installation is suitable. Plug-in batteries, and solar kits sold with a battery, are not part of the approved class.
Questions people ask us
We are in Liverpool. Is that Electricity North West?
No. On our working map, Merseyside is SP Manweb, along with Cheshire and North Wales. Check it on the operator's own postcode checker or ring 105, and then the 28 day form goes to the right company.
Is it worth having one with the weather up here?
A panel makes less here than anywhere else in England. A point in Manchester models at 689 kWh a year on an ideal roof pitch, and 684 kWh on a frame on open ground. Where you put it makes more difference than the region does.
Our balcony is timber. Can we still have one?
Not under the planning rules as they were rewritten on 27 August 2026. They do not cover wooden walls, balconies or timber cladding. Until 27 August 2027 you can follow the old rules instead, so ask your council which applies to you.
Can we have two, one at the front and one at the back?
No. G98 allows one device per household.
Send us your postcode and we'll do the rest
We'll tell you which operator covers your address, whether the rules cover your surface and what a panel would make in a year. If it won't work at your house, we'll say so.
Send us your postcode