Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential effect on encouraging people and businesses to be more environmentally-friendly and on energy security of establishing an exemption from any valuation uplift of business premises for business rates purposes when solar panels have been fitted.

Solar panels are only rateable for business rates purposes where they are supplying energy for the business occupying the property. Where the energy generated is wholly or mostly sold to consumers, the panels are exempt from business rates. This is an established principle for rating energy generation. New microgeneration installations benefit from a business rate exemption until the following revaluation.

Businesses occupying properties with solar panels are also benefiting from recent reforms and reductions to business rates worth over £10bn by 2023, including switching from Retail Price Index to Consumer Price Index uprating of business rates and increasing the frequency of revaluations.