What you need to know
🔥 UK solar-panel fire callouts are up roughly 60% over two years This Is Money reported on 2 June 2026 that fire brigades are now called to solar-panel fires on average once every two days, with about 170 UK house fires a year linked to solar panel systems, and callouts up around 60% over two years.
🇬🇧 Around 2 million UK homes have solar UK government solar PV deployment data records 2 million cumulative installations as of March 2026, with 27,607 new installations recorded that month (gov.uk solar PV deployment statistics; Solar Power Portal May 2026; pv-magazine 6 May 2026). The fire-callout figure sits alongside that denominator.
📏 PAS 63100:2024 and BS 7671 are the standards that exist to reduce risk PAS 63100:2024 sets out fire-safety expectations for residential battery storage installations, and BS 7671 is the UK wiring regulations standard that any UK electrical installation must meet, according to Switch Together's 2026 battery installation guide.
📋 The right installer questions matter more than the headline number A short checklist covering MCS certification, battery siting, electrical work to BS 7671, and post-install testing does more for a homeowner's risk picture than any single source. The full list is below.
⚠️ Solar can't be "guaranteed safe", but careful installation lowers risk No electrical installation is risk-free. The credible position is to design and install to the named UK standards, work with qualified installers, and ask the questions that confirm both. Sweeping "totally safe" claims should be treated with the same caution as alarmist ones.
This Is Money's 2 June 2026 piece "Danger signs your solar panels could go up in flames" reports that UK fire brigades are now called to solar-panel fires roughly once every two days, with around 170 house fires a year linked to solar panel systems, and callouts up about 60% over two years. The figures are striking, and the story is worth taking seriously rather than dismissing.
Below, we'll set the figures alongside how many UK homes now have solar, name the standards that exist to reduce risk, and lay out the questions a UK homeowner can ask any installer before signing.
If you'd like to find out how much a solar & battery system could save you on your electricity bills, answer a few questions below and we'll provide an estimate for you.
What the headline figures say
This Is Money's 2 June 2026 piece reports three figures: about 170 UK house fires a year linked to solar panel systems, a callout rate of roughly once every two days, and a rise of around 60% over two years.
Those are the source's numbers, attributed to fire-service data the article cites. They're an increase, and the absolute figures aren't trivial; every one of those incidents matters to the household involved. The figures are real, and they're recent.
This Is Money is a personal-finance site rather than a fire-safety regulator, so the right thing to do with these numbers is treat them as the source quotes them and avoid restating them as independently verified beyond what the article published.
What those figures look like against the size of the UK market
The same set of numbers reads differently against the size of the installed base.
UK government solar PV deployment data records 2 million cumulative UK solar installations as of March 2026, with 27,607 new installations recorded that month, the highest monthly total since December 2015 (gov.uk solar PV deployment statistics; Solar Power Portal May 2026; pv-magazine 6 May 2026). Solar Energy UK's 2026 update separately reports 269,000 installations completed in 2025, with more than 95% on rooftops.
Against a 2 million installed base, This Is Money's figure of about 170 fires a year implies an incidence rate of roughly 0.0085% per system per year. The 60% rise over two years matters, both because of the absolute increase and because it tracks against a fast-growing installed base, but neither number on its own tells a UK homeowner whether their installation is safe. What does affect that is who installed it and to what standards.
The standards that exist to reduce risk
The relevant UK standards for residential solar with battery storage are PAS 63100:2024 and BS 7671, according to Switch Together's 2026 battery installation guide.
PAS 63100:2024 was published in 2024 and sets out fire-safety expectations for residential battery storage installations, covering, broadly, where a battery can be located inside or outside the home, ventilation, fire separation, and the conditions a manufacturer's battery management system has to meet. BS 7671 is the UK wiring regulations standard that any UK electrical installation has to meet, including solar inverters, battery wiring, and the connection to the property's consumer unit.
These standards aren't a guarantee of zero risk. No electrical installation is. They exist so a UK homeowner can ask whether the work being proposed meets them and what evidence will be left behind that it does. The fact a standard exists is, on its own, only useful if the installer can show they're working to it.
A reasonable installer is comfortable discussing PAS 63100:2024 and BS 7671 by name, naming the qualifications of the person doing the electrical work, and pointing at any third-party scheme they're certified under, including MCS for the solar installation as a whole.
Questions to ask any installer before signing
The single most useful thing a homeowner can do with the fire-safety story is take a short list of questions to any installer they're considering.
Is the company MCS-certified for solar PV installation, and (if a battery is in scope) for battery installation? MCS is the most widely-cited UK installer scheme.
Will the electrical work be carried out by a Part P-registered or competent electrician working to BS 7671?
If a battery is included, where will it be located, and how does that location meet PAS 63100:2024?
What ventilation, fire separation, and isolation arrangements are proposed for the battery?
What post-installation testing will be carried out, and what certificates (such as an Electrical Installation Certificate) will the homeowner receive?
What's the warranty position on workmanship, on the panels, on the inverter, and on the battery, and who handles claims if something fails?
Is the installer signed up to a consumer code (such as RECC or HIES), and what's the route to dispute resolution if something goes wrong?
A direct conversation about each of these questions does more for a homeowner's risk picture than any single headline statistic, in either direction.
Summary
The fire-safety story is fresh, real, and worth taking seriously. This Is Money's 2 June 2026 figures sit alongside an installed base of around 2 million UK systems and a set of named UK standards, PAS 63100:2024 and BS 7671, that exist to reduce installation risk. The homeowner-facing takeaway is a short list of questions that a reasonable installer should be ready to answer.
If you'd like to find out how much a solar & battery system could save you on your electricity bills, answer a few questions below and we'll provide an estimate for you.
Solar panel fire safety: FAQs
How many UK house fires are linked to solar panels each year?
This Is Money reported on 2 June 2026 that roughly 170 UK house fires a year are linked to solar panel systems, with callouts up around 60% over two years. The figures are attributed to fire-service data quoted in the article.
Is that high or low compared with the number of UK solar installations?
The UK passed 2 million solar installations in March 2026, with 27,607 added that month, the highest monthly total since December 2015 (gov.uk; Solar Power Portal; pv-magazine). Around 170 fires a year against a 2 million installed base is an incidence rate of roughly 0.0085% per system per year. The absolute figures are still rising and matter on their own terms, but they don't show up evenly across the installed base.
What standards apply to UK solar installations?
PAS 63100:2024 covers residential battery storage fire safety, and BS 7671 is the UK wiring regulations standard that any UK electrical installation has to meet, according to Switch Together's 2026 battery installation guide.
What should I ask an installer about fire safety?
At a minimum: MCS certification, who carries out the electrical work and against what standards, where any battery will be located and how that location meets PAS 63100:2024, what post-install testing happens, and what certificates the homeowner receives. The full list is in the section above.
Can a solar installation be "guaranteed safe"?
No installer can guarantee zero risk on any electrical installation. The credible position is to design and install to the named UK standards, document the work, and back it with the right warranties, and to ask the homeowner-facing questions above before signing.
Sources
This Is Money: "Danger signs your solar panels could go up in flames", 2 June 2026.
Switch Together: battery installation guide, 2026.
gov.uk solar PV deployment statistics.
Solar Power Portal: "UK surpassed two million solar installations in March", May 2026.
pv-magazine: "There are now more than 2 million UK solar installations", 6 May 2026.
