Switch Together Solar in Chester: how the council group-buy works

What the scheme is

Switch Together Solar, previously called Solar Together, is a group-buying scheme. Residents register their interest, and vetted installers then compete for the work in a reverse auction: an auction in which sellers bid prices down, rather than buyers bidding them up. It is run by Cheshire West and Chester Council together with Cheshire East Council, Warrington Borough Council and iChoosr Ltd, a firm the council describes as independent experts. The details here come from the council’s Switch Together Solar page, read on 3 November 2026.

The council presents the scheme as part of its work to help the borough become carbon neutral by 2045. It covers solar panels and battery storage, and it also offers retrofit battery storage for homes that already have panels. A battery and a compatible EV charger are optional extras alongside panels.

This guide is independent. It is not run by the council, by iChoosr or by the scheme, and nothing on this site is endorsed by any of them. We explain Switch Together because it is one of the routes open to a Chester homeowner, and because it helps to understand it before you decide how to buy.

How a round works

The council’s page sets out five stages. In practice the first three happen on the scheme’s timetable, and the last two on yours.

1. Register your interest. Registration costs nothing and carries no obligation. You tell the scheme about your home and what you are interested in: panels, a battery, or both.
2. The group-buying auction. Vetted installers compete in a reverse auction to offer packages of solar and batteries for the area. The council says the aim is to bring west Cheshire households together to buy at a competitive price.
3. A personal recommendation. You are emailed an offer based on your property, your energy use and your goals, with the costs and the specification of the system.
4. Your decision. You choose whether to go ahead. Support is available by phone or email if you want help understanding the offer, and the scheme runs information sessions.
5. Installation. If you accept, an MCS installer fits the system, and the council’s page says it comes with a 10-year insurance-backed guarantee as standard.

The numbers so far

Three rounds have run in Cheshire and Warrington, in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Through them, the council says, 473 people in the borough installed solar panels, battery storage or both. The most recent round was open for registration until 25 September 2026.

For scale, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero counted 11,740 solar PV sites of all sizes in Cheshire West and Chester at the end of 2025 (DESNZ renewable electricity by local authority). Even if every scheme installation had been a new solar site, the scheme would account for a small minority of them. Most solar in the borough has been bought outside it, which is worth remembering when you weigh the two routes.

Group-buy or your own quotes?

Neither route suits everyone. The differences are mostly about timing, flexibility and who does the comparing.

Where the group-buy may suit

A house that is not listed, with a clear roof slope and nothing unusual about it, is the kind of home a standard package is most likely to fit, and the price comparison is done for you. Chester has plenty of these homes. Semi-detached houses make up 43.9% of households in Upton, 44.2% in Great Boughton and 43.8% in Newton & Hoole, according to Census 2021. Our ward-by-ward guide to Chester homes shows the rest of the city.

Where your own quotes may suit better

• A listed home. Panels need planning permission and Listed Building Consent, which means drawings, a heritage statement and a design built around the building. See our listed buildings guide.
• A flat. The lease and the freeholder come first, and a shared roof needs an arrangement a standard package does not cover. See our flats guide.
• A complicated roof. A rear-only layout, an east and west split, or a roof broken up by chimneys and dormers may need more design than an auction package allows for.
• A timetable. If you want the work done before installed home solar moves from 0% to 5% VAT on 1 April 2027 (HMRC VAT Notice 708/6), you cannot rely on a round opening in time.

Reading the offer when it arrives

An offer from a round is a quote like any other, and it deserves the same scrutiny. Before you accept, check that it tells you:

• the system size in kWp, the number of panels and which roof slopes they go on;
• the inverter rating and, with a battery, the combined inverter output, so you know whether SP Energy Networks must approve the connection first;
• an MCS performance estimate for your roof, which you can set beside our own figures for Chester;
• what is included, such as scaffolding and making good, and what would be extra;
• when payments fall due and how much is asked for before the work starts;
• the planning position for your address, if the house is listed or in a conservation area.

If any of that is missing, ask before you decide. A good offer answers these questions on paper.

What the scheme does not change

Buying through a group-buy changes how the price is set. It does not change the rules the installation has to meet:

• Planning. The council’s own scheme page notes that in some cases, such as conservation areas and listed buildings, planning permission may be required. The planning checker in our conservation-areas guide gives the route for any Chester house or flat.
• The grid. SP Energy Networks’ G98 and G99 rules apply as they would to any installation, batteries included. See our grid connection guide.
• Export payments. You still choose an export tariff with a supplier under the Smart Export Guarantee, and rates differ between suppliers.
• Your own checks. Look up the installer named in your offer on the MCS directory and Companies House, as the guide to choosing an installer explains.

Is it a grant?

No. Switch Together is a way of buying, and you pay for the system you accept. The means-tested route is different: the Warm Homes: Local Grant for west Cheshire is open to owner-occupiers and private tenants whose homes are rated EPC D to G and who meet one of its eligibility routes; its measures can include solar PV, and the council expects it to run until 31 March 2028 (council support schemes page). Our guide to solar grants in Chester explains who qualifies.

While registration is closed

Registration for the latest round closed on 25 September 2026, and the council’s page did not announce a further round when we read it on 3 November 2026. That leaves time to do the groundwork, whichever route you take in the end:

1. Settle the planning route for your house or flat, so you know whether a standard package could even be fitted.
2. Estimate the output for your roof with our Chester output estimator, so you can judge whether a proposed system size makes sense.
3. Get one or two written quotes of your own. If a new round opens, you will have a benchmark to compare its offer with; if it does not, you are already on your way.