Business Rates on Solar Canopies and EV Chargers

The exemption for on-site renewable plant

Rates are charged on a property's rateable value, and the rules on which plant and machinery count towards it sit in regulations. In England, S.I. 2022/405 amended "Class 1" of those rules — the class covering power plant — so that "excepted renewables plant and machinery" is left out of the valuation for any day before 1 April 2035. The exception started on 1 April 2022, a year earlier than first planned, and its stated aim was to bring on-site renewable generation into line with off-site generation.

The definition works by energy source, not by where the equipment is mounted: plant for the generation, storage, transformation or transmission of power where the sources or technologies relied on are mainly or exclusively renewable, including photovoltaics and solar power. It says nothing about rooftops, so a canopy-mounted array is not excluded by its mounting. The government said the Valuation Office would remove eligible items from rateable values automatically — it is a valuation change, not a percentage discount on the bill. (The Valuation Office Agency became part of HM Revenue & Customs in April 2026.)

Scotland and Wales have equivalent exceptions, with different start dates and the same end date:

So "solar has been exempt from business rates across Great Britain since April 2022" is wrong on two counts: Scotland's exception began in April 2023 and Wales's in April 2024, and in none of the three is it an exemption for the property as a whole.

What stays rateable

The VOA Rating Manual, which applies in England and Wales, draws the line in its section on power generators: the value of renewable Class 1 plant is not included in the valuation, but "the land and settings accommodating this plant remain rateable". It then separates installations by size:

• Below about 50 kW, the remaining value is likely to be de minimis.
• Above 50 kW, the rateable residual elements of the installation — such as the supports, brackets and settings — are valued.

A worked example in the manual's plant and machinery section says a rooftop photovoltaic installation whose electricity is consumed mainly on site should have no value attributed to its Class 1 plant — the solar panels, transformers, wiring, inverters and any storage batteries. And its instructions for valuing superstores treat "the supports, framework, fixings and brackets holding the solar panels in position" as rateable Class 4 items. Class 4 of England's 2000 plant and machinery regulations lists foundations, settings and supports among the items assumed to form part of a property, and the 2022 amendment changed only Class 1.

The canopy frame: the question no guidance answers

A car park canopy is mostly structure: columns, beams, purlins and foundations, with the panels on top. Whether that steel is rateable, or changes a car park's rateable value, is not addressed in the legislation, in the VOA Rating Manual's property-class sections — including its section on car parks — or in the Scottish Assessors' 2026 practice notes on car parks and on photovoltaic generators.

What the guidance does show is that valuers do not ignore canopies elsewhere. At petrol filling stations the canopy is part of the apportioned forecourt value, and for bus stations and park and ride sites the measured floor area includes shelters and canopies. Neither deals with a solar canopy over parking bays, and neither should be read as settling it. Anyone who tells you a solar carport is "fully exempt, frame included", or that it will "definitely" add to your rates, is going beyond the published rules.

Practical steps while the question is open: keep the canopy structure, foundations and the electrical plant as separate lines in the contract; record the system's capacity and how its output is used; and ask the valuation office (or, in Scotland, the local assessor) how it intends to treat the installation before relying on any saving in a business case.

Self-consumption, export and separate assessments

How the electricity is used can matter. VOA guidance says that where generation is wholly or mainly for export and greater than 10 kW, it will normally form a separate hereditament — a separately rated property — requiring its own assessment. The guidance is less consistent on the exception itself: one section describes it as applying where the majority of the power generated is consumed within the property, while another says it applies whether the power is consumed on site or sold. Until that is resolved, a canopy sized for on-site use is the cleaner position; a canopy sized mainly to export should expect a separate assessment.

EV chargers under the canopy

The plant. England's time-limited exception also covers storage batteries and static transformers used mainly or exclusively to store, transform or transmit power for an electric vehicle charging point. Scotland's exception likewise covers certain plant at EV charging points, including storage batteries and static transformers.

The bays — England. At the 2025 Autumn Budget the government introduced a 100% relief for eligible EV charging point properties for ten years to 31 March 2036, backdated to 1 April 2023 where relevant. Councils grant it under their discretionary relief powers and are reimbursed by central government. It applies only to properties assessed separately with special category code 718 ("electric charge stations"); it is not available where charging bays form part of a larger property without their own rateable value. The Treasury's assessment, as summarised by the Competition and Markets Authority's Subsidy Advice Unit in June 2026, is that the valuation office must separately assess charging bays where they are separate properties — for example where the charging provider, rather than the host, has general control of the space — and that it does not currently treat host-operated chargers on the host's own site as needing a separate assessment or as adding value to the wider property. That position may be revisited if market evidence shows the bays make host sites more valuable.

Wales. On 11 August 2026 the Welsh Government announced 100% relief for EV charging point parking bays and forecourts until 31 March 2036, backdatable to 1 April 2024 where relevant. Councils award it under discretionary powers in 2026–27, with regulations intended to put it on a statutory basis from 2027–28. Properties used for a broader purpose — such as a car park with some charging points under a single assessment — are not eligible.

Scotland. No rates are payable from 2026–27 to 2035–36 where a property consists wholly or mainly of an EV charging point and its bay, the charger is intended mainly for use by the public, and the ratepayer applies. The Scottish Assessors' 2026 car park guidance gives separately occupied charging spaces their own valuation roll entry and adjusts the car park's value to match. More on Scotland in our Scottish canopy guide.

The practical upshot for a business car park: chargers you install and run for your own staff or customers are unlikely to be separately assessed and so unlikely to get the bay relief — but, on the current VOA position, they are also not treated as adding value. For what the chargers cost and the grants that apply, see our breakdown of what EV chargers cost under a canopy.

Reliefs that soften an increase

• England — improvement relief: since 1 April 2024, subject to conditions, 12 months' relief from the higher bill where qualifying works to an existing property increase its rateable value, which can include adding rateable plant and machinery.
• Wales — improvement relief: the Non-Domestic Rating (Improvement Relief) (Wales) Regulations 2023, in force from 1 April 2024.
• Scotland — Business Growth Accelerator: delays a rates increase for 12 months after improvements to an existing entry that comprises a building; the Scottish Government names solar panels as a typical example. Scotland's separate Renewable Energy Generation Relief applies only to properties used solely to produce heat or power, and car parks are excluded from the Small Business Bonus Scheme and Fresh Start relief.

Six claims to be wary of

1. "100% business rates relief on solar panels." The mechanism removes qualifying plant from the valuation; the rest of the property stays rateable.
2. "The whole solar carport, frame included, is exempt." Unsupported: settings and supports stay rateable and no source covers canopy frames.
3. "Solar under 50 kW is exempt." The guidance says the residual value is likely to be de minimis — not that anything is exempt by size.
4. "EV chargers in a car park get 100% rates relief." Only separately assessed charging properties qualify in England and Wales, and Scotland's relief needs a mainly public charging property and an application.
5. "The exemption has been extended beyond 2035." No legislation extends any of the three nations' exceptions.
6. "New car parks will have to install solar canopies." The government said on 21 May 2026 that the proposal will not be taken any further at this point.

Rates are one line in the business case; planning is usually the first. In England a canopy over non-domestic parking can proceed under Class OA after prior approval — see our guide to canopy planning permission in England.

Business rates on solar canopies: questions

Sources

All checked on 17 September 2026.

• S.I. 2022/405 and its explanatory memorandum
• Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (England) Regulations 2000, Schedule
• VOA Rating Manual — power generators, valuation of plant and machinery, hypermarkets and superstores, petrol filling stations and bus stations and park and rides
• VOA Rating Manual — improvement relief
• MHCLG — EV charging points relief guidance and special category codes
• CMA Subsidy Advice Unit — final report (June 2026)
• WSI 2023/1229, WSI 2023/1354, Welsh Government written statement (11 August 2026) and relief guidance
• SSI 2023/32, SSI 2026/68 and Local Government Finance Circular 7/2026
• Valuation Office Agency

This is general information, not tax or rating advice. This site is published by SEO Dons Ltd; we are not an installer or a rating surveyor.