E.ON Next and Allume bring shared solar-plus-battery system to UK social housing

  Posted by: electime      8th September 2026

E.ON Next and Allume Energy have deployed a UK-first shared solar, battery and grid-flexibility system — FlatSave — designed for flats and social housing, where conventional single-meter solar and storage installations aren’t viable.

More than five million households in England and Wales live in flats, including nearly half of all social housing. Multi-occupancy buildings have historically been excluded from rooftop solar and battery benefits because standard systems can’t split generation and storage fairly across separate meters. FlatSave addresses this using Allume’s SolShare technology, which allocates solar generation and battery capacity across multiple homes from a single array.

How it works

The system pairs shared solar generation with a communal battery that charges from the grid during off-peak periods and discharges to support the grid at peak demand, reducing local network strain. It operates behind the meter — generation and consumption occur on-site — so no changes are required from suppliers or network operators, and residents can remain with their existing energy provider regardless of supplier.

E.ON says the solar-and-battery combination has cut typical household electricity costs by 30–60%. Providing flexibility services to the grid via the battery adds a further financial benefit: E.ON Next customers on FlatSave can earn up to £160 a year in flexibility payments, while residents with other suppliers can earn up to £80 a year.

First UK installation: Harper Court, Stevenage

The first FlatSave installation has been completed at Harper Court in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, in partnership with Peabody Housing, serving six homes. The system comprises a 15kW solar array and an 18kWh battery, sharing generated electricity across the six properties and exporting surplus to the local grid when required. All six households receive free electricity from the solar generation; residents can opt in separately to the battery flexibility programme. Further installations are planned at housing association properties across the country later this year.

Ramona Vlasiu, Chief Operating Officer at E.ON Next, said the partnership with Allume aims to remove technical barriers that have excluded flats and social housing from the energy transition, turning building-level generation and storage into a shared financial and operational asset.

Cameron Knox, Chief Executive of Allume Energy, said flats have typically been considered hard to decarbonise because rooftop solar wasn’t designed to share output fairly across multiple meters — a gap SolShare has targeted at scale, with the technology deployed across more than 10,000 homes globally and more than half of Allume’s UK installations delivered for social landlords, producing 25GWh of electricity to date.

Market context

E.ON polling found over 80% of respondents want solar panels and batteries, but 22% say the technology isn’t suitable for their home type, and 70% consider it unfair that some households can reduce bills through self-generation while others can’t — underlining the addressable gap FlatSave and similar shared-asset models are aimed at.

E.ON’s Green Funding Solutions team is working with housing providers and local authorities on rollout, and offers support from design through installation and handover, alongside retrofit programmes covering SolShare, battery storage, low-carbon heating and efficiency upgrades. Housing providers interested in FlatSave can contact flatsave@eonenergy.com.