Commercial Solar Finance: How UK Installers Can Offer Finance
By Roman Steer-Love, co-founder of TNW Marketing · published 23 October 2026
Short answer: a business can pay for commercial solar outright, through hire purchase or a lease arranged with a finance company, or through a power purchase agreement where an investor owns the system. If you introduce customers to a lender, check who the customer is. Credit to a limited company is not a regulated credit agreement. A sole trader, a partnership of two or three, or a club counts as an "individual" in the FCA's rules, and introducing an individual to a lender or leasing company is credit broking, which needs FCA permission unless you act as an appointed representative of an authorised firm. Business finance over £25,000 can be exempt. This guide is general information from the FCA's own pages, not advice: confirm your position with a compliance adviser or the FCA before you start.
Finance changes who owns the system, who can claim tax relief and who pays you. In the FCA Glossary, a hire-purchase agreement is one under which goods are hired to a person for periodical payments and become theirs when the terms are met, for example by exercising an option to buy. A consumer hire agreement is a hire that is not hire purchase and can run for more than three months: in other words, a lease.
Route
Who owns the system
Capital allowances
Who pays you
Outright purchase
The customer, from day one
Can claim capital allowances on plant it buys
The customer pays you directly
Hire purchase (asset finance)
The finance company until the final payment, then the customer
GOV.UK treats a hire purchase contract as an exception to the "you must own it" rule
A finance company buys the system; the customer pays it in instalments
Lease
The leasing company, for the whole term
GOV.UK says you cannot claim on things you lease unless it is hire purchase or a long funding lease
The customer rents the system and never owns it under the lease itself
Power purchase agreement (PPA)
The investor that funds the system
Not the customer: it buys electricity, not equipment
The investor pays for the install; the customer pays per kWh used
The rules turn on the customer, not on solar. The FCA Glossary defines an "individual" as a natural person, a partnership of two or three persons not all of whom are bodies corporate, or an unincorporated body of persons that is not entirely bodies corporate and is not a partnership. Credit or hire for an individual can be regulated; for anyone else it is not.
Customer
FCA status
Finance agreement
Private limited company or PLC
Not an "individual"
Consumer credit rules on the agreement do not apply
Partnership of four or more
Not an "individual"
Consumer credit rules on the agreement do not apply
Sole trader
Individual
Regulated unless an exemption applies, such as business purposes with credit over £25,000
Partnership of two or three (not all companies)
Individual
As for a sole trader
Club, association or other unincorporated body
Usually an individual
As for a sole trader
Two exemptions matter most for commercial jobs. Under PERG 2.7.19C a credit agreement is exempt where the lender provides credit exceeding £25,000 and the borrower enters into it wholly or predominantly for the purposes of its business. Under PERG 2.7.19M a consumer hire agreement is exempt where the hirer must pay more than £25,000 and enters into it wholly or predominantly for business purposes. Where the hirer signs a declaration that complies with CONC App 1.4, PERG says the agreement is presumed to be for business purposes, unless the owner, or anyone acting for it, knows or has reasonable cause to suspect otherwise.
Credit broking: your three routes
PERG 2.7.7E lists six activities that are credit broking. They include introducing an individual who wants credit to a lender, introducing an individual who wants to hire goods to an owner such as a leasing company, presenting or offering a credit agreement, and helping an individual with the paperwork towards one. If your customers include sole traders and small partnerships, a finance offer you put in front of them is likely to be credit broking. You then have three routes:
Refer, and step back. Give the customer the name of an authorised broker or lender and leave the finance to them. Check that firm on the FCA Register first.
Become an appointed representative. An authorised firm (the principal) takes responsibility for you. The FCA Glossary defines an introducer appointed representative (IAR) as one limited to effecting introductions and distributing non-real time financial promotions, such as the principal's printed or web material.
Get your own permission. The FCA's guide for consumer credit firms lists credit broking as a limited permission activity where selling goods or non-financial services is the main business and broking is secondary, and as a full permission activity where the sale takes place in the customer's home. Its May 2026 regulatory guide for credit brokers is written for both.
If every customer you finance is a limited company, the consumer credit rules on the agreement do not apply. Commercial customers include sole traders, partnerships and clubs as well as companies, so check before you decide you are out of scope.
How to offer finance on commercial solar, step by step
Know your customer mix. List last year's customers by legal form: companies, sole traders, partnerships, charities and clubs.
Pick a route. Referral only, appointed representative of a broker or lender, or your own permission.
Check every partner on the FCA Register. Confirm the firm is authorised for the activities it will carry out with you.
Use only approved finance wording. As an IAR you may distribute your principal's non-real time promotions. Do not write your own finance claims.
Ask about finance on the first call. Whether the business will pay cash, borrow or prefer a PPA decides what you propose. Our commercial solar lead qualification checklist covers budget and decision-making.
Get the lender's decision before you order kit. Agree in writing when you are paid and by whom.
Keep records. Who you introduced, to which firm, and any commission you received.
Putting finance in the proposal
Show the options side by side: the cash price, the hire purchase or lease figures your finance partner quotes, and a PPA price per kWh if you work with a funder. A finance director can then compare monthly cost against the savings on the bill. Keep the figures your partner gives you; do not estimate rates yourself.
When a PPA is the better answer
Asset finance depends on the customer's credit. The Solar Roadmap notes that behind-the-meter solar can be hard to finance for a business without a strong credit rating, so commercial rooftop solar has tended to be restricted to major corporates. For a customer who will not borrow, a PPA moves the capital to an investor. Our guide to commercial solar PPAs explains how they work and what funders ask for. Public bodies have their own money: see public sector solar funding.
Where TNW Marketing fits
TNW Marketing books pre-qualified commercial solar site meetings for UK installers; we do not arrange finance. Pricing: £250 to £1,000+VAT per booked appointment, set by system size and qualification. No retainer, no monthly fee. See pay per appointment commercial solar leads.
Do I need FCA authorisation to offer finance on commercial solar?
Only if you carry on a regulated activity. Introducing an "individual" (a sole trader, a partnership of two or three, or an unincorporated body) to a lender or to a consumer hire company is credit broking under PERG 2.7.7E. Credit to a limited company is not a regulated credit agreement. If your customers include sole traders and small partnerships, you need your own FCA permission or to act as an appointed representative of an authorised firm.
What is an introducer appointed representative?
In the FCA Glossary, an introducer appointed representative (IAR) is an appointed representative whose appointment is limited to effecting introductions and distributing non-real time financial promotions for its principal. The principal, an FCA-authorised firm, takes responsibility for it.
Is finance to a sole trader for solar panels always regulated?
No. Under PERG 2.7.19C a credit agreement is exempt if the lender provides credit exceeding £25,000 and the borrower enters into it wholly or predominantly for the purposes of its business. Leasing has a similar exemption where the hirer must pay more than £25,000 for business purposes. Below those amounts, or where the purpose is not mainly business, the rules can apply.
What is the difference between hire purchase and leasing for solar panels?
Under hire purchase the customer hires the system and it becomes theirs once they meet the terms, usually by exercising an option to buy at the end. Under a lease it stays the leasing company's property. That matters for tax: GOV.UK says you cannot claim capital allowances on things you lease unless you have a hire purchase contract or a long funding lease.
Is a PPA a form of finance?
It does the same job for the customer, because there is no upfront cost, but the customer buys electricity rather than borrowing money. An investor pays for and owns the system. See our guide to commercial solar PPAs for how installers partner with funders.
Does TNW Marketing arrange finance?
No. TNW Marketing books pre-qualified commercial solar site meetings for UK installers, at £250 to £1,000+VAT per booked appointment, with no retainer. The installer handles the proposal and any finance.
What Lead Pronto offers, from its own website, and six alternative UK solar lead suppliers compared on lead type, exclusivity, price, contract and no-shows.
Full-service agencies, lead suppliers and pay-per-booking lead generation compared, the channels that win commercial work, and what to ask before you sign.
What has closed (PSDS) and what is open now: Great British Energy solar for schools and the NHS, Salix loans in Scotland and Wales, and how installers win the work.
The VAT rate on commercial jobs, when the construction reverse charge applies, invoice wording, and CIS registration, deductions and returns, from HMRC.
For roofers and solar installers: overclad or re-roof first, asbestos and structural checks, RC62 fire classification, the Part L upgrade, sequencing and tax.
Official UK solar statistics: capacity and installations by size band and region, growth trends, 2030 targets and business energy prices, all with sources.
Year-by-year DESNZ tables since 2010: capacity and installations by size band, the commercial bands month by month, generation and share of electricity, with a CSV.
Cold email for commercial solar: who to email, UK rules (PECR, UK GDPR), deliverability set-up, example emails and follow-ups, and what it really takes.
What each signed job really costs you, profit after lead spend, and the most you can pay per lead or booked appointment, with a side-by-side comparison.
