E.ON Tests Solar Sharing Across UK Homes Using Smart Tech

Image Credit: E.ON

E.ON Next has launched an innovative pilot project in East London that explores how communities can benefit from sharing locally generated solar energy. The scheme, centred around St Luke’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School in Canning Town, aims to demonstrate a more innovative, more sustainable way of powering homes and public buildings.

Here’s how it works. Solar panels installed on the school’s rooftop generate electricity during the day. That energy is first used to power the school itself. Any surplus electricity that is not immediately needed is then made available to nearby homes at a discounted rate. However, instead of installing a direct cable connection between the school and each home, the project utilises half-hourly metering data to match the school's energy output with household consumption digitally. This allows E.ON to credit participating households for the solar energy they effectively use, directly on their electricity bills.

It is a clever system, one that blends existing digital infrastructure with renewable energy in a way that could reshape how neighbourhoods consume power.

E.ON views this as a potential blueprint for energy-sharing models that could be replicated nationwide. But there’s a catch. Current regulations make it nearly impossible to scale this kind of approach. The company is urging both the Government and the energy regulator to step in and remove the barriers preventing wider adoption.

According to E.ON, one key issue is that local energy sharing projects are still subject to national social and environmental levies. These charges, designed for traditional power supply models, reduce the financial benefits of sharing clean energy within a community. The company believes that waiving these levies in specific cases, and properly accounting for the grid-wide benefits these projects deliver, would make the model far more commercially viable.

It also argues that reforming network charges to reflect the reduced strain on the system could unlock further investment. By adjusting policy frameworks to support community-led clean energy, E.ON says the Government could move one step closer to its own goal of empowering local energy systems.

For now, the East London pilot is a small but meaningful step in that direction. Whether it becomes the foundation for a broader transformation will depend on how quickly policy can catch up with innovation.

“The energy transition is about making energy more affordable and sustainable, and through our commitment to leading the transition to new energy in a way that works for everyone, we’re proving community projects can reduce costs for many people, as well as cut carbon and increase the UK’s energy resilience,” said Ramona Vlasiu, Chief Operating Officer at E.ON Next. “Our Newham pilot aims to prove the concept that sharing energy brings cost and environmental benefits, but we need to change the rules to jump-start the expansion of projects like this to communities nationwide.

“We need to recognise and promote 21st century solutions where we can generate and share renewable energy locally, avoiding the need for infrastructure investment and passing savings to consumers.”

St Luke’s CEVA Primary School in Canning Town is in the Diocese of Chelmsford. The Right Reverend Roger Morris, the Bishop of Colchester and Chair of the Diocese of Chelmsford’s Diocesan Board of Education, said: “We have so much to learn about how we can meet our energy needs without destroying the planet. The children at St. Luke’s CofE Primary School in Newham will be among the new generation of innovators and developers who will lead us through the following stages of this technological revolution, and this project will give them the impetus and inspiration they need. The fact that a place of education is at the centre of this exciting partnership with E.ON could not be more appropriate.

“By loading additional costs onto the cost of electricity, we have sadly made the fuel of the future more expensive than its fossil fuel alternatives. This project is a reminder of the sheer abundance of solar energy and the relatively low cost involved in harnessing that energy for our use.“

Projects like these provide wider benefits to the energy system by generating energy in areas of high demand, where the power remains in the local network. E.ON argues that it should be exempt from the policy levies and that these benefits should reduce network transmission charges.