Technology platform Heva Energy, founded by entrepreneurs Ian Napier and Thomas Newby, is launching the UK’s first salary sacrifice scheme for residential solar, battery storage and EV charge points.
The news comes as UK households are facing their second major energy cost crisis in five years with electricity prices rising at an average of 6% a year since 2000 – more than double the rate of general inflation.
The scheme allows employees to fund clean energy systems through pre-tax salary reductions, halving their bills and removing the upfront cost barrier that 80% of households cite as the biggest obstacle to going solar.
Through the scheme, employees access solar panels, home batteries or EV charge points through their employer with no upfront cost and no consumer credit check. Payments are deducted from gross salary before income tax and National Insurance are calculated.
For an employee without a company EV, a battery-only option is available to all. The battery stores cheap off-peak electricity and releases it during expensive peak hours, effectively halving the average energy bill.
Demand for the scheme has tripled in the past month, driven by sustainability leaders, HR teams and employees looking for a hedge against energy price volatility.
Ian Napier, Co-Founder, Heva Energy, said:
“Energy price disruption is not short-term. It is a structural shift, and most households have no mechanism to protect themselves from it. Consumer finance for solar locks you into credit checks and 12% interest rates, while salary sacrifice removes both barriers and offers the deepest savings for those who need them most.
“This is about transforming energy independence from a luxury to a workplace benefit accessible to every taxpayer. We have seen demand triple in a month. People are looking at their bills and deciding they want a way out.”
Darren Riley, MD of D-Hive Ltd, a WOS of Derby and Burton NHS FT, said:
“Healthcare workers were hit as hard as anyone by the last energy crisis, and many see buying solar outright as simply not an option.
“What attracted us to Heva was the seamless and uncomplicated proposition capable of delivering meaningful savings for large proportions of the staff base and not just those on the highest salaries.”
Zobair Mehmood, The National Lottery Community Fund, said:
“We’ve seen energy prices rise 79% since 2019, and our employees are dealing with the same volatility at home. We already use salary sacrifice for electric vehicles; extending that mechanism to solar and batteries was the most direct way to protect our people from rising bills while making real progress on our net zero commitments.
“The fact that there’s a battery-only option for employees who can’t participate in salary sacrifice matters to us because we really wanted a benefit our whole workforce could use.”
Image courtesy of Heva Energy
