Living off-grid: Is it possible in the UK?

When you live off-grid, you unplug from public utilities to live self-sufficiently, generating your own electricity, heating your own water and – in some cases – disposing of your own sewage.

So, is it possible to live off-grid in the UK? The short answer is yes, it is – though whether it’s feasible or makes sense from a financial perspective are questions we’ll explore below.

We’ll explain what an off-grid lifestyle may look like in the UK, including how much it costs, how much it can save you and which eco-friendly improvements, such as insulation and solar panels, you’ll need to make to your home before you can fully leave the grid behind.

When we think of an off-grid life, our minds tend to conjure up images of small log cabins surrounded by acres of dense forestry: vistas plucked straight from a Jack London novel with nothing and no one – apart from the area’s natural wildlife, of course – for miles.

However, off-grid living isn’t as romanticised or unreachable as that stereotype. Living off-grid doesn’t require fitting out a camper van, isolating yourself in a remote location or cutting yourself off from civilization. In reality, you can live off-grid wherever in the UK you live now – even if that’s in a row of terraced houses in the middle of a major city.

Living off-grid simply refers to a lifestyle in which your home operates independently from public utilities such as electricity, water and sewage systems.

Instead of relying on centralised infrastructure for your energy needs, you’ll generate your own power, collect and treat your own water and manage your own waste disposal. Many people living off-grid choose to do it sustainably through renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydropower; others continue to draw on fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas.

Exactly how many people live off-grid in the UK isn’t clear, with estimates placing the figure at anywhere from 25,000 to 150,000 homes. What is clear, though, is why they’re doing it. 

Living off-grid has several alluring benefits for UK homeowners, including:

• Self-sufficiency from the grid and the empowerment and freedom that come with it
• Reduced reliance on fossil fuels for an eco-friendly lifestyle
• Resilience against disruptions such as power cuts and water shortages
• Cost savings over time, which should eventually repay your initial investment

Domestic/individual vs communal/collective off-grid living

In this article, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of domestic, or individual, off-grid living – not the communal kind.

So, before we continue, here’s a quick summary of the two approaches’ key differences:

Essentially, communal off-grid living represents a way of life. And, while a domestic off-grid lifestyle deviates somewhat from the norm, it’s more a question of saving money, reducing your carbon footprint and living sustainably within your own means.

Domestic wind turbines are much smaller than the commercial farms we need on the Uk’s coastal lines. (Adobe)

The short answer is yes, off-grid living does work in the UK – if you’re committed to making it work. Switching to off-grid living after a life of reliance on the grid isn’t impossible, but it certainly comes with its fair share of challenges. For example, most houses in the UK are designed for the grid; few sport solar panels on their roofs or come kitted out with built-in composting toilets and rainwater-harvesting systems.

What’s more, generating your own electricity – crucial if you’re planning to live off-grid successfully – requires space: on your roof, in your garden or on your home’s exterior walls. If you live in an apartment or an inner-city house, where that space is at a premium, it’ll be much harder to generate the amount of energy you’ll need to power your home and therefore much more challenging to go off-grid.

For this reason, off-grid living tends to be more common – and more feasible – in remote areas where land and space aren’t as much of an issue. That said, many have gone off-grid (and remain off-grid) throughout the UK’s major cities, so it’s doable.

Ultimately, the question is less about whether off-grid living works in the UK and more about whether off-grid living works for you.

This will, most likely, come down to which of two key considerations you give the most weight to – financial or ideological. As we’ll see, off-grid living will pay for the costly initial investment, but this process takes years, even decades, so you’ll need the extra motivation of a strong climate conscience to make that payoff worth the wait.

Yes, you can live off-grid in the UK without falling foul of the law.

You’ll just need to make a couple of calls – one to the National Grid and the other to the company supplying your energy – and let them know you want to unplug. This process will cost you between £500 and £1,000 and take around four to six weeks to complete.

Now that you know off-grid life is legal, possible and beneficial, your next question will, of course, be this: how can I live off-grid in the UK?

Let’s find out how in just three steps.

1. Take a fabric-first approach

To go off-grid successfully, you don’t just need to generate your own energy (which we’ll touch on shortly). You’ll also need to make the energy your home produces go further – and here’s where insulation comes in.

Research has demonstrated that poorly insulated homes aren’t the exception in the UK – they’re the rule. A 2023 report from the UK government’s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero found that, of the total UK properties with a loft, only 67% had loft insulation. Additionally, only 71% of homes with a cavity wall had cavity wall insulation, and just 9% of houses with solid walls had solid wall insulation.

Worse still are the consequences. If your property lacks underfloor insulation, for example, you could be losing 20% of your home’s heating and cooling capacity. This is a significant amount even when you rely on the grid, let alone when you’re responsible for generating 100% of your household’s energy consumption yourself.

To this end, get a retrofit assessment to inform the insulation measures necessary. These could include:

• insulating your internal, external or cavity walls;
• using chemical-free, non-flammable polyester insulation batts to insulate under the floor;
• Insulating your loft – a quarter of all heat your home produces will be lost through the roof, so without loft insulation, you’re heating your home inefficiently; and
• sealing any crevices or cracks in your home’s doors, windows and walls to keep your home cool in summer and avoid heat escaping in the colder months.

2. Calculate your home’s energy consumption

Before you cut all ties with your energy supplier and start installing solar panels on your roof, you’ll first need to understand your home’s energy consumption.

Calculating how much energy your household uses every day is vital for living off-grid successfully. Without this figure, you won’t know how much energy you need to generate through your own means and could, therefore, fall short of the total amount required to provide light, hot water and warm air for your family.

Understanding your daily and monthly energy consumption is also important for determining the size and scale of the off-grid energy generation setup you’ll need to install. (For example, the number of solar panels in your domestic array will need to satisfy your home’s energy needs.)

3. Select the right renewable energy sources and technologies

To go off the grid, you’ll need some way of generating your own electricity.

Since few people go off the grid to add to the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions problem, we’ll assume you’d prefer to do this through renewable sources, rather than fossil-fuel based ones – so we’ve left off-grid gas, oil and coal options off the list.

Instead, we recommend fuelling your burgeoning off-grid lifestyle with clean, green sources of electricity, water, hot water, heating and backup power.

Let’s explore each in more detail below.

Electricity

There are two main renewable energy technologies you can harness to generate your own defensible electricity supply: solar panels and domestic wind turbines.

Solar panels

The most common way to produce renewable electricity for your home is through solar energy: specifically, through installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on your roof or land.

Solar panels convert the Sun’s light into useable electricity for your home: they’re a clean, green source of abundant energy you can use to light and power your off-grid home.

Depending on the amount of electricity your solar panels can generate, you may be able to not only power your off-grid home but also sell surplus solar power back to the National Grid for a profit. These kickbacks – which come via a UK scheme called the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) – will help you recoup your initial outlay even sooner than you would through energy-bill savings alone and make your off-grid lifestyle financially sustainable.

Wind turbines

You’ve seen them dotting the horizons of far-away fields, but did you know you can also install wind turbines to privately power your home?

Admittedly, they’re a bit smaller than the ones you’re used to seeing around, but they still pack a punch; according to Energy Saving Trust, a well-placed 6kW domestic wind turbine can generate around 9,000kWh per year.

That’s enough to fulfil the electricity needs of the average four-bedroom house (with four to five occupants) in the UK twice over – with some left over – as well as prevent two tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. It can also save you around £510 per year on your electricity bills and earn you an extra £400 annually through SEG payments.

A domestic wind turbine’s asking price, however – around £35,000 on average – may dampen your enthusiasm, as will the fact that they need windy environments to be worth the money.

Water

If you’re planning to be fully off-grid, you’ll need a (non-centralised) source of water to tap into. 

This could be groundwater, rainwater or even a well, stream or dam on your property. (However, you’re less likely to find these last three in urbanised areas such as cities and towns.)

To secure an off-grid water supply, you can try:

• harvesting rainwater to collect and repurpose it as grey water (for flushing your toilet, filling your washing machine and watering your garden); 
• implementing water-saving or low-flow fixtures to reduce your water use and replacing old toilets, showerheads and taps in the process;
• limiting unnecessary water use – such as taking shorter showers and only using the washing machine for full loads. Aim to recycle used water from sinks and showers to reappropriate as grey water; this can be as simple as placing buckets outside when it rains or in the shower to catch excess water;
• tapping into groundwater if you have access to it. This could be through a well, but bear in mind, if there aren’t any on your property already, you may need to dig one yourself. (While this most likely won’t require planning permission, you’ll still have to apply for an extraction licence to take out more than 20 cubic metres per day; regardless, it’s an excellent way of securing a sustainable water supply for your off-grid home);
• storing drinking water in large, food-grade containers that can be sealed to prevent contamination – you don’t want to be short of potable water in an emergency; and
• having drinking water delivered to your home periodically – this is a handy, if not as cost-effective, solution, but it also may defeat the purpose of going off-grid

Hot water

If solar PV panels are the top choice for electrifying your off-grid home with clean, renewable power, what’s the best way to heat your water?

Let’s look at two top options: solar thermal panels and biomass boilers.

Solar thermal panels

Solar thermal panels (also known as solar thermal collectors) work in a similar way to solar PV panels, but instead of converting the Sun’s rays into electricity, solar thermal panels transmute sunlight into heat.

This heat is used to warm the water in your home’s thermal store, which can then provide hot water for your off-grid home (or even facilitate the tantalising prospect of a heated off-grid swimming pool). However, solar thermal panels’ only catch is that, like solar PV panels, they’ll be less effective in the darker winter months (which, unfortunately, are also the colder months and therefore the ones when you’re most in need of warm water and air).

To combat this, you can bolster your solar thermal panels’ sustainable supply of hot water by using them alongside a biomass boiler (which relies on biomass, such as wood pellets, as a fuel source) or an immersion heater (which, because you can power it through your own renewable, personal source of electricity – such as a solar array – is also a feasible off-grid solution).

Depending on your existing water-heating system, solar thermal panels can save you between £130 and £255 per year in reduced energy bills and prevent up to 930kg per year of carbon-dioxide emissions from entering Earth’s atmosphere.

Biomass boilers

Biomass energy is derived from converting organic materials, such as plants, forestry wastes and agricultural residues – via processes such as fermentation and gasification – into energy, which you can use to provide heat and electricity for your off-grid home.

The biomass technologies most relevant to your off-grid aspirations are boilers and stoves:

• boilers replace standard oil or gas boilers and can provide heat and hot water for a whole house; and
• stoves heat a single room, typically alongside other heating systems.

Biomass boilers generally run on either wood pellets or logs and cost around £18,000 to purchase in the UK. However, Energy Saving Trust reports they can save you up to £1,100 compared to an electric heating system.

Biomass boilers are an alternative to fossil-fuel based heating. (Abode)

Heating

When it comes to heating your off-grid home renewably, heat pumps are the most energy-efficient and future-proof way.

Heat pumps are around three times as efficient as gas boilers and are the safest choice for heating your home’s water and inner spaces. And, while heat pumps are more expensive than fossil fuel-based alternatives right now, the UK government is incentivising homes, via the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), to make the switch.

Through the BUS – one of many government incentives including several solar panel grants – your UK home may be eligible for:

• £7,500 off the cost and installation of an air source heat pump
• £7,500 off the cost and installation of a ground source heat pump
• £5,000 off the cost and installation of a biomass boiler

Heat pumps work by extracting heat from outside (or underneath) your home and redistributing it indoors to keep your interior spaces warm in winter and cool in the UK’s warmer months. You can even use heat pumps, alongside other water-heating technologies such as solar thermal panels, to provide hot water for showering, bathing and handwashing.

There are two types of heat pumps:

• air source heat pumps extract heat from the air outside your home and transfer it inside; they’re more efficient in moderate climates but don’t do well with adverse temperature fluctuations or in below-zero environments; and
• ground source heat pumps (also known as geothermal heat pumps) take their heat from below the ground using an underground series of pipes to absorb and release heat. They’re a highly efficient year-round source of off-grid energy, although they require more space – and cost more – than their air source counterparts.

One more thing: if you’re partial to toasty feet, you can connect an underfloor heating system to your home’s renewable, off-grid power supply. This can cut the embedded carbon in your home by up to 93% and last up to 75 years – three times longer than radiators.

Backup options

While the idea of total self-sufficiency is alluring, it’s not always financially savvy – and, as we explored earlier, cutting ties to the grid completely can cost you up to £1,000.

As an alternative, we recommend staying connected to the National Grid but using it as a backup rather than relying on it for the lion’s share of your home’s electricity needs. This will still cost you money in standing charges (around £100 per year to retain your gas connection and £200 per year to stay connected to grid electricity) but is a handy failsafe to have in case of emergency or when your own renewable energy sources are struggling.

Staying connected to the grid also enables you to sell back to it in the form of SEG tariffs. These will contribute towards offsetting the costs of staying on the grid. (A house with five bedrooms or more can, for example, expect to receive up to £305 per year in SEG payments, which more than covers the annual cost of retaining your grid connection.)

Finally, you’ll also want to consider a way to store any electricity you’re not using or selling back to the grid. You can do this with a solar battery, which stores the power your solar panels generate for use when those panels don’t have access to sunlight (for example, at night or on cloudy days). As for whether solar batteries are worth it, the jury’s still out – so explore our guide for a detailed answer to this question.

Another alternative power source is a generator. However, these are predominantly fuel-based, which means they’re not sustainable and therefore contribute to air pollution and the worsening climate crisis.

Assuming that your home is insulated, that you retain your connection to the grid as a backup and that you don’t purchase any fossil fuel-emitting generators, you can expect going (mostly) off-grid to cost you an initial outlay of around £26,000, with an extra £300 per year to stay connected to the National Grid as a backup.

If your home lacks adequate insulation, though – or if you choose to add in a fuel-based generator at an average cost of £5,000 – your total off-grid outlay could quickly balloon to £40,000 to £45,000 or more. That said, this is based on average UK prices and the requirements for a three-bedroom, four-person household; the exact amount you’ll pay will depend on the suppliers you select, as well as the size and current condition of your home.

To generate and store your own electricity, your initial outlay – assuming you choose a solar, rather than a wind, geothermal or other electricity-generation solution – will include:

• £5,000 to £7,000 for an average 4kW solar PV system
• £4,500 for a solar battery

But that’s not all. To heat your home’s water and spaces, you’ll also require:

• £5,000 for solar thermal panels
• £10,000 for a biomass boiler (to supplement the hot water input from the panels); or
• £10,000 for an air-source heat pump

Remember, a well-insulated home is crucial if you’re looking to go off-grid. Without centralised infrastructure to rely on, you’ll need your house to be as energy efficient as possible. So, if your home lacks sufficient insulation, you may also incur costs – based on a three-bedroom home in the UK – in the region of:

• £1,200 for cavity wall installation
• £1,500 for floor insulation
• £3,500 for spray foam loft insulation
• £9,000 for solid wall insulation

(N.B. These estimates all depend on where you live, the extent of the work and materials used.)

You’ll spend between £500 and £1,000 for the privilege of disconnecting from the grid unless you choose to stay connected as a backup (which costs £300 per year). You’ll also be responsible for the ongoing costs associated with running and maintaining either an air-source heat pump (around £1,050 per year for a three-bedroom home) or a biomass boiler (approximately £900 per year).

How much will I save per year by going off-grid?

Considering energy-bill savings and SEG tariffs from solar PV panels, solar thermal collectors, a solar battery and either a biomass boiler or air-source heat pump, leaving the grid can save you as much as £2,267 a year.

Factor in the £7,500 you can claim off the cost of your air-source heat pump, and your off-grid system can pay for itself in just over eight years.

Let’s take a closer look.

*Savings here based on the difference between a solar and an electric water-heating system.

**Based on a battery capacity of 5kW, average charging for 300 days a year and an average electricity price of 28.6p per kWh.

***Compared to an old electric heating system.

****There are no existing grants for solar thermal panels in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. However, Scotland residents can receive a loan of up to £5,000 to implement solar thermal collectors on their property.

Ultimately, how long it’ll take your off-grid home setup to pay back varies based on the type of technology. Providing you’re able to access the £7,500 from the government’s grant under the BUS, a biomass boiler or air-source heat pump can pay for itself in less than three years; at the other end of the spectrum, solar thermal panels may take almost two decades to do the same.

This suggests that, as appealing as that Thoreau-esque notion of total self-sufficiency is – of living off the land, in harmony with the earth and at one with nature – it may not make financial sense to go completely off-grid. Instead, you may be better off cherry-picking renewable technologies – such as solar panels, a biomass boiler or wind and hydroelectric power generators – and going only partially off-grid.

It’s not as romantic, but it’s still a respectable, renewable way to live – and one that stands to pay for itself in the long run and even make you a tidy profit.