Can plug-in solar panels save out energy bills - plus what's the fuss about private credit?

This is Money Podcast

This is Money

Business News, News, Investing, Business

4.4 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A solar revolution is on its way to Britain and can help save us from volatile and high energy bills, if you believe Ed Miliband.

Plug-in solar panels are popular across Europe but currently rules in the UK mean that we can’t buy them and, as it says on the tin, simply plug them into our home’s electricity supply.

But changes are afoot that will mean we could soon be buying individual panels that cost £400 and simply plugging them into a three-pin wall socket, where thanks to the magic of an inverter they would put power into your home.

And we might even be able to nip down to the middle of Lidl to buy them, with the discount supermarket among those talking about offering them – in its famous middle aisle.

In Germany, Ikea sells panels and there and in other European countries they are popular, so could they transform our homes? How long would it take to get your money back – and what’s the prepper angle on the interest in all this?

Georgie Frost and Simon Lamber talk plug-in solar panels and energy bills on this episode of the This is Money podcast.

They also discuss summer holiday flights and what the massive disruption triggered by the Iran war will do to prices and demand – and how to target a cheaper break.

Plus, with the government announcing its new town locations, where do property experts think the best one will be.

And, there are rumblings in the finance world over private credit, with the Bank of England among those warning about what’s been dubbed shadow banking. What’s going on, could it trigger a financial crisis and should you be worried?

Email us hello@dmgmedia.co.uk

Text us 020 7938 6000.

Hosts: Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce, Helen Crane

Producer: Georgie Frost

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to This Is Money podcast, sponsored by Trading 212.
0:06.0	Download the Trading 212 app and open a cash icer with promo code TIM to get the 12-month bonus promo rate of 4.58%.
0:13.4	Terms apply.
0:14.5	I'm Georgie Frost and joining me today is Simon Lambert.
0:17.0	And coming up, more of us are considering switching to green apparel sources as concerns about rising energy bills continue.
0:23.8	Could plug-in solar panels be the answer?
0:26.6	Simon will tell us what they are, and importantly, whether they'll save us money.
0:30.6	Plus, soaring fuel prices may be threatening to derail your summer holiday budget, but it's not too late to bag a deal, say the experts. A wave of
0:38.8	new towns is set to be built across Britain, but where's the best place to live? And Simon
0:43.5	delves into the world of shadow banks and private credit. Should we be concerned? Don't forget
0:49.7	you start up today with all the latest breaking money news just to go to this ismoney.com.uk or download the app.
0:55.4	The first is war in the Middle East threatens to push up energy bills. More of us are exploring greener power sources to save money.
1:01.9	Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is desperate to get more of us to wean ourselves off fossil fuel power.
1:07.4	The solution? Could it be plug-in solar panels, which might be heading to a supermarket
1:12.6	near you within months, according to Labour? So, this is money dug into this a little bit more,
1:17.7	what they actually are, how they work, who can buy them, where you can buy them, and whether
1:22.6	they could save us money in the long run. Simon, Firstly, welcome. Overview. Are people really exploring greener
1:31.7	options? Like what? What's the evidence here? Well, green energy is a conundrum, isn't it? On one hand,
1:38.3	you've got the, it's all a massive swizz. It's driving up our bills. Drill, baby drill. Why are we not using
1:46.9	the gas and oil that we have in the North Sea and exploring for more when we could be? And instead,
1:52.7	we're tilting at windmills. And it's all Ed Miliband's fault argument, right? On the other side,
1:59.9	you've got the... Actually, quite like the idea of solar panels
	...

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