MCS opens consultation on new product standard for home battery storage

MCS has opened a four-week consultation on a draft Battery Storage Product Standard, MCS 042 Issue 1.0, which would sit alongside the installation standard it introduced for the technology in 2021.

The certification body said the deadline for comments is 11:59pm on Tuesday 10 November 2026. Responses should be emailed to consultations@mcscertified.com using the response form published with the draft.

MCS said the product standard would reinforce confidence in the quality of the products used by MCS certified installers. The draft was produced by its Battery Storage Technical Working Group, which includes installers, manufacturers, trade associations and certification bodies.

The growth behind the standard

Battery storage is the newest technology in the MCS scheme and, according to MCS, now the fastest growing. The body said more than 60,000 systems were installed in UK homes and small businesses in 2026 to the end of September, already more than 50% above last year's record total.

That follows a steep rise in 2025. MCS's 2025 Low Carbon Landscape review said more than half of all battery storage installations ever certified under the scheme were completed in that year alone. In a data release of 13 November 2025, MCS said certified battery storage installations by the end of September 2025 were up 122% on the same period of 2024.

From installation to product

Battery storage came into the scope of the MCS installer scheme on 23 November 2021, when MCS launched MIS 3012, which it described as the industry's first standard for installing battery storage systems. MIS 3012 covers installations up to 50kW and Electrical Energy Storage Systems classes 1 to 4.

Ian Rippin, chief executive of MCS, said at the 2021 launch: "For installers, this represents a one-stop-shop for all their registrations without the need to access a different system."

MCS says its product certification confirms that products comply with MCS standards for quality, reliability and performance. The new standard is intended to sit alongside the installation standard, MCS said, to support the continued growth of battery storage in the UK.

The wider scheme

The consultation arrives as MCS moves installers to its redeveloped installer scheme. MCS said in February 2026 that it would roll out the redeveloped scheme throughout the year, and in a September 2026 article Lisa Cooke, managing director at MCS, said all certified installation businesses were set to be operating under the new requirements by 31 March 2027.

MCS also said the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) had consulted on reforming consumer protection for home upgrades, with a proposed 2028 implementation timeline.

MCS was set up by the UK government in 2006 as a standards-based quality assurance scheme for small-scale renewables. It became independent of government in 2018, when the MCS Foundation charity was created to oversee it. MCS says more than 2.5 million MCS certified systems have been installed in homes and small businesses.

What happens next

Once the consultation closes, MCS said it would review all feedback, finalise the standard with the Battery Storage Technical Working Group and publish it. The body described this as the first step in the process and said it would provide updates as it moves towards fully implementing the product standard into the scheme.

Comments on the draft close at 11:59pm on 10 November 2026.