The question I get asked more than any other is whether solar is still worth it. People assume there must have been a moment when it made sense and that the moment has passed. It has not. If anything the case is stronger now than when I fitted my first system.
Rather than quote figures at you, I filmed this one at home. My roof, my bills, my house.
Why the sums keep improving
Two things drive the value of a solar system. What you pay for it, and what electricity costs. Panels have got cheaper and better. A 465 watt panel today does the work of nearly two panels from ten years ago. Electricity has gone the other way. The price cap keeps rising and it is not coming back down in any meaningful way. Every rise makes each unit your roof produces worth more.
There is a third thing for the next few months. The zero rate of VAT on solar ends on 31 March 2027 and goes back to 5%. So a system fitted before then costs less than the same system fitted after.
What my house uses
We are not a light touch household. Four bedrooms, three children, a hot tub, four electric vehicles, and we heat the house with air conditioning, which is an air to air heat pump and a very efficient way to heat electrically. In winter we use a lot of electricity.
The total electricity bill is about £50 a month. That is everything: the house, the heating, the cars, the hot tub.
How it works through the year
On the day I filmed, a sunny afternoon in September, the roof was producing about 6 kW. That runs the whole house, charges the batteries and sends a healthy amount to the grid. On a day like that we export around 40 kWh.
Overnight the batteries run the house. We also charge them on a cheap overnight tariff so there is stored power for the days when it rains all day and the roof makes very little.
The export is the clever bit. We get paid for it, but the money is not the point. It sits as a credit on the account. In winter, when the days are short and the panels make less, that credit covers the shortfall. Summer surplus pays for winter. That is how a house with electric heating and four cars ends up at £50 a month.
Winter production is not zero
People assume solar stops in winter. It does not. On a sunny winter day the panels produce well, they just do it for six or seven hours instead of fourteen. Total output is lower, but it is not nothing, and combined with the credits and the cheap overnight charging it works out.
Our own system
We have had solar for four and a half to five years. The current system is about 18 months old and replaced an earlier one. The new panels are noticeably better than what we started with. They are not all black, which slightly annoys me as an installer because the all black panels we fit for customers look far better, but the output is what matters and the whole roof, front and back, is covered.
So is it worth it?
For us, absolutely. For most homes with a reasonable roof, also yes. The people who get the most out of it are those who use a lot of electricity: electric heating, an EV or two, a busy family home. If that is you, a properly sized system with a battery will take a large bite out of the bill and keep taking it for decades.
The one thing I would say is size it properly. A small system on a heavy use house leaves money on the roof. Get a survey, look at what you actually use, and fit what the roof will take.
If you want a straight answer on your own house, we cover Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. We do a free survey and give you a clear written quote. Call 01480 400607 or read about our solar and battery installs.
Jason Pope
Owner, Selec Group