What will solar panels cost?
A starting figure before you call an installer. Pick the system size, whether you want a battery and your region — and we give you an indicative UK installed price range for a home solar PV system, with the battery and the usual extras broken out, and a note on payback. A budget to plan around before the quotes come in. Free, no sign-up.
A guide, not a quote. The ranges are typical 2025/26 UK installed prices — the panels, inverter, mounting, scaffolding and labour, inclusive of the reduced 0% VAT on solar to 2027 — drawn from published industry averages. They exclude a roof replacement, major electrical upgrades or a ground-mounted array. Payback depends on how much of your generation you use yourself and your export rate, so it varies a lot home to home: the only real number is a survey and quote from an MCS-certified installer, and you should get at least three. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Roof space sets the size; access and usage set the rest.
System size vs roof space. A 4 kW array — roughly ten panels, about 20 m² of roof — is the common choice for a typical 3-bed and the point most quotes start from. You can only fit what your roof allows: a flat or a smaller home may top out at 3 kW, while a big, unshaded roof can take 6 kW or more. A bigger array costs more but generates proportionally more, so the price per kW tends to fall as the system grows.
A battery isn't always worth it. A battery stores your daytime generation for the evening and lets you charge off-peak — it can lift how much of your own power you use from around half to most of it. But it adds £2,000–£5,500 and lengthens the payback. It earns its keep if you're often out during the day (so you'd otherwise export cheaply) or want to load-shift on a cheap night tariff; on pure economics, panels alone usually pay back faster. Size it to your evening use, not as big as possible.
What drives the install cost. The panels and inverter are only part of it — much of the price is access and mounting. A simple single south-facing pitch is the cheapest; two pitches, some shading, scaffolding, an in-roof (flush) mount or awkward access all add labour. Optimisers or micro-inverters help recover output where part of the roof is shaded, at extra cost.
Self-use vs export. Your saving comes from two places: the power you use yourself (worth your full unit rate) and the surplus you export. The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) pays you for that surplus, but rates vary widely by supplier — and exported power is usually worth far less than power you'd otherwise have bought. The more of your generation you use at home, the faster it pays back.
MCS certification, and the roof first. Use an MCS-certified installer — MCS certification is required to claim the Smart Export Guarantee for your surplus, and it's the mark of a proper survey and sign-off. Check the roof's age and condition before you commit: it's far cheaper to re-roof before the panels go on than to take a whole array off and put it back afterwards.
Keep your solar system's details in one place.
Stead holds the install date, the MCS certificate, the inverter warranty and your generation and export notes — alongside the rest of your home's record, so the paperwork's to hand for a claim, a service or a sale.