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How much can solar panels save you on your energy bills, and how much can you earn by selling your surplus electricity? Below, our solar experts help you assess whether solar panels are worth your money in 2026.
As the weather is getting colder across the UK and sunlight hours are decreasing, are solar panels worth it? The answer, which may come as a surprise to some, is a resounding yes.
In light of the price cap on electricity increasing by 0.2 per cent in January 2026, investing in a solar system can be really beneficial both from a financial and an environmental perspective.
In this guide, our solar experts break down how much you can save with solar panels and how to maximise these savings to help you assess whether solar panels are worth it for your household.
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On the 1st of January 2026, the price cap on electricity in the UK increased by 0.2 per cent to 27.69p per kWh with an average daily standing charge of 54.75p. This saw the annual price cap increase to £1,755 per year.
To assess how much you could save on your electricity bills with solar panels, let’s compare what you would spend with and without installing a solar system.
Every home has different levels of consumption and amounts of sunlight, but for the purpose of this guide, let us consider an average 3-bedroom home in the East Midlands which consumes 3,350kWh of electricity per year.
Below is an estimate of electricity costs for said household without a solar panel system.
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Total consumed from the grid | 3,350 kWh |
| Price per kWh | 27.69p |
| Total net price of electricity consumed | £927.62 |
| Standing charge per year | £199.84 |
| Total annual cost | £1,127.46 |
Now let’s consider what those bills would look like with a solar system to find out whether the high upfront cost of solar panels is worth it.
For a 3-bedroom house in the East Midlands with people at home some of the time, we recommend opting for a 4.5kW solar system. To maximise the use of your solar energy, we’d also recommend investing in a 2.5kW battery. The price of the system, including a battery and installation, is around £9,800 – by no means insignificant.
Below, you can see the estimated power output and subsequent energy savings the household above could expect to generate from their solar panel system:
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Estimated annual output | 4,075kWh |
| Proportion consumed | 100% |
| Annual consumption of free power | 3,350kWh |
| Energy bill savings | £901.00 |
| Income from Smart Export Guarantee | £76.00 |
| Estimated annual energy bill | £226.46 |
Installing a system of this size would mean the household breaks even in about 10 years. From that point onwards, you would actually start making money from your solar panels. Without a solar battery, the breakeven point comes down to 12.2 years, and your potential energy bill savings decrease to about £601 per year.
Whether this investment is worth it is in large part down to whether you can comfortably afford to buy these solar panels upfront. That said, even if you can’t, there are plenty of solar panel grants and schemes aimed at making renewable energy available to more households.
As mentioned above, while installing a solar system will give you instant energy bill savings, there’s still the significant upfront investment to consider to establish whether they’re worth it for your household.
There are a number of factors that can impact this including the initial cost of your system, your household’s electricity usage and where you live. Below are some ballpark figures to help you get an idea of the payback period for different system sizes.
| System size | Number of panels | Total cost (inc installation) | Potential annual energy bill savings | Payback period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5kW | 4 | £4,850 | £378 | 12.9 years |
| 3kW | 8 | £7,500 | £755 | 10.0 years |
| 4.5kW | 12 | £9,800 | £995 | 9.9 years |
| 6kW | 16 | £13,000 | £1,243 | 10.5 years |
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When it comes to accessing clean, green solar energy for your home, it’s not just generating that power that’ll save you money – it’s maximising your use of it, too.
So how can you ensure you’re making the most out of your solar system? Let’s explore.
You should also aim to use your white goods during the day as much as possible, when electricity is off-peak and thus at its cheapest. If you have to go to an office, work it into your morning routine to run the dishwasher before you go and program your washer to do your laundry in the afternoon. Little things like this really add up over time.
To maximise your savings, you want to use as much of your ‘free’ generated power as possible. But even as a high-energy user, there will be periods when you’re drawing a background load only. Adding a battery to your system allows you to store all of your excess power to use later, significantly increasing your self-consumption and boosting your savings.
Solar batteries remain very expensive. The average battery costs anywhere between £2,000 and £7,000, with some high-end models costing in the region of £10,000 to £12,000. They last about 15 years, and their capacity decreases slightly near the end of their life.
That said, considering the current energy rate of 27.69p, having a solar battery is likely to bring your breakeven point forward by a couple of years. On average, a 3-bedroom UK household with a 4.5kW system and no battery would save £584 per year on their energy bill and break even in 13.1 years, versus savings of £995 per year and a 9.9-year breakeven period with a battery.
The Smart Export Guarantee pays solar panel owners anywhere between £170 and £800 depending on the size of the solar system.
To earn money from your solar panels you need to apply to join the SEG. It requires electricity suppliers who are registered with the scheme to pay small-scale generators of low-carbon electricity for any energy they export back to the National Grid. Homeowners with solar panel systems of five megawatts or less can apply to join the scheme.
To join, you’ll need to apply directly with an SEG provider. SEG providers are any energy supplier with more than 150,000 customers. By law, they’re required to offer you a per kilowatt-hour rate for your surplus electricity which varies from provider to provider.
To qualify for the scheme and receive payments, you need:
Yes. While they require a significant upfront investment, solar panels will save you money on your energy bills every year, and by signing up to the SEG scheme, you can make money off surplus energy your system generates. Once you breakeven on the initial price of your solar system, you can make a profit from it. The average 3-bedroom household in the UK with a 4.5kW system and a battery can expect to turn a profit of over £11,000 after 25 years.
Yes. Nowadays, solar panels are designed to generate energy from daylight rather than sunlight, so they will work even without significant sun exposure. So don’t be put off if you live in an area with high cloud cover and rainfall – solar panels in Scotland can still save you money on your energy bills!
Yes, installing a solar system on your home can lead to its value increasing, as it may be more appealing to some buyers and renters seeking to lower their energy bills, or those who own EVs. That said, this increase in value isn’t systematic, so it’s not worth installing solar panels just for that.
A 4.5 kW system, which we estimate is enough to meet most of a 3-bedroom house’s electricity needs, should comprise 10-12 solar panels, depending on their wattage. A system this size should take up about 30m² of roof space. Naturally, more powerful systems will require more roof space or more powerful panels (or both), depending on power output you need. For example, a 6 kW system might need 16 solar panels, taking up even more space on your roof.
Solar panels with higher efficiency tend to pay back fastest as they generate more energy than others; our solar experts recommend the Project Solar Evolution Max 500W, which has an efficiency rating of 25.50 per cent and a power output of 500W.
