Indicative, installed, VAT at 0%, for a straightforward pitched roof in Lancashire, Greater Manchester or Cheshire. Every job is priced after a survey; these are the brackets nearly all of them land in.
The right choice if you are out all day and want to sell surplus on a good export tariff, or plan to add a battery later.
The most common job we do. The Somerset Avenue case study sits in this bracket.3
Price depends most on your existing inverter. A Powerwall 3 sits at the top of this bracket.
Where trees, dormers and multiple roofs are involved the survey matters more than the bracket.
For comparison, the government’s own figures put the median installed cost of a small system at £1,780 per kW for 0 to 4 kW and £1,697 per kW for 4 to 10 kW across Great Britain in 2025/26, panels only, VAT included where charged, on 265,682 MCS registered installations.1 A 4 kW system at the median is a little under £6,788; our range runs on both sides of that depending on the roof and the panel.
A number to start with. Pick the row nearest your house and you have the system size, the installed range and the first year saving, worked by the MCS method with the assumptions below. The survey replaces every one of these with your own figures.
| Home | Typical system | Panels only | Panels and battery |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 bed terrace or flat about 2,300 kWh a year | 6 panels, 2.9 kWp | £5,000 to £6,500 saves £210 to £280 a year | £7,500 to £9,500 saves £420 to £570 a year |
| 3 bed semi about 3,100 kWh a year | 9 panels, 4.4 kWp | £5,500 to £7,500 saves £300 to £410 a year | £8,000 to £11,000 saves £590 to £800 a year |
| 4 bed detached about 4,000 kWh a year | 12 panels, 5.8 kWp | £7,000 to £9,000 saves £390 to £530 a year | £10,000 to £13,000 saves £770 to £1,040 a year |
| 5 bed or more, EV or heat pump about 5,500 kWh a year | 16 panels, 7.8 kWp | £9,000 to £12,000 saves £530 to £720 a year | £12,000 to £16,000 saves £1,050 to £1,420 a year |
How the savings are worked: 850 kWh a year for each kWp installed, which is what a south facing roof in Lancashire returns under the MCS method; 26p a unit for electricity you no longer buy and 5p a unit for electricity you export; and the share of the home’s electricity the system covers taken from the Somerset Avenue MCS estimate, 25.5% for panels alone and 78% with a 10 to 12 kWh battery. First year, no price growth, occupied through part of the day. Shown as a range because roofs, tariffs and households vary. Illustrative, not a quote.3
The kit is only part of it. These are the things that move a Lancashire quote up or down, in roughly the order they matter.
Slate, concrete tile or stone flags, how steep it is, how many planes the array is split across, and whether the scaffold can stand on the ground or has to be built over an extension. Two roof planes cost more than one.
The single biggest line after the panels. Sizing against your evening use, not the roof, is how you avoid paying for capacity you never cycle.
We fit Aiko panels because they handle partial shade well, which on a Lancashire roof with a chimney matters. Optimisers add cost and only earn it back where shade is real.
In roof panels sit flush and replace the tiles, which looks better and makes sense when you are re roofing anyway. On roof is cheaper on an existing roof.
Cable runs from roof to consumer unit to battery, a garage at the far end of the garden, a listed building or a conservation area with an application to make. Each adds hours.
Bird proofing, an EV charger while the electrician is there, an isolator for a future heat pump, three phase upgrades on big houses. Worth doing together, and worth itemising separately.
Solar panels and home batteries, together or on their own, are zero rated for VAT in Great Britain until 31 March 2027, after which the rate is due to return to 5%. That is the only universal saving there is, and it is already in every range on this page.2
There is no general grant for solar. Households on qualifying benefits, or in homes with a low energy rating, may get support through the Warm Homes Plan and local council schemes, and social landlords have their own programmes. We check eligibility at the survey and tell you straight. Everyone else has the 0% VAT and, increasingly, green mortgage rates.
Energy Giants is not a lender or a credit broker and does not arrange finance itself. If you would rather spread the cost than pay outright, say so at the survey and we will put you in touch with an independent, FCA authorised broker. Any agreement is between you and them, on their terms, and it does not change our quote.
Payback claims are only worth anything with the assumptions attached, so here is a real Lancashire job.
The quote for that house projected a £732 saving in the first year and payback in about nine years, on 3,500 kWh a year of use, a unit rate of 26p, electricity prices rising 7% a year and a modest export payment. Change the assumptions and the payback moves: heavier daytime use or a good export tariff shortens it, flat prices lengthen it. Panels without a battery pay back more slowly on the bill, because more of the electricity is sold rather than used; the Energy Saving Trust puts panel only payback at roughly eleven to twenty one years depending on use and export.3 The honest summary is that a well sized system on a decent roof pays for itself well inside its warranty, and a badly sized one does not.
Six things to look for on any solar quote, ours included. If one is missing, ask why.
The standard method, with the shade factor stated. It is the number the whole payback rests on, and it should be on the quote, not in a sales pitch.
Panel make and model, inverter, battery, mounting system, and the number of each. "Premium panels" is not a specification.
Or stated as excluded. Both are real costs and both should be visible.
Panel product and performance, inverter, battery, and the workmanship guarantee and who backs it. Ours is two years, insurance backed through Bluedrop Services, on every solar and battery installation, in your handover pack.
G98 or G99 notification to Electricity North West is part of the job, and the export payment depends on it.
Fixed for at least thirty days, itemised, with VAT shown at 0%, and a survey behind it rather than a satellite photograph.
Because the price a customer paid is their business and the price you will pay depends on your roof. The ranges are where nearly every job lands; the survey turns one into a fixed quote.
Yes. The government’s figures show inflation adjusted costs per kW for small systems at their lowest on record in 2025/26, after the spike in 2022 and 2023, and a record number of installations.1
Yes. Solar and battery storage are zero rated in Great Britain until 31 March 2027, so the figure on the quote is the figure you pay.2
For most occupied homes, yes, because it roughly triples the share of your electricity that comes from your own roof and unlocks the better tariffs. If nobody is home in the evening it changes the sums, which is exactly what the survey is for. See our battery storage page.
We do not offer finance ourselves. Several high street lenders now offer green mortgage products and further advances for energy improvements; our guide compares them.
A two year insurance backed workmanship guarantee through Bluedrop Services, underwritten by Financial & Legal Insurance Company Ltd, plus the manufacturers’ warranties on the panels, inverter and battery. The certificate is in your handover pack.
Nothing, and it comes with a straight answer. If your roof is not worth doing we will say so.
Book a free survey. You get an itemised quote with an MCS estimate behind it, fixed for thirty days, and no pressure either way.
Roofs, weather, planning and payback, for this county specifically.
Six house types, and the realistic panel count for each.
Size it against your evenings, not your roof.
Notes. 1. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Solar PV cost data, published 28 May 2026, Declared Net Capacity basis, financial year 2025/26: median £1,780 per kW for 0 to 4 kW and £1,697 per kW for 4 to 10 kW installations, from 265,682 MCS registered installations in Great Britain; costs exclude battery storage and include VAT where charged. 2. Zero rate VAT on energy saving materials in Great Britain, including solar panels and battery storage, runs to 31 March 2027. 3. Somerset Avenue figures from the MCS performance estimate and financial projection in the accepted quote: 3,500 kWh a year of use, 26p per unit, 7% annual price growth, modest export payment; projections, not a guarantee. Energy Saving Trust payback range for panel only systems as published on its solar panels advice page. Our price ranges are indicative for straightforward installations and are not quotes.
