Solar panels for your home

If you're considering getting solar panels for your home, let uSwitch help you pick the best option.

  1. Free solar panels

    Get solar panels for free (no catch - honestly) and use the free electricity they generate, which should cut your electricity bill by £176* a year.

    Free solar panels

  2. 'Try before you buy'

    Some free solar panel schemes will install the solar panels for free and let you buy them later on if you want to.

    'Try before you buy'

  3. Buy solar panels

    Buy a solar panel system for your home (prices start from £7000) and earn around £677* a year from the Feed-in Tariff and savings on your electricity bill.

    Buy solar panels

  4. 'DIY solar panels'

    You can buy small-scale solar panel systems for £800–£1400 and install them yourself.

    'DIY solar panels'

Free solar panels

Pros

  • You get free electricity - this could cut £176* a year off your bill.
  • There are no costs involved - the solar panels are free, you get free installation and a free survey.
  • Maintenance costs are covered by the solar company.
  • It could be a real selling point if you put your home on the market.

Cons

  • Not all areas of the country and sizes/orientations of roof will qualify for free solar panels.
  • You won't earn money from the Feed-in Tariff - this money goes to the solar panel company.
  • When it comes to selling your home, not all potential buyers will like the idea of being tied into a contract.

Find free solar panels in your area (postcode):

Buy solar panels

Pros

  • You get free electricity - this could cut £176* a year off your bill.
  • You can earn money from the Feed-in Tariff - earnings of around £677*a year are possible.
  • It's a great investment - you can earn around £25,000 over the 25 year lifetime of your solar panels.
  • Because you're paying, you can install in most areas of the country and sizes/orientations of roof.

Cons

  • Buying solar panels outright isn't cheap - prices start from around £7000, the average cost is £12,000.
  • There may be some ongoing maintenance to pay for.

Buy solar panels in your area (postcode):

Try before you buy

Pros

  • With try before you buy, you get all the benefits of free solar panel schemes, but with the option to buy them later if you decide you want to.
  • If you find that the panels are generating a lot of energy and you'd be making a great return from the Feed-in Tariff you can opt to buy them, if not you can just continue enjoying the free energy.

Cons

  • There is a chance that you could end up paying more for the panels as you can't shop around and compare prices when they're already installed.

Enter your postcode to find
'try before you buy' solar panels (postcode):

DIY solar panels

Pros

  • They're perfect for sheds, outbuildings, caravans, boats etc.
  • The costs are low compared with cost of installing a full solar panel system.
  • You get free electricity.

Cons

  • You can't earn money from the Feed-in Tariff with these solar panels.
  • They aren't as powerful as other solar panels.

Find DIY solar panels in your area:

Find DIY solar panels

* Based on the average user, consuming 3300kWh of electricity a year, at a cost of £526. A system with 12 solar panels will generate 2960kWhs of electricity per year (figure from HomeSun). The average household will use 37.5% of the electricity the panels generate. (Based on figures from the Suncities Monitoring Data Review, Kirklees Council, 2007, which found that households use between 25% and 50% of the electricity their solar panels generate.) The average household will use 1110kWh of electricity from their panels, meaning they buy 33.64% less electricity and make a saving of £176.93. In addition, by signing up to the Feed-in Tariff, you can earn 21p for every unit of electricity generated (£621.60), plus 0.03p for every unit sold back to the Grid (£55.50p) meaning total Teed-in tariff earnings of £677.10. By adding together the savings on electricity and the earnings on the Feed-in tariff, you get a total saving of £854.03. Over the 25 year lifetime of the solar panels, this means total income of £21,350.68.