Are Solar Panels Worth it?

Overview: Are Solar Panels A Worthwhile Investment?

This is a detailed guide to determine if solar panels are worth investing in. 

Stuck for time? Read this quick overview, and bookmark this page for later…

Solar panels are worth installing if you: 

• Have a roof with suitable orientation and pitch (as close to due south and 30° pitch as possible)
• Use a reputable installer that offers competitive installation prices (keeping your payback period as low as possible)
• Employ an MCS registered installer (to be eligible for the Smart Export Guarantee and 0% VAT schemes)

Once you're setup, you could see: 

• Savings of up to £853 per year
• An improvement in your property's value
• Self-sufficiency, meaning your protected from rising energy costs
• Payments of up to £449 per year thanks to the Smart Export Guarantee
• A reduction in your carbon footprint (solar panels produce around 90% less emissions than other methods of producing electricity, such as natural gas)

Find out how much solar panels cost and what you could save by using our clickable tool here. 

Factors That Make Solar Panels A Worthy Investment

Solar panels are worth it when they’re installed on suitable properties, at competitive prices and by qualified installers. 

So first, let’s discuss what we actually mean by this.

Roof Pitch & Orientation

Not every roof is suitable for solar panels. 

In an ideal world you’d want a pitch of 30° and it facing due south. As you can see from the table below, this gives the maximum “ideal” efficiency. 

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Anything other than this is going to be sub optimal. For instance, a solar panel with a pitch of 80° and facing 90 degrees west, is going to operate at roughly half the ideal efficiency compared to a roof with a 30° pitch and facing due south.

A worthy side note here is if you have a suitable flat roof, you’ll be able to install solar panels at the preferred tilt angle and direction using adjustable mounts.

To determine if solar panels are worth it for your property, use our clickable tool here. Flick through a couple of options and you’ll get to the roof scan. 

This is going to determine if your roof is suitable for solar panels, and we’ll be able to estimate how much you're likely to save on your electricity bill.

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Competitive Installation Costs

One solar panel installer might charge £1000s more than the next, and this is going to have a huge bearing on whether or not it’s worth installing them. 

So, below we’ll explain estimated costs (we’ve written a detailed guide to solar panel installation costs here). 

Solar Panels Only 

The difference between quotes for the installation of “panels only” compared to a full system with a battery, will vary dramatically. 

For a 3-bedroom semi or detached property with reasonable electricity demand, something like this 12-panel 5.16kWh system is going to be more than sufficient. 

Using the example property that we used for the roof scan above (3-bedroom detached with reasonable electricity demand), you could expect to save around £698 per year. That makes solar panels in this example absolutely worth it.

That’s without a solar storage battery, as you’d be selling any excess electricity back to the grid. 

Payback periods for solar panels vary dramatically, but in this case, you’d see a payback period of less than 9 years!

Solar Panels With A Storage Battery

The question is, should you install a battery alongside your solar panels? As with any installation, this will depend on the property. 

The need for a solar storage battery will depend on your need for independence from on-grid electricity prices. You won’t be at the mercy of rises in electricity costs if you have a large storage battery.

For the above 3-bedroom detached property, savings rise to £800 per year (up from £698) using a small 5.3kW Sunsynk solar storage battery.

However, it’s worth noting that the overall cost of the installation has also increased. Instead of £5,893 (panels only), your overall installation cost will now have risen to £8,388 with your 5.3kW storage battery.

In this case, adding a storage battery isn’t essential if you’re simply looking at return on investment (ROI). Your payback period will have increased from under 9 years, to just over 10. 

However, you’ll have reduced your reliance on the grid, protecting yourself from rising energy prices. There’s also the fact you’ll be using more green energy than if you didn’t have a storage battery; your property in this instance would be 57% self-sufficient. 

If self-sufficiency is one thing that makes buying solar panels important, a bigger battery would be the route to take. Using a large 15.9kW storage battery would mean your property is 74% efficient!

Still not sure exactly how this relates to your property? Play around with our clickable solar panel tool here. 

That’ll scan your roof and determine the most suitable system. 

And if you jump to this section (battery selection), you’ll see how using different sized batteries affects your property’s annual savings and self-sufficiency percentage.

Using An MCS Installer

If you don’t use a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) installer, installing solar panels isn’t worth it. There are two big reasons for this: 

• Missing out on the 0% VAT government incentive for green energy materials
• Not being eligible for the Smart Export Guarantee

The UK government offers 0% VAT on solar panels and other green energy products. But, you’ll need to buy them new, and have them fitted by an accredited MCS installer. If not, you’ll pay the normal VAT rate. 

For example's sake, assuming a material cost of £5,000, you'd pay £833.33 in VAT under normal circumstances; materials are £4,166.67+VAT. 

However, using a MCS installer, you'd simply pay £4,166.67 (0% VAT); a saving of £833.33.

Like the 0% VAT rate, to qualify for the Smart Export Guarantee, you’ll need to use an MCS installer. 

Using our example above for a 3-bedroom detached property, you’d lose out on £230 on SEG payments by not being eligible. 

You can see more details covering the 0% VAT incentive on the UK government site here. 

Or, go ahead and get quotes for solar panels using our clickable tool here. 

Prices reflect the 0% VAT rate and they’ll be fitted by a MCS installer, making your system eligible for the Smart Export Guarantee. 

The Benefits of Solar Panel Installation

Reduced Energy Bills

Let’s face it, the main reason people invest in solar panels is to save money in the long term. And for those using a suitable storage battery, it’s certainly worth it. 

We ran a large 3-bedroom detached property through our clickable tool here. And as you can see, using a suitable storage battery, a solar panel system is likely to save £853 per year. 

These estimates are fairly specific, given we’ve given relevant property details and scanned the roof to be as accurate as possible. 

But, if we look at the Energy Saving Trust’s estimates, they’re reasonably close for the “average” property too. 

You could expect to save up to £690 per year (on average) by installing solar panels.

What it boils down to, is that by using solar panels with a suitable storage battery, you can expect a payback period of anywhere in the region of 9-12 years. 

Property Value Increases

Any improvement you make to your property may well impact its value. Whether it’s a new bathroom, kitchen or solar panels, it’s possible it will have a positive impact. The question is, by how much? 

Data from Money Supermarket suggests you can increase the value of your property by as much as 14% jumping from an EPC rating of D to A or B. 

This might equate to an increase in property value of over £10,000 in many cases… The WWE and Scottish Power jointly conducted a joint research project that investigates how installing low-carbon technologies, such as heat pumps, solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicle chargers, can add value to a home. They also arrived at the conclusion that there can be a positive impact on the value of the property. It should be said that there are amny variable in the value of the property and that renewables in no way guarantee an uplift in price.

However, it is worth noting, that’s a jump of multiple bands in terms of EPC rating. Solar panels won’t achieve this jump alone (in many cases, they may improve the EPC rating band by 1). 

But, combined with the likes of an air source heat pump and insulation, you’ll be getting extremely close. 

In summary, adding solar panels to your property is likely to add a couple of % to its value, and make it more saleable thanks to the reduction in energy bills (make sure you keep old electricity bills as proof)!

Protection From Rising Electricity Tariffs

Gas and electricity prices regularly make headlines in the UK, and for good reason…all they seem to do is go up! 

And you can see this in motion by checking out the below graphic produced by EuroStat.

Put simply, most people expect electricity prices to continue to trend upwards. And that makes investing in solar panels absolutely worth it. 

The current payback period for solar panels sits at around 10-years.

A 20% increase in prices? That’s going to knock 20% off your payback period. 

A further 20% increase in prices a couple of years later? You get the point…

If you want to save money today and protect yourself from inflated electricity prices in the future, investing in solar panels is the way to do it. 

We’ve got a free calculator here. Input your property details (it takes less than 90 seconds), we’ll scan your roof, and determine how much you could save. 

Earn an Income From SEG

To determine what system makes installing solar panels worth it for you, you first need to determine your goals.

If your main aim with solar panels is to save a little on your bills, but maximise monthly payments from the Smart Export Guarantee, you don’t need a battery.

The below setup is based on the large 3-bedroom detached property we did a roof scan on earlier. 

Focusing on SEG payments only, you’d not bother installing a battery, and still looking towards an annual saving of £698 per year.

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What you gain in SEG payments, you will sacrifice in self-sufficiency, so you’re still at the mercy of electricity prices fluctuating.

However, a system like this will only cost £5,893. 

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Couple the £5,893 with the total annual savings of £698 per year and you’ll have an incredibly low payback period of 8.52 years. 

Get a system properly spec’d for your property to maximise SEG payments by using our solar panel tool here. 

Lower Your Carbon Footprint

More and more people are becoming energy and environmentally aware; we’re trying to cut down what we consume and how we consume it. 

Installing solar panels is worth it for those that are conscious about their carbon footprint, as you can see from this graphic produced by 8 Billion Trees. 

A good portion of the UK’s electricity is generated by burning natural gas, which emits 490 g CO2 per kWh of electricity it produces. 

As you can see, that’s a huge difference to the 41 g CO2 that solar PV panels emit. 

Looking to futureproof yourself against rising energy bills and protect the planet in the process? 

Get fixed prices on a solar panel system suited to your property by using our clickable tool here. 

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