Solar & battery guides
Independent guides written for UK homeowners. Honest costs, realistic savings, and plain-English explanations of how everything works.
New guides
Which mortgage lenders pay you for solar panels and batteries? Every UK scheme compared
Every UK mortgage lender with a reward for solar panels or a home battery, side by side: cashback amounts, 0% and discounted green borrowing, who qualifies, and which schemes have quietly ended. Checked against the lenders' own pages in October 2026.
Warm Homes Loan Scheme: cheaper loans for solar panels and batteries explained
The government-backed Warm Homes loans launched on 27 October 2026. Who can get one, how much you can borrow for solar and a battery, the 10 lenders offering them, how to apply, and whether a loan actually makes sense for you.
My solar and battery system: a summer of real bills
Ten panels and a 12 kWh battery on a London home. The July electricity bill finished £22.51 in credit. Here is every figure from the bills, where the solar went, how much of the result came from the tariff, and what one summer cannot tell you.
Solar panels
Whether solar stacks up for your home, and how to get the system right.
Is solar worth it in the UK in 2026?
The honest answer for UK homeowners: payback periods, realistic savings, best and worst cases, and what actually affects whether solar stacks up for your home.
Read guideSolar panels and battery storage: should you combine them?
Adding a battery can double your self-consumption rate and significantly improve payback. We break down when the numbers stack up, when to wait, and what to look for.
Read guideWhen will plug-in solar be legal in the UK?
Balcony solar kits you plug straight into a wall socket are everywhere in Germany and, as of mid-2026, still not permitted here. That is about to change. What the new rules will allow, when, and the honest maths on what a plug-in kit actually saves.
Read guideBattery storage
Sizing, backup power, and getting the most out of stored energy.
How to size a home battery (without overpaying for capacity)
Bigger batteries make bigger savings, until suddenly they don't. How to work out the capacity your home will actually use, with worked examples for typical UK households.
Read guideWill your battery keep the lights on in a power cut?
Most home batteries switch off the moment the grid fails, which surprises a lot of owners. What backup actually requires, the three levels you can buy, and which systems offer what.
Read guideAxle Energy review: what my battery actually earned in two months
I put my FoxESS battery on Axle at the start of August 2026. Here is every payment it has made, the three dispatch modes, the £25 sign-up bonus, the free GivEnergy Premium, and why the £10 a month guarantee matters more than the headline rate.
Read guideCosts & finance
Grants, tariffs, export payments, and what things really cost.
Solar panel grants and funding in 2026
The Warm Homes Plan, ECO4, and every other source of government support available to UK homeowners considering solar panels this year.
Read guideBest time-of-use tariffs for home battery storage in 2026
Octopus Agile, Intelligent Octopus, Economy 7: which tariff works best with a home battery, how much can you save, and how do you switch?
Read guideExport certificates explained: from MCS certificate to getting paid
Installation day is not the finish line. There's a short paper trail between switching your system on and money arriving for your exported electricity. Here's each document and what to do with it.
Read guideWill your mortgage lender pay you for getting solar?
Several big UK lenders genuinely will: cashback for installing panels, interest-free green borrowing, and better deals once your energy rating improves. What's live in July 2026, what's quietly dead, and the small print that catches people out.
Read guideAxle Energy explained: getting paid to support the grid with your battery
Axle's virtual power plant pays battery owners for exporting during grid stress events, on top of your existing tariff. Who they are, what it genuinely pays, the tariff conflicts to check first, and how to connect in about five minutes.
Read guideEnergy price cap January 2027: how much will bills rise?
Forecasts for the January 2027 price cap run from 9% to 26%. What is confirmed, whose forecast to trust, whether to fix, and what a rise really does to solar payback.
Read guideMy solar and battery system: a summer of real bills
Ten panels and a 12 kWh battery on a London home. The July electricity bill finished £22.51 in credit. Here is every figure from the bills, where the solar went, how much of the result came from the tariff, and what one summer cannot tell you.
Read guideWhich mortgage lenders pay you for solar panels and batteries? Every UK scheme compared
Every UK mortgage lender with a reward for solar panels or a home battery, side by side: cashback amounts, 0% and discounted green borrowing, who qualifies, and which schemes have quietly ended. Checked against the lenders' own pages in October 2026.
Read guideWarm Homes Loan Scheme: cheaper loans for solar panels and batteries explained
The government-backed Warm Homes loans launched on 27 October 2026. Who can get one, how much you can borrow for solar and a battery, the 10 lenders offering them, how to apply, and whether a loan actually makes sense for you.
Read guideInstallation & paperwork
What happens before, during, and after installation day.
How to read your solar panel quote
What every line of an installer's proposal actually means: system size, yield estimates, payback calculations, inverter specs, and the small print that matters.
Read guideWhat is a DNO, and why does your solar installer need their permission?
Every solar and battery installation in the UK has to be cleared with your local electricity network operator. Here's who the DNO is, what G98 and G99 mean, and why none of it should worry you.
Read guideWhy inverter size matters more than panel count
The inverter is the least glamorous line on your quote and one of the most important. Why a 6kW array often comes with a 5kW inverter, what clipping is, and which inverter type suits your roof.
Read guideReady to get quotes?
3 minutes, up to 3 vetted, MCS-certified local installers, completely free.
Get free quotes