Solar & Battery Packages

The three packages above are our fixed starting points. If you are still comparing quotes, it helps to see the wider picture: what a fully installed solar and battery system typically costs in 2026 by size, how much of your annual electricity it can realistically cover, and what that is worth in pounds. I survey and price every job myself, so treat these as honest bands rather than quotes — your roof, access and consumer unit decide where you land within them.

Bands assume a well-oriented south-coast roof (roughly 950–1,050 kWh generated per kW installed per year in our area), a household using around 3,000–5,000 kWh annually, electricity at roughly 26p/kWh (the July–September 2026 price cap average), and a smart export tariff. Self-sufficiency is the share of your annual electricity you avoid buying from the grid. Actual figures depend on your usage pattern and tariff — I model yours properly at survey.

What moves you up or down within a band: roof construction (slate and in-roof systems cost more than standard on-roof), scaffolding and access, whether your consumer unit needs upgrading, bird protection, and hybrid versus AC-coupled battery wiring. A premium all-in-one system with integrated EV charging — like our SigEnergy package above — sits above the standard 5kW band because the EV charger and backup gateway are built in.

Two timing points worth knowing. First, installing panels and battery together is meaningfully cheaper than adding a battery later: one scaffold hire, one visit, and one hybrid inverter doing both jobs. Our battery storage cost guide breaks down retrofit pricing if you already have panels. Second, every price here includes 0% VAT, which is currently scheduled to end on 31 March 2027 — from 1 April 2027 the rate on domestic installations is due to revert to 5%, which would add several hundred pounds to a typical package.

The benefits list above tells you why a battery helps. Here is the arithmetic behind it, using mid-2026 rates. Without a battery, a typical household uses roughly 35–45% of what its panels generate — the rest exports to the grid because generation peaks at midday and usage peaks in the evening. A correctly sized battery lifts that to 70–80% or more. Three effects then stack:

• The export-versus-use spread. Grid electricity on a standard variable tariff costs around 26p/kWh as of mid-2026. The lowest Smart Export Guarantee tariffs pay as little as 3–4p/kWh for what you export, and even good flat export tariffs pay roughly 12–25p. Every unit you store at lunchtime and use at 7pm is worth the gap between those numbers. Current SEG rates change often — check our rates guide and confirm with your supplier before you commit.
• Time-of-use arbitrage. Smart tariffs sell overnight electricity at roughly 5–7p/kWh as of mid-2026 (rates vary by region and change frequently). A battery buys cheap at 2am and displaces ~26p daytime units — which is why a battery keeps earning through December and January, when solar generation on the south coast is at its lowest. Some time-of-use tariffs also pay a premium for evening export, so a battery can even earn by selling at peak. Our Octopus Agile solar and battery guide shows how I set this up on real systems.
• Backup — with an honest caveat. A battery does not automatically keep your house on during a power cut. That needs backup hardware (an EPS circuit or gateway) specified at design stage. Our SigEnergy systems switch over in 0ms for whole-home backup; other set-ups can protect essential circuits only. Tell me at survey if backup matters to you and I will design for it rather than bolt it on later.

Which battery makes the most of this depends on usable capacity, round-trip efficiency and how well it plays with smart tariffs — our best solar battery 2026 comparison puts the systems we install side by side on exactly those measures.

The most common sizing mistake I see on quotes from elsewhere is working from the roof — filling every square metre — instead of from your consumption. Your annual kWh figure is on your energy bill or in your supplier's app; that number, plus when you use it, decides the right package. As a reference point, the typical UK household uses around 2,700 kWh of electricity a year — homes with an EV or heat pump use far more.

Two honest sizing rules I work to. First, do not over-battery: a battery only pays its way when it cycles — a 13kWh unit in a 2,300 kWh home spends most of its life half-charged and stretches the payback for no benefit. All three brands we fit are modular, so starting right-sized and expanding later is a real option, not a sales line. Second, if an EV is on your horizon within a couple of years, size the solar array for it now (panels are the cheap part; scaffolding twice is not) — our EV charging with solar guide covers how charging from your own roof changes the numbers.

At the survey I go through 12 months of your bills, your smart meter data where available, and shade analysis of your actual roof before recommending a package — if a smaller system suits you better, that is what I will quote.

Is the 0% VAT on solar and battery installations ending?

What happened to GivEnergy, and why don't you fit it any more?

Will my battery keep the lights on in a power cut?

Can the battery charge from cheap overnight electricity in winter?