Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Martin Lewis issues solar panel savings tips for households

Related: Families missing out on up to £2,000 childcare support costs a year. Martin Lewis explains all
  • Money expert Martin Lewis has advised UK households on how they can maximise savings from solar panels.
  • While the average cost of solar panel installation is around £6,100, solar panels can save up to £350 annually on energy bills, with a typical break-even point of 10 years.
  • Approximately 1.5 million UK homes now feature solar panels, a significant increase of 500,000 since 2022, with solar panel grants and funding available to support installations, particularly for low-income households.
  • Homeowners with pre-installed solar panels can achieve further savings by understanding their tariff system, which depends on whether the panels were fitted before or after April 2019.
  • Those on the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) system (post-April 2019) should shop around for better export rates, while those on the older Feed-In Tariff (FIT) system (pre-April 2019) can switch to SEG for exports while retaining their higher FIT generation rates, potentially earning up to 30p per kWh.
In full

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in