See what a kit could save you
Choose a kit and tell us who's home in the day. See your yearly saving, the total over 10 and 20 years, and the carbon you'd save.
Checked 4 November 2026
Making the most of North East sun
The North East gets a similar amount of sun over a year to the North West, where the Energy Saving Trust's figure comes from, and long summer days up here mean the panels are working from early morning to late evening.
The biggest thing you control is when you use power. Run the washing machine, dishwasher or tumble dryer while the sun's out and you'll use more of what the kit makes, which is how a busy family home gets to the top of the range.
Where the numbers come from
| Assumption | Figure we use | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly generation, 800W kit | About 700 kWh (south-facing, 30°, unshaded, North West England) | Energy Saving Trust: plug-in solar panels, updated 1 October 2026 |
| Bigger kits (over 800W of panels) | Panel power × 875 kWh per kW, less a fifth of the extra above 800W | Our estimate, from the Energy Saving Trust figure |
| Share used at home | 40% to 70%, depending on who's home in the day (70% = busy four-person home) | Worked out from Energy Saving Trust figures; 70% is our busy-household example |
| Unit rate | 26.32p per kWh, 1 October to 31 December 2026 (Direct Debit, GB average) | Ofgem price cap, announced 26 August 2026. The next cap is announced on 25 November 2026 |
| Electricity sent to the grid | Counted as zero | Self-installed plug-in kits generally don't qualify for export payments |
| Most a kit sends into your home | 799VA (3.5A), every kit | The maker's datasheets |
| Direction and shade | Not modelled | We don't have sourced figures for other directions or for shade yet, so we don't guess them. Facing away from south, or shade, means less |
| 10 and 20-year totals | Today's unit rate, panels losing 0.5% a year | Our assumption |
| Carbon saved | 0.131kg CO₂e per kWh used at home | UK Government GHG conversion factors 2026 |
This is an estimate, not a promise. Your result will vary with location, shade and when you use electricity.
How it's worked out
- Generation. We start from the Energy Saving Trust's figure of about 700 kWh a year for an 800W kit (south-facing, 30° tilt, unshaded, Manchester). Kits with less than 800W of panels scale down. Kits with more make extra power in the mornings, evenings and on duller days, but are held to 800W at midday, so we scale them up by panel power less a fifth of the extra: about 850 kWh a year for the Plus 1030W and 980 kWh for the Max 1260W.
- Use at home. Only electricity your home uses as it's made saves you money. We use 70% for a busy family home (four people, someone in all day, washing machine and dishwasher run in daylight), 58% if you're home most of the day, 49% if you're in and out, and 40% if you're usually out all day.
- 10 and 20 years. We add up the yearly saving at today's unit rate, allowing for the panels losing 0.5% of their output each year. If electricity prices rise, you'd save more.
- Carbon. Every kWh you use from your panels instead of the grid saves about 0.131kg of CO₂e, the UK Government's 2026 figure for grid electricity.
Saving = yearly generation × share used at home × unit rate, rounded to the nearest £5. You can put in your own generation figure and unit rate.