A well-sized solar panel system cuts the average UK household energy bill by £400 to £1,500 a year. Add a battery, a solar diverter, and a time-of-use tariff, and that figure climbs further. Here are six practical ways to get the most from your system.
1. Generate Your Own Electricity
Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity your home uses directly. Every unit you generate and use yourself is a unit you don't buy from the grid at 26.32p/kWh under the Ofgem price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026.
A 4kW system generates around 3,600kWh per year in the UK. At current rates, that's worth roughly £948 in avoided grid electricity. With battery storage boosting self-consumption from around 40% to 70-80%, the annual saving rises from about £380 to roughly £660-£760, before any SEG income.
Run your high-draw appliances (washing machines, dishwashers, kettles) during daylight hours and you pull directly from your panels rather than the grid. No bill, no standing charge on those units.
2. Store Cheap Off-Peak Electricity with a Battery
A home battery does two jobs: it stores surplus solar energy for use at night, and it stores cheap off-peak grid electricity when your panels aren't generating enough.
On Octopus Go, the overnight off-peak rate in Southern England is 9.40p/kWh from 00:30 to 05:30. Intelligent Octopus Go customers pay 6.5p/kWh overnight. Charge a 9.5kWh battery at 9.40p and it costs 89p. Use that same energy at the standard rate of 26.32p and it would have cost £2.50. That's a saving of £1.61 from a single overnight charge.
Run this daily through winter, when solar generation is low, and the battery pays for itself faster than most people expect. You don't even need solar panels to benefit. A standalone battery on a time-of-use tariff saves money on its own.
3. Divert Surplus Solar to Your Hot Water
Most solar panel systems export 10-20% of what they generate back to the grid. On a 4kW system, that's around 360-720kWh per year leaving your home at SEG rates rather than doing useful work.
A solar diverter (such as an iBoost) intercepts that surplus and sends it to your hot water cylinder instead. Heating water from a surplus that would otherwise export at 5-15p/kWh, rather than using your immersion heater at 26.32p/kWh, saves around £95-£190 a year depending on your system size and hot water usage.
If you have a hot water tank and solar panels, a diverter is one of the cheapest upgrades you can add.
4. Charge Your Electric Car on Solar Power
The average UK driver covers around 8,100 miles a year. At 26.32p/kWh and 2 to 3.5 miles per kWh depending on the car, home EV charging costs 7.5-13p per mile, adding £610 to £1,070 to your annual energy bill.
Charge from your solar panels during the day and that cost drops close to zero. Pair solar with Intelligent Octopus Go at 6.5p/kWh for overnight top-ups and your cost per mile falls to around 2-3p. On 8,100 miles, that's a saving of £460 to £800 a year compared with standard rate charging.
A home EV charger costs £800-£1,200 installed. Combined with solar, most EV drivers recover that cost within two years.
5. Sell Surplus Electricity Back to the Grid
When your battery is full and your home's demand is met, surplus electricity exports to the grid. The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) pays you for every unit you send.
In 2026, the best SEG rates are:
- EDF Export Exclusive 12m v3: 18p/kWh (fixed, 12-month term, for solar or batteries EDF installs)
- Good Energy Solar Savings Exclusive: 25p/kWh (with battery storage, eligible customers)
- OVO: 20p/kWh (with OVO solar package and battery)
- Octopus Outgoing: 12p/kWh (variable)
Bear in mind that these top rates are limited and conditional. They are often only available when you buy your solar system from that supplier, or require a specific battery or solar package, and may be restricted to eligible customers. Most widely-available SEG rates are lower, and rates vary by supplier and change over time, so check current terms before choosing.
A 4kW system exporting around 10% of its generation earns roughly £90 a year on a 25p/kWh tariff. Choose your SEG supplier carefully. The difference between 5p and 25p/kWh adds up significantly over 25 years.
6. Reduce Your Business or Home Energy Bills Long-Term
The average UK household pays £1,723 a year on energy under the October 2026 price cap. Solar panels reduce how much of that you buy from the grid. A battery reduces it further. A diverter, EV charger, and a smart SEG tariff together can cover a large portion of your remaining bill.
Over 25 years at current prices, a 4kW system with battery storage saves most households between £16,500 and £19,000 before any SEG income, with a payback period of 10-13 years. The panels themselves typically last 30-40 years.
For business owners, the savings scale with consumption. Commercial solar installations can eliminate the majority of daytime electricity costs, with any surplus exported or stored for evening use.
Gas standing charges are going: what it means for you (November 2026)
At the Budget on 28 October 2026, the government said it will ask Ofgem to remove gas standing charges in 2027, or as soon as possible after. The typical household pays about £108 a year in gas standing charges, currently 29.68p a day.
The cost doesn’t disappear. It moves into the gas unit rate, so you pay it per unit of gas rather than per day. The government expects around 60% of households to save, by about £45 a year on average. Homes that use a lot of gas could pay more.
Electricity standing charges are not changing, at 54.83p a day under the current price cap. What you can control is how much electricity you import, which is where solar, a battery and a diverter come in.
What a Solar System Costs in 2026
CRG Direct offers full installations from £7,123, including MCS certificate, mounting kit, and HIES guarantee. Scaffolding is £550 for each side of the house that needs it, on top.
| Package | Starts From |
|---|---|
| 8 Panel System + Inverter | £7,123 |
| 10 Panel System + Inverter + 5.32kWh Battery | £8,716 |
| 5.32kWh Battery + 3.6kW Inverter | £7,960 |
Get a free quote → or call 0330 133 2497
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"From start to finish we found CRG helpful, professional and the workmanship excellent.", Iain, CRG Solar Customer
