Battery storage · Cost guide
How much does a solar battery cost in the UK?
Published UK guides put a home solar battery anywhere from around £3,000 to £10,000 installed in 2026, with VAT at 0%. That is a wide range because a battery is not one product: a small unit added to existing panels in a garage sits at one end, a large battery with a new hybrid inverter and electrical work at the other. This guide explains what moves the price. It isn’t a price list: after a survey, you get one document with the battery we recommend, why it suits your home, and the price.
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What UK homes pay
What UK homes pay in 2026.
The independent guides — the Energy Saving Trust, Which?, MCS and the larger installers’ own cost pages — broadly agree on a range of about £3,000 to £10,000 for a battery installed in a UK home, including VAT at 0%. The lower end is a smaller battery, enough to cover a typical evening, added to panels you already have, with the inverter kept and a short cable run. The upper end is a large battery for a home with an electric car or heat pump, a new hybrid inverter, and some electrical work to bring the installation up to standard.
A few rules of thumb hold across all the guides. Capacity is the biggest single factor, but the price per kWh falls as the battery gets bigger, so doubling the capacity rarely doubles the price. And prices have fallen a long way: the International Energy Agency puts the drop in lithium-ion battery cost at around 90% over 15 years.
What moves the price
Six things that set the price of a battery.
Where your home sits in the range comes down to these.
Capacity
The biggest factor. Each extra module adds cost, but the price per kWh falls as the system gets bigger, so a 10 kWh battery is rarely twice the price of a 5 kWh one.
Chemistry
Almost every home battery sold in the UK today uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP), which costs a little more than older lithium-ion types but lasts longer and runs cooler.
Whether you need a new inverter
If your inverter can’t take a battery, you either add an AC-coupled battery with its own inverter or replace it with a hybrid. A hybrid costs more up front; an AC-coupled unit adds less because the old inverter stays in service.
Where it goes
A battery in the garage next to the consumer unit is a short cable run. The loft or an outbuilding means more cable, more labour and sometimes a sub-board.
Electrical upgrades
An older consumer unit, tired earthing or a full board can all need work before the battery is signed off. This varies most from house to house, and is why a survey comes before a price.
Grid approval
Systems over 3.68 kW per phase need G99 approval from your network operator. The application is free, but installers may charge for handling it and the network operator can take four to eight weeks to answer.
Adding a battery to existing panels
Adding a battery to panels you already have.
This is the most common battery job, and there are two ways to do it.
AC-coupled
The battery has its own small inverter and connects on the AC side, after your existing solar inverter, which stays in service. Nothing on the roof changes. It’s usually the cheaper route and most jobs take half a day to a day. The trade-off is a little more energy lost in conversion, which one guide puts at up to 10%.
A new hybrid inverter
Your solar inverter is replaced with one that manages the panels and the battery together. It costs more up front, but if your inverter is already 10–15 years old, replacing it now can be the sensible order of work.
We fit batteries to any installer’s system, whatever brand of inverter is on the wall. Because repair is the core of what we do, we look at what you have before we recommend anything; if the inverter has years left in it, we’ll say so. See solar battery storage for how the survey and quote work, or solar panel installations if you’re starting from scratch.
What it saves
What a battery saves depends on your tariff.
It depends on your tariff and how you use electricity, and the published estimates vary a lot.
On a flat-rate tariff, a battery added to existing solar mainly stops you exporting cheap daytime power and buying it back dear in the evening. The independent estimates for that alone are modest — low hundreds of pounds a year for a typical household — and on their own they make for a long payback.
On a time-of-use tariff the picture changes. The battery charges from the grid at the cheap overnight rate and you use or export the stored power when prices are high. Tariffs such as Octopus Flux, for example, have a cheap overnight window and a peak export rate in the early evening, and the guides put the saving on this kind of tariff at several times the flat-rate figure. A complete solar-and-battery system saves more again because the panels do most of the work. The tariff you’re on matters as much as the battery, and we’ll talk that through at the survey.
Exported electricity still earns Smart Export Guarantee payments if your system is MCS certified. The SEG minimum is low and the better export tariffs pay several times more, so it’s worth shopping for the export rate as well as the import rate.
How long batteries last
Expect to replace a battery once over the life of the panels.
Most guides put a lithium home battery at 10–12 years of full performance, some as long as 15. Manufacturers typically warrant their batteries for 10 years, often to a stated number of cycles (6,000 or more is common) or to a minimum remaining capacity of about 70% at the end of the term. Because solar panels last 25 years or more, expect to replace the battery at least once over the life of the panels, and budget on that basis.
How to get a real price
From the first call to one written quote.
There’s no price list, because every home and every system is different.
Tell us what you need
Call 0800 156 0191 or use the quote form, and tell us about your home and any panels you already have.
An engineer surveys
They check your inverter, your consumer unit and where the battery can go.
One document
The battery we recommend, why it suits your home, and the price, in writing before any work starts.
Questions
The things people ask before they ring.
Not answered here? Call 0800 156 0191, Monday to Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm.
Are solar batteries worth it in the UK?
For most homes, yes if you’re on a time-of-use tariff or you already have panels and export a lot of daytime power. On a flat tariff with a small system, the saving is small and payback is long. The real answer comes from your own usage and tariff, which is what the survey works out.
How long do solar batteries last?
Typically 10–12 years at full performance, with manufacturers commonly warranting 10 years or a set number of cycles. Expect to replace a battery once during the 25-year-plus life of the panels.
What size solar battery do I need?
A medium-use home (about 2,500 kWh a year, Ofgem’s typical figure) usually suits a 5–6 kWh battery. Households that work from home, run an electric car or heat pump, or want to make the most of cheap overnight rates usually need 10 kWh or more. We size it to how your household actually uses electricity, not to a rule of thumb. Our guide what size solar battery do I need? shows how it’s worked out.
Can solar batteries be installed outside in the UK?
Some can. Units rated IP65 or higher are built for outdoor mounting, but cold reduces performance and most manufacturers set a working range of around −10°C to 50°C. A garage, utility room or sheltered wall is usually the better spot. The engineer confirms the location at survey.
How much does it cost to add a battery to existing solar panels?
It usually sits at the lower end of the range above, because your panels, and often your inverter, stay in place. An AC-coupled battery next to the consumer unit is the simplest job; a new hybrid inverter or electrical upgrades add to it. The survey shows which applies to your home.
Will adding a battery affect my Feed-in Tariff payments?
Not if it’s installed correctly. Your generation meter must only record what the panels produce, so the battery is wired so it can’t be counted on that meter, and you let your FIT supplier know about the change. On most FIT systems export is deemed at 50% of generation, so storing power in a battery doesn’t reduce your export payment (it can if you have a smart export meter). Want to check your payments look right? Use our FIT payment check.
Is there VAT on solar batteries?
Not at the moment. Since 1 February 2024, battery storage fitted to an existing solar system, or on its own, has been zero-rated for VAT in Great Britain. HMRC’s guidance says the 0% rate runs until 31 March 2027, after which it’s due to revert to the reduced 5% rate unless the government extends it.
Ready when you are
Tell us about your system.
A survey, a battery sized to your home and a clear written quote. Mon–Fri 9:00am–5:00pm.