Sun worshipper
Solar panels on your roof convert sunlight into electricity and is one of the easiest ways for you to slash your energy bills and your carbon footprint. You don’t have to have a south-facing roof and plenty of sunshine to benefit (although they are ideal conditions for generating electricity), but your installer will be able to advise you on the number of panels and their ideal position on the roof. The cost of installation can be off-putting, but prices have fallen over the past decade. Today the average price of an average domestic solar PV system is around £6,000, but this would be affected by a number of factors: your choice of installer, the quality of your panels, the size of the array, ease of roof access and whether you choose building-integrated panels or panels that sit on top of your roof. There’s currently 0% VAT on solar panels and you could also benefit from the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) which will pay you for all the electricity that’s exported back to the grid. (SEG is not available to residents in Northern Ireland.) For more information on SEG, click here.
