Are solar panels worth it in 2026? Record sunshine and a higher price cap

Are solar panels worth it in 2026? Two numbers that landed within days of each other this summer sharpen the answer. The Met Office confirmed that 2025 was the UK’s sunniest year since records began in 1910. And from 1 July 2026, the Ofgem price cap sets electricity at 26.11p a unit. One is about how much a system generates. The other is about what each of those units is worth. Both moved in the direction that favours solar.

Record sunshine means more generation

The Met Office confirmed 2025 as the UK’s warmest and sunniest year on record, with 1,648.5 hours of sunshine across the year, beating the previous record set in 2003 by 61.4 hours in a series that goes back to 1910. England had its sunniest year ever recorded, and Scotland and Wales their second sunniest. The pattern was driven by frequent high pressure keeping cloud cover down.

For solar, that shows up in the national figures. Solar generation met over 6% of Britain’s electricity across 2025, an increase of almost 50% on recent years. Panels generate from daylight, so a sunnier year lifts the total a system produces. No single year decides what a roof does over its 25-year life, but the resource is clearly there, and it is being tapped harder each year.

Generation is not flat across the calendar, though, and that matters for how a system is sized.

Higher electricity prices make each unit worth more

From 1 July 2026 the Ofgem price cap rose 13% to £1,862 a year for a typical household, with the electricity unit rate set at 26.11p per kWh and a standing charge of 57.19p a day.

One point worth being straight about: that 13% headline was driven mainly by gas, which rose around 24%. The electricity element went up about 5%. Since solar offsets electricity rather than gas, the figure that actually drives the solar sum is the unit rate itself, and at 26.11p it remains high by any pre-2022 standard.

That unit rate is the lever. Every kWh your panels generate and you use in the home is a kWh you are not buying from the grid at 26.11p. Every kWh you do not need is sold back through the Smart Export Guarantee. The higher the grid price sits, the more each self-generated unit is worth.

So, are solar panels worth it in 2026?

For most homes with a decent roof, the answer in 2026 is yes, with the honest caveat that it always comes down to your own numbers. Renting, or no usable roof? From 27 August 2026 plug-in solar offers a smaller, self-install route into generation; what changed for balcony and garden kits covers the rules. The market figures do not change the household calculation on their own, and pretending otherwise would be the wrong way to sell it. What a system saves you depends on your roof, your usage pattern, and your export tariff. What the last month has changed is the backdrop those numbers sit against: more generation potential, and a higher value on every unit.

At 26.11p a unit, self-consumed generation and exported surplus both carry real value, and for many homes those solar panel savings add up to hundreds of pounds a year off the electricity bill. We do not put a single figure on it here, because the only number that means anything is the one run against your actual usage. The online quote tool sizes a system to your home and gives you an estimate, with no survey needed to see it.

If you want the wider picture first, the solar and battery storage hub covers the product specifics, our guide on whether battery storage is worth it works through the export-versus-self-consumption maths, and the UK passing 2 million solar installations sets out how fast the market is moving. The reasons to install have been stacking up for two years: 0% VAT until March 2027, an export tariff that pays for surplus, and electricity prices that have not come back down. A record-sunshine year and a fresh price cap rise are the latest two to land on the pile.

Last updated: 1 October 2026