Search for solar panels in Horsham and the results tell you what people are really trying to work out. Alongside installers’ own sites sit a council news story about the Solar Together scheme, trader directories, a consumer body’s trusted-trader listings and neighbours swapping recommendations. The underlying question is less “who installs solar?” than “who can I trust to do it properly?” This checklist sets out what to verify, and where to verify it, before you sign anything.
1. Certification you can check on the register
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme is the standard for small-scale renewable installations, and MCS runs a Find an Installer tool on its own website. Look the company up there rather than relying on a logo in a footer.
Certification also has a direct financial consequence. GOV.UK’s guidance on the Smart Export Guarantee says that to receive a tariff for electricity you export, you need to show your installation and installer are certified through MCS or a scheme accredited as equivalent, such as the Flexi-Orb renewables scheme, and you need a meter capable of half-hourly export readings.
2. A consumer code with real protections
Certification covers technical standards. A consumer code covers how you are treated as a customer. HIES, for example, says its accredited installers operate under a Consumer Code approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, and it lists deposit and stage-payment protection, insurance-backed guarantees and alternative dispute resolution among its protections for homeowners. Ask which code an installer belongs to, then check the membership on that body’s own site.
3. Who deals with UK Power Networks
Every grid-connected system in Horsham has to be registered with UK Power Networks, whose South Eastern licence area includes the RH12 and RH13 postcodes. A system whose inverters total no more than 16 A (3.68 kW) per phase can be installed and then notified under G98. A larger one — which is where many solar-and-battery designs end up — needs a G99 application assessed before installation. The installer should handle it and should tell you at the quote stage which route your design needs.
4. Planning checks for Horsham’s older streets
Horsham district has 39 conservation areas, 17 of them with adopted character statements including Horsham Town Centre, and the council’s own guidance lists adding solar panels among the alterations that may need planning permission there. Listed buildings always need consent.
The town’s most distinctive roofs deserve a specific mention. The historic cottages of The Causeway are roofed in Horsham Stone, a local sandstone whose present-day sources SPAB describes as very scarce. Those roofs are for conserving, not drilling. A careful installer raises this at the first conversation and looks at alternatives — another roof slope, an outbuilding, or whether solar suits the property at all — rather than finding it out on scaffolding. For planning questions in the district, the council’s planning team is the place to ask.
5. Reviews you can weigh
Recommendations from neighbours are valuable because they come from real jobs. Directory reviews vary in how they are checked. Which? Trusted Traders, for instance, says the traders it lists have passed an assessment by its trading standards professionals and that it moderates the reviews it publishes. Whatever the source, look for reviews that describe the survey, the paperwork and the aftercare, not just the price.
6. A quote you can compare line by line
Horsham households have had a group-buying route to compare against. The Sussex scheme that West Sussex County Council led with iChoosr from 2020 now trades as Switch Together, but when we checked on 17 September 2026 its Horsham solar page said it was not active in the area yet and invited residents to register their interest. In the 2021 round, homeowners across Sussex saved an average of 27% on solar panels and 37% on battery storage, according to the scheme’s partner councils.
A group-buy offer and an installer’s quote are only comparable on the same specification. Line them up on panel count and wattage, inverter make and size, battery capacity, scaffolding, the G98 or G99 submission, the workmanship and product warranties, and what happens if something goes wrong. The cheapest headline figure is not always the better installation.
Our own details, so you can check them
Home Comfort Enterprises is NAPIT member 73495, MCS-certified for solar PV via NAPIT, and a member of the HIES Consumer Code, HCE/A/1392. Our solar panels Horsham page covers the town’s planning picture, the network and a PVGIS generation estimate for Horsham itself, and the savings calculator lets you test your own usage before you talk to anyone — us included.
Sources: MCS, Find an Installer; GOV.UK, Smart Export Guarantee: earn money for exporting the renewable electricity you have generated; HIES, homeowner protections (read 17 September 2026); Energy Networks Association, EREC G98 and G99; UK Power Networks; Horsham District Council, conservation areas and planning guidance; SPAB, Horsham Stone; Which? Trusted Traders, how we assess traders; West Sussex County Council, decision ECC11 (24/25); Switch Together, Horsham page (read 17 September 2026).