£7,600 for the panels and £4,600 for the battery. Those are the Energy Saving Trust’s national figures, and they are the most honest place to start a cost conversation about a Reigate home. Neither figure is our price, and neither is a quote. Our price comes from a survey of your roof and your usage. What these figures give you is a yardstick, and this guide shows how to use it, which local factors push a Reigate quote above or below it, and where the VAT window sits.
If you are mainly weighing up the battery, our Reigate battery storage guide covers where a unit goes, the RH2 grid and what PVGIS shows across the year.
The worked example
The Trust describes a typical home solar system as about 4.5 kWp, roughly twelve panels over 20 to 30 m² of roof, costing around £7,600 installed (updated 27 August 2026). For batteries it gives a range of £1,500 to £10,000, about £4,600 for a 5 kWh system, and says a typical home system might be 10 kWh (updated 19 August 2026).
| Item | National figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 4.5 kWp solar array | around £7,600 | Energy Saving Trust |
| 5 kWh battery | around £4,600 | Energy Saving Trust |
| Both together | about £12,200 | our arithmetic |
The Trust adds one point that matters for the sum. Fitting storage at the same time as panels costs less than coming back for a separate visit later, so a combined job should come in below two separate ones.
A second yardstick for the battery
If you are looking at a bigger battery, DESNZ’s MCS-certified battery statistics for 2025/26 are a useful check. They cover batteries fitted to existing homes, and their costs exclude any solar fitted at the same time.
- 1–5.99 kWh: mean £1,280 per kWh, average size 5.14 kWh, about £6,570 per job on our arithmetic.
- 6–10.99 kWh: mean £870 per kWh, average size 9.80 kWh, about £8,520.
- 11–29.99 kWh: mean £670 per kWh, average size 15.48 kWh, about £10,380.
The cost per kWh falls as batteries get bigger, but the total rises. Buy the capacity your evenings use, not the capacity that looks cheapest per unit. Our guide to solar panel payback time covers the other half of the sum.
What the panels would produce in Reigate
PVGIS estimates a 4 kWp array facing due south at 35°, with 14% losses, at about 4,033 kWh a year in Reigate. Scaling that to the Trust’s 4.5 kWp gives about 4,540 kWh (our arithmetic).
For comparison, Ofgem’s typical household uses 2,500 kWh a year. The monthly figures show why a battery matters: about 492 kWh in June but only 137 kWh in December. Summer surplus is what a battery stores. In winter there is little surplus to store. We do not turn these figures into a savings promise, because that depends on your tariff and when you use electricity.
The VAT window
Under HMRC’s VAT Notice 708/6, solar and battery installations in homes are zero-rated until 31 March 2027. Batteries qualify whether or not panels go on at the same visit. From 1 April 2027 the rate reverts to 5%, which adds £50 to every £1,000 of installation (our arithmetic). Our guide to VAT on solar panels and batteries covers the edge cases.
What moves a Reigate quote
- Planning work. Reigate town centre is one of the borough’s 25 conservation areas, and the council’s 2024 review added Blanford Road and extended Wray Common. Article 4 directions apply to most of the borough’s conservation areas. Grade I Reigate Priory heads a register where listed homes need consent. Designation checks take time, and design changes cost money.
- Grid paperwork. Reigate is in UK Power Networks’ South Eastern Power Networks area. Above 16 A (3.68 kW) per phase, counting the battery’s inverter, a G99 approval is needed before work starts. If the supply cannot take the load, UKPN may upgrade it first. The cost of that varies, and there is nothing to pay UKPN if no upgrade is needed.
- Scaffolding and roof form. A simple two-storey semi and a three-storey house with a complicated roof need different scaffolding, and the quote should list it.
- Battery size and location. A garage wall next to the consumer unit is simpler than a long cable run.
- Backup. A standard grid-tied battery shuts down in a power cut. Backup is extra equipment and should be priced as a separate line.
The housing helps. Reigate and Banstead’s 59,849 households at the 2021 Census included 17,720 in semi-detached homes, 16,679 in detached homes and 9,596 in terraced houses. Roughly three-quarters of the borough’s homes are houses with pitched roofs rather than flats, which keeps many Reigate jobs straightforward.
Routes that can change the bill
Reigate and Banstead is part of the Surrey-led Warm Homes: Local Grant consortium (GOV.UK, updated 2 July 2026). Surrey County Council’s guidance, reviewed on 8 October 2026, lists solar PV and battery storage among the measures. It needs an EPC of D to G and qualification through an eligible postcode, a means-tested benefit or an income of £36,000 or below. Owner occupiers are not expected to contribute.
Switch Together, formerly Solar Together, was not open in the borough on 16 October 2026. The council says it has run three times and helped hundreds of homes there.
For the panel side, see our solar panels Reigate page. For the rest of the county, see solar panels in Surrey.
Sources: Energy Saving Trust, Solar panels: costs, savings and benefits explained (updated 27 August 2026) and Battery storage (updated 19 August 2026); DESNZ, MCS-certified domestic battery installation statistics (28 May 2026); PVGIS 5.3 (European Commission JRC), SARAH3 2005–2023, run 15 October 2026; Ofgem, typical domestic consumption values (from 1 July 2026); HMRC VAT Notice 708/6; Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, About conservation areas, Planning Committee report (20 November 2024) and Solar Together; Historic England, list entry 1188089; UK Power Networks, Solar and storage: cost, time and what’s involved; ENA EREC G98 Issue 2; ONS Census 2021 (Reigate and Banstead); GOV.UK, Warm Homes: Local Grant successful local authorities; Surrey County Council, Warm Homes Local Grant guidance (reviewed 8 October 2026); Switch Together, Reigate and Banstead page (read 16 October 2026).