Solar · Battery · EV — Surrey
Solar Panels Reigate
Solar panels, battery storage and EV chargers for homes in and around Reigate — designed from your actual usage, installed by an MCS-certified team, and explained in plain English before you commit to anything.
Reigate sits at the foot of the North Downs, where the chalk escarpment rises at Reigate Hill and Gatton Park — a National Trust site and Site of Special Scientific Interest about a mile from the station — while the town itself spreads across the lower ground on the ridge's southern side. At its heart is Priory Park and Grade I-listed Reigate Priory, founded as an Augustinian priory in the first half of the 13th century, a few hundred yards from a town centre that is itself a designated conservation area. Layers like these are exactly why solar in Reigate rewards a little homework before anyone fixes a bracket to a roof.
We quote for homes in and around Reigate — from Wray Common and South Park out to Woodhatch, Dovers Green and Reigate Heath — and the honest starting point is the same here as anywhere: solar works across the UK, and whether it works for you comes down to your roof, how you use electricity, and whether battery storage earns its place alongside the panels. This is a steadily growing market town, 23,788 people in the built-up area at the 2021 census and up at every count since 2001, sitting within Surrey's most populated borough — and a good share of its roofs suit an array well. Where a roof does not, we would rather say so plainly than talk you into it.
What follows is the genuinely local picture: the conservation-area and Article 4 position, why the Green Belt matters here, which network operator takes RH2 connection notifications, and the council-backed group-buying scheme worth knowing about. For the ground between towns, our Surrey solar page covers the wider county.
Solar on Reigate's housing
Reigate and Banstead counted 59,849 households at the 2021 census, and the shape of that stock is favourable for rooftop solar. Semi-detached homes (17,720 households) and detached homes (16,679) are the two most common accommodation types, with terraced houses adding another 9,596 — put together, roughly three-quarters of the borough's homes are houses with usable pitched roof area rather than flats, and a pitched roof with a clear south, east or west slope is the straightforward canvas most solar surveys hope to find.
Tenure points the same way. At the 2021 census, 71.1% of the borough's households owned their home outright or with a mortgage — down a little from 73.0% in 2011, with private renting up from 12.9% to 15.7% — so most Reigate households can make their own roof decisions without a landlord or freeholder in the chain. It is also a growing place: the borough's household count rose 8.0% between 2011 and 2021, the largest household growth of any Surrey district, while Reigate's built-up area has climbed steadily for two decades, from 21,265 people in 2001 to 22,552 in 2011 and 23,788 in 2021.
The counterweight is heritage. Reigate town centre is one of the borough's 25 conservation areas, the council's 2024 review designated more — Blanford Road in Reigate among them, alongside an extended Wray Common — and Article 4 directions served on most of the borough's conservation areas control external changes to dwelling houses. On the older streets, in other words, panel siting is something to check before a quote is written, not after; and listed homes, led by Grade I Reigate Priory, always need listed building consent before panels can be fitted.
What Reigate and Banstead Borough Council is doing
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2024 commits the council to net zero by 2030 for the carbon emissions its own operations produce, and its main actions read like a rooftop-first agenda: 'Install solar PV on roofs of suitable Council buildings' is listed alongside continuing to promote grants and group-buying schemes that help residents and businesses decarbonise the borough's buildings. The group-buying route that matters in practice is Solar Together, the Surrey-wide scheme in which Surrey County Council works with iChoosr to select a vetted supplier at scale — the council says it has run three times and benefited hundreds of homes in the borough, and points residents to the next round in 2026 under its new name, Switch Together. Registering for a group scheme and getting an independent quote are not mutually exclusive; comparing the two is a sensible way to decide.
Planning context matters more in Reigate than in most Surrey towns. Approximately 70% of the borough is Green Belt — a constraint the 2024 Local Plan review pairs with the Mole Gap to Reigate Escarpment Special Area of Conservation and the Surrey Hills National Landscape — which is precisely why new solar capacity in and around Reigate overwhelmingly means existing rooftops rather than ground-mounted development. For individual homes, the practical check is the conservation-area map: with Article 4 directions on most of the borough's conservation areas, a quick look at the council's 'Where I Live' tool before quoting saves everyone a planning surprise later.
Local facts, sourced
Reigate in numbers
Every figure below comes from a named public source — the same standard we hold our savings estimates to.
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Reigate town centre is a designated conservation area — one of 25 in Reigate and Banstead borough, with further areas added in the council's 2024 conservation area review — and Article 4 directions have been served on most of the borough's conservation areas controlling external changes to dwelling houses, so roof-mounted solar in the historic core needs a planning check first.
Source: Reigate and Banstead Borough Council — About conservation areas; count from RBBC Planning Committee report, 20 Nov 2024
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Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2024 commits the council to net zero by 2030 for the carbon emissions its own operations produce, with 'Install solar PV on roofs of suitable Council buildings' listed as a main action alongside continuing to promote grants and group-buying schemes to residents and businesses to decarbonise the borough's buildings.
Source: Reigate and Banstead Borough Council — Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2024 summary
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Reigate and Banstead participates in the Surrey-wide Solar Together group-buying scheme, in which Surrey County Council works with iChoosr to select a vetted supplier at scale; the council says the scheme has run three times and benefited hundreds of homes in the borough, and points residents to the next round — renamed Switch Together — in 2026.
Source: Reigate and Banstead Borough Council — Solar Together, My sustainable home
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Reigate's built-up area was home to 23,788 people at the 2021 census, up from 22,552 in 2011 and 21,265 in 2001 — a steadily growing market town in Reigate and Banstead, Surrey's most populated borough (150,852 residents in 2021).
Source: City Population, from ONS census data — Reigate built-up area; borough comparison from Surrey-i 2021 Census first results
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Homes in Reigate connect to the grid through UK Power Networks, whose South Eastern Power Networks (SPN) licence area covers south London, Kent, Sussex and parts of Surrey — so G98/G99 notifications for solar and battery export connections in RH2 go to UK Power Networks rather than SSEN, which serves west Surrey.
Source: UK Power Networks — operating areas; SPN licence boundary via UKPN Open Data
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Approximately 70% of Reigate and Banstead borough is Green Belt — a constraint the council's 2024 Local Plan review pairs with the Mole Gap to Reigate Escarpment Special Area of Conservation and the Surrey Hills National Landscape — so in and around Reigate, new solar capacity overwhelmingly means existing rooftops rather than ground-mounted development.
Source: Review of Reigate & Banstead Local Plan: Development Management Plan, 2024
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The North Downs chalk escarpment rises immediately north of the town at Reigate Hill and Gatton Park — a National Trust site designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, about a mile from Reigate station — with the town itself sitting on lower ground at the foot of the ridge's southern side.
Source: National Trust — Reigate Hill and Gatton Park
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Reigate's heritage stock is led by Grade I-listed Reigate Priory, founded as an Augustinian priory in the first half of the 13th century and set in Priory Park a few hundred yards from the town centre; listed buildings need listed building consent before panels can be fitted, and the borough publishes its statutory register of listed buildings online to check.
Source: Historic England — Reigate Priory, list entry 1188089, Grade I; Reigate and Banstead Borough Council — Listed buildings register
Data last reviewed: July 2026
Where we work around Reigate
We quote for homes in and around Reigate, including Woodhatch, South Park, Wray Common, Reigate Heath, Dovers Green, Gatton and Sidlow, across the RH2 postcode district. Every quote starts with a free survey of your actual roof and usage — if solar wouldn't pay its way on your home, we'll say so plainly. Try the numbers first on our savings calculator, or read how we approach installations across Surrey.
Reigate solar questions
Do I need planning permission for solar panels in Reigate?
For most Reigate homes, roof-mounted solar is permitted development — but Reigate is a town where the exceptions genuinely matter. The town centre is a designated conservation area, one of 25 in the borough with more added in the council's 2024 review (including Blanford Road and an extended Wray Common), and Article 4 directions have been served on most of the borough's conservation areas, controlling external changes to houses. The council's 'Where I Live' map is the quickest way to check your street, and listed buildings — Grade I Reigate Priory heads the borough's online register — always need listed building consent. We check designations before quoting, not after.
Which electricity network handles solar connections in Reigate?
Reigate sits in UK Power Networks' South Eastern (SPN) licence area, which covers south London, Kent, Sussex and this part of Surrey — so the G98 notification for a standard home solar system, or a G99 application for a larger one with battery export, goes to UK Power Networks. That is worth knowing because west Surrey is served by a different operator, SSEN, and online guidance written for towns like Guildford or Woking will name the wrong network for RH2. Your installer handles the paperwork either way; it is nothing you need to arrange yourself.
Is there a council-backed solar scheme in Reigate?
Yes. Reigate and Banstead participates in Solar Together, the Surrey-wide group-buying scheme in which Surrey County Council works with iChoosr to select a vetted supplier at scale. The council says the scheme has run three times and benefited hundreds of homes in the borough, and it points residents to the next round in 2026 under its new name, Switch Together. Registering for the group scheme and getting an independent quote are not mutually exclusive — comparing the two is a perfectly sensible way to decide, and we are happy to be one of the numbers you compare.
Does the Green Belt stop me fitting solar panels near Reigate?
No — Green Belt status restricts new development, not panels on an existing house. Roughly 70% of Reigate and Banstead borough is Green Belt, and the council's 2024 Local Plan review pairs that with the Mole Gap to Reigate Escarpment Special Area of Conservation and the Surrey Hills National Landscape — which is why new solar capacity around Reigate overwhelmingly means existing rooftops rather than ground-mounted arrays. If your home is in Gatton, Sidlow or out towards Reigate Heath, a roof-mounted system is normally still permitted development; layered designations are simply what a pre-quote planning check is for.
Can I put solar panels on a listed building in Reigate?
Only with listed building consent, and approval is far from automatic — the test is the effect on the building's special character, so consent for visible roof panels on a historic frontage is often refused, though a concealed roof slope or an outbuilding can sometimes succeed. Reigate's register runs from Grade I Reigate Priory downwards, and the borough publishes its statutory list of listed buildings online so you can check your property before going further. If your home is listed, our honest advice is to have that planning conversation first — it decides whether a survey is worth your time at all.
Nearby
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