How you can switch to solar for £0 upfront

What's Sunsave Plus and why did we launch it?

Over 70% of UK households want to go solar, but so far only 5% have done so.

But there’s one huge problem: the average solar system costs £10,270, and half of UK households have less than £5,000 in savings.

We've created Sunsave Plus, the UK’s first solar subscription, to make solar accessible to all UK households.

It doesn’t require a one-off lump sum, which negates the high upfront cost of solar. Instead, you can pay for solar with a fixed monthly payment – and save on your energy bills immediately.

You won’t have to worry about maintenance either, since you’ll be protected by the 20-year Sunsave Guarantee, which offers 24/7 monitoring and maintenance support, downtime cover, and a free battery upgrade. Your system will also be fully insured by Aviva.

Here are the four key reasons why Sunsave Plus has come at just the right time for people all over the country:

1. High upfront costs
2. Rising electricity bills
3. Instant payback
4. Lack of maintenance support

Here's a little more detail on each one.

1. High upfront costs

70% of UK households want to go solar, but so far only 5% have done so. That's an enormous gap, and the main reason is the upfront cost of buying solar panels is prohibitively high for most people. The average solar & battery system today costs £10,270, whereas one half of UK households have less than £5,000 in savings, according to the FCA.

Sunsave Plus means you can own a solar & battery system without paying anything upfront, and instead make fixed monthly payments for 20 years. You'll instantly start saving on your energy bills and sell any excess energy to the grid.

In many cases, your energy bill savings could exceed your monthly payments to Sunsave, meaning more money in your pocket.

2. Rising electricity bills

The electrification of the UK's transport and heating will continue to accelerate over the coming decades, which will increase the price of electricity for homes all over the country.

Electricity is already expensive, and the price continued to grow with the April 2025 price cap, which raised energy bills by 6.4% – a £111 increase in your annual costs.

This is mostly due to geopolitical turbulence and our reliance on gas, and unfortunately, energy suppliers have predicted that prices will continue to grow throughout 2025.

It's more worrying than that, though. Energy prices are set to stay high until the late 2030s, according to energy consultancy Cornwall Insight.

This is largely down to the country's shift from fossil fuels to renewable sources, which will lead to our electricity usage growing by 50% between 2020 and 2035, according to the Climate Change Committee.

If the UK doesn't generate enough electricity to meet this increased demand, the price will go up – which seems likely at this point. Solar energy is the perfect solution for many homes.

3. Instant payback

Usually, solar panels are a long-term investment that involves paying a high upfront cost to eventually recoup this in the form of savings.

A UK household will break even on a solar & battery system in 8.1 years, on average. This figure is based on a sample of over 150 systems installed by Sunsave across England and Wales.

Many households can’t afford the thousands of pounds it takes to buy a system, though – but with Sunsave Plus, you can get one installed with no upfront cost, and start saving straight away.

Your solar & battery system will immediately start cutting your energy bills, and you’ll be able to generate additional income by selling electricity to the grid through an export tariff.

In many cases, your energy bill savings and export income will exceed your fixed monthly payments, meaning you’ll make a net saving each year.

The example below shows a four-bedroom solar household in Essex that uses 4,000kWh of electricity per year.

On average, this household pays £100 per month for electricity, but with savings and export income from solar, it falls to -£33 per month – so the home is now earning money. Taking into account the £96 per month Sunsave Plus payments, the household's total spend on electricity is now £63 per month – a £37 per month saving.

In a year, this household now spends £756 on electricity instead of £1,200, saving £444.

What's unique about Sunsave Plus?

The Sunsave Guarantee

Every Sunsave Plus subscription comes with the Sunsave Guarantee – a comprehensive 20-year support and aftercare package that provides you with total peace of mind.

Once installed, you can rest assured that you’ll have a consistent supply of clean, green electricity for the next 20 years. It includes:

• A 30-year performance warranty on your solar panels
• A free battery replacement once it performs at less than 70% of its original capacity – which typically happens after 10-12 years
• A free inverter replacement whenever required (usually after 10-12 years)
• 24/7 monitoring of your system, including alerting you if something isn’t working
• Troubleshooting of any issues and management of any warranty claims
• Insurance – your system is insured by Aviva against damage, fire, and theft
• Downtime protection, meaning we’ll compensate you for any prolonged period that your system isn’t working as it should

To find out more about the Sunsave Guarantee, check out our full guide.

Why you can always rely on the Sunsave Guarantee

In an industry where solar installers regularly come and go, we’ve built the foundations to ensure that Sunsave has your back for many years to come:

• We've got serious financial backing from venture capital funds like Norrsken, and the UK government’s Green Home Finance Accelerator
• We're FCA-regulated and fully accredited
• We're a Which? Trusted Trader, meaning we’ve passed the rigorous assessment set by Which? trading standards professionals to prove we’re a top-tier solar company
• We've assembled an experienced, talented team of people who’ve built world-changing products at other companies
• We've got a proven business model. Solar subscriptions already been a success in other countries, including the US, Germany and Spain

But in the very unlikely event that our operating company encounters financial difficulty in the future, the reserves to pay for your system's maintenance are protected. To learn more, click here.

What are our customers saying about Sunsave Plus?

We strive to deliver superb installations for all of our customers, and we're proud that our work has been recognised by accreditation bodies as well as our own customers.

We've also earned a 4.7-star rating on Trustpilot from more than 120 reviews, some of which you can see below. For more, take a look at our reviews page.

Why is Sunsave Plus better than a loan or a roof lease?

Sunsave Plus is fundamentally better than a roof lease or a loan.

You'll own your system from day one, which means you're free to sell your home or make any home improvements you like, and any export income you earn is all yours.

And our solar subscription is spread across 20 years, which keeps your monthly payments affordable and means you could save more than you spend.

For the entire 20 years, you'll be covered by the Sunsave Guarantee, which comes with 24/7 monitoring and maintenance, free upgrades, and downtime cover. Your system will also be insured by Aviva against damage, fire and theft.

Here’s a bit more detail.

How is it better than a roof lease?

Unlike a roof lease, we’ve designed Sunsave Plus so that you legally own your system from day one, and it immediately becomes part of your property. We don’t need any rights to your roof because the system is yours. 

This means you’re completely free to sell your home whenever you want, unencumbered – you don’t need to check your contract or ask Sunsave for permission.

You won’t run into any of the issues that mortgage lenders have with roof leases, and you'll have the flexibility to choose what happens when you move home: you can either pass on the agreement to the new homebuyer, or include the value of your system in the price of your property and pay off the subscription early.

And because you own the system, any export income it generates is yours. You're free to choose whatever tariff you want, and earn hundreds of pounds per year with it. Check out our article on the best SEG rates, where we've ranked all the export tariffs you can use right now.

The fact that you can earn export income – unlike roof leases, where it's not a given – means your system may be more attractive to incoming homebuyers, and you’ll likely see a greater boost to your property’s value whenever it comes to moving home.

In addition, some solar products that need a roof lease are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), meaning they don’t have to adhere to high standards set by the FCA when it comes to treating customers fairly. 

In contrast, Sunsave is fully authorised and regulated by the FCA, whose Consumer Duty requires us to deliver good outcomes for our customers.

How is it better than a loan?

With Sunsave Plus, while you’re paying back the cost of the system as you would with a loan, you're also benefiting the Sunsave Guarantee.

This support package will ensure your solar & battery system will be protected and keep performing for at least the next 20 years.

It includes 24/7 monitoring and maintenance, free upgrades, and downtime cover. Your system will also be insured by Aviva, meaning it’ll be fully covered against damage, fire and theft.

Also, spreading your payments across 20 years means households that aren’t able to afford the steep upfront cost of a system can immediately start saving money on their energy bills.

In many cases, your combined energy bill savings and export income can exceed your fixed monthly payment straight away, meaning the loan results in an instant net saving – an immediate, clear return on your investment.

With a loan that only lasts a few years, you won’t enjoy instant savings, since you’ll be making higher payments every month.

What’s going to happen to UK energy bills?

Even before the energy crisis, electricity prices increased by 5.5% each year on average from 2000 onwards.

No-one can fully predict the future, but they are expected to remain high until at least the late 2030s.

With Sunsave Plus, your monthly payments are fixed, so you’re protected against inflation from rising energy bills, and your savings should increase over time.

And after 20 years, once your payments end, your annual savings will increase dramatically.

Will Sunsave Plus work all year round?

Solar panels work all through the year, even in the UK. All they need is daylight.

Your solar panels generate the most energy in summer, when you’ll sell the most excess electricity to the grid.

Your solar panel output will drop in winter, but won’t stop completely. You’ll just need to top up with grid electricity.

What if you can afford the upfront cost of solar?

If you can pay the entire cost of your solar & battery system upfront, rather than over a longer period, it can be tempting – but you’d miss out on a host of benefits.

With Sunsave Plus, your system would be protected by the Sunsave Guarantee for the next 20 years. We’d take care of your maintenance concerns, instead of you having to find a reliable engineer each time you have an issue, which can be an expensive hassle.

Sunsave Plus is also a cash-generating investment. Your system will start saving you money on your energy bills straight away, and generating income from your exported electricity.

And with no upfront cost, you’re free to use or invest the money you would’ve spent on solar elsewhere.

For example, you could put the cash in a high-interest savings account, keep it for emergencies, or spend it on a holiday or home improvement.

Next steps

Many people around the world have benefited from solar subscriptions – particularly in Germany, the US, and Spain – and now it's here to unlock solar for UK households.

Solar is a powerful way to save money and reduce your carbon footprint, and there’s no reason people should be excluded due to high upfront costs.

To find out how much you could save with Sunsave Plus, answer a few quick questions below and we'll be in touch.

Sunsave Plus: FAQs