When Joanne Marshall first installed solar panels on her home 15 years ago, reducing her carbon footprint was more important than saving money. But since replacing her ageing system and adding battery storage last year, she's discovered just how much the technology has changed.
Joanne, who lives with her husband in a three-bedroom detached house near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, says her monthly electricity bills have fallen from around £120 to an average of £40 since the new system was installed in July 2025. She has also received payments for the electricity her panels generate, helping her calculate a potential payback period of just three years on the roughly £6,000 installation. That is considerably faster than the five or six years she initially expected, although her returns will depend on future electricity generation, energy prices and tariff payments.
