Solar Panels Worth It? Our Take on the MSE Guide

MSE just updated their solar guide — here's the short version

Money Saving Expert published their updated solar panels guide this month. It's thorough — the kind of balanced, properly researched take MSE are known for. If you want every detail, go read it.

Here's our faster version: the numbers that matter, the detail most people miss on export rates, and the part the guide doesn't go deep enough on.

The headline numbers

A typical 3.5 kWp rooftop system costs around £6,100. Annual bill savings sit between £190 and £340 depending on how much you're at home during the day. And the break-even — the honest truth MSE spell out plainly — takes at least 10 years.

The further south you live, the faster it pays back. And it's not about temperature — it's about daylight hours. More of them in the south, more generation, faster return. Edinburgh gets meaningfully fewer than London, which is why break-even is 2 years longer.

The detail most people miss: your export rate

The Smart Export Guarantee pays you for electricity you generate but don't use. Here's the thing MSE flag that most people gloss over: SEG rates range from 1p to 25p per kWh depending on your supplier. Same unit of electricity, 25x price difference.

Picking the right export tariff is as important as picking the right installer. The MSE guide has a full SEG comparison — worth reading before you sign anything.

The real question if you already have solar

MSE's guide is mainly aimed at people deciding whether to go solar. But if you're already generating, the key question is different: are you using as much of your own electricity as possible?

Every unit you use yourself saves around 25p at current rates. Every unit you export earns somewhere between 1p and 25p. The maths heavily favours self-consumption.

Shifting daily use into daylight hours — dishwasher, washing machine, slow cooker, EV charger — makes a bigger difference to your annual saving than most people realise. The problem is your peak window shifts every day depending on cloud cover.

That's what Sun Hours solves: a 7-day hourly forecast for your postcode so you always know your best window before you load the machine.

The part MSE didn't go deep on: plug-in solar

MSE's guide is rooted in rooftop solar — which makes sense. But if you're renting, in a flat, or not ready for a £6,100 commitment, the numbers look completely different.

• Plug-in solar kits: ~£400
• Annual saving: £70–£110
• Payback: ~4 years
• Installation: plug into a standard socket — no electrician, no scaffolding, no planning permission

It's not a replacement for rooftop solar. But for renters in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and anywhere with a south-facing garden or balcony — it's the most accessible entry point into solar available right now. The UK updated its wiring regulations in April 2026 making plug-in solar fully legal under 800W.

Full UK plug-in solar guide →

Our bottom line

The MSE solar guide is worth your time. Balanced, honest about the 10-year break-even, and the SEG rate comparison alone is worth the read. Check it out here.

For rooftop solar owners the real gains come from timing your usage. For everyone else, plug-in is worth a serious look before committing to a full system.