Nobody likes thinking about energy bills. They come in, you wince a bit, you pay them, and you try not to dwell on it. But there is a version of this conversation that is actually worth having — not to cause alarm, but because the numbers, laid out honestly, make a fairly clear case for doing something about it.

UK electricity prices have risen at roughly 7.5% per year on average. That rate has not been consistent — there have been spikes and quieter periods — but as a long-run trend, 7.5% is a reasonable working figure. Ofgem adjusted the price cap again earlier this year, and the direction continues to be the same one it has been going for some time.

Here is what 7.5% annual growth actually does to a number over time. If you are paying 24.7p per kilowatt hour today, you will be paying around 33p by 2030. By 2035 it is likely to be pushing 47p. By 2040, somewhere north of 68p. And by 2045, if the trend holds, you are looking at close to £1 per unit.

The electricity itself has not changed. It still powers the same kettle, the same TV, the same washing machine. Only the price has moved — and it has moved a long way.

Solar does not fix this entirely. You will still draw some electricity from the grid, especially in winter or at night. But it does fix a meaningful portion of it. Every unit your panels generate is a unit you do not buy from your supplier — at whatever rate they happen to be charging that year. The more prices rise, the more each self-generated unit is worth.

Then there is the Smart Export Guarantee, which most people know about in theory but tend to undervalue in practice. Any electricity your panels produce that you do not use gets exported to the National Grid. Your energy supplier is required by law to pay you for it. It is not a fortune, but it is real money — paid automatically, every month, for the lifetime of the system.

What about the cost of installing?

It is a fair question, and it is usually the one that stops the conversation. A solar installation costs several thousand pounds. That is a real number and it deserves a straight answer rather than being glossed over.

Two things have changed in the last couple of years that make it more manageable than it used to be. The first is the 0% VAT rate currently in place until March 2027, which takes a few hundred pounds off the upfront cost. The second is the availability of proper finance options — EZECO works with Hometree to offer fixed monthly repayments on installations, structured to sit alongside your projected savings so it does not feel like you are simply replacing one bill with another.

The honest framing is this: going solar costs money now in exchange for spending significantly less over the next 25 years. The longer energy prices keep rising — which they will — the stronger that trade-off becomes. We are not in the business of telling people what to do with their money, but we are in the business of making sure people have the actual numbers in front of them when they make the decision.

If you want to know what those numbers look like for your specific property, that is what a survey is for. Book one, let us come out and take a proper look, and we will tell you honestly what we think — including if solar is not the right fit for your home.