Just had solar installed? Everything you need to know as a new owner
Your system is on the roof and generating. Now what? This hub brings together the guides that matter most in your first year — how your system works, how to get the most out of it financially, what maintenance it needs, and what to do when something doesn't look right.
If your system has an active fault or isn't performing as expected, a remote diagnostic gets to root cause faster than reading guides.
Book a diagnostic — from £75 → Solar not working? Start hereUnderstand how your system works
Your solar system has several components working together — panels, an inverter, possibly a battery, and monitoring. Understanding the basics means you can spot problems early, read your monitoring data with confidence, and have informed conversations with your installer.
The inverter converts DC power from your panels into AC electricity your home can use. Learn about MPPT tracking, anti-islanding, grid frequency response, and why the inverter is the most critical component in your system.
Read guide →Battery chemistry, how the BMS protects your cells, charge cycles and degradation, AC vs DC coupling, and what state-of-charge and depth-of-discharge actually mean for your system's lifespan.
Read guide →How data flows from your panels to your phone, what the key figures in your portal mean, why monitoring goes offline, and how to access your system if you've bought a house with solar already installed.
Read guide →The small sensor that tells your inverter what your home is importing and exporting. Why direction matters, what happens when it's backwards, and how to test yours with a kettle.
Read guide →Everything to check when your system has just been installed. Roof sealing, cable labelling, inverter siting, commissioning tests, and the documentation you must receive — MCS cert, G98/G99, EIC.
Read checklist →The grid connection standards that determine how your system connects to the network. Which applies to your system, what it means for export limits, and why your installer needed to notify the DNO.
Read guide →Maximise your savings
Your system is generating free electricity — but how much of that translates into actual savings depends on your tariff, when you use energy, and how your system is configured. Most new owners leave significant money on the table.
The complete guide to getting the best financial return from your solar and battery system. Self-consumption vs export, tariff selection, battery scheduling, and the settings most people miss.
Read guide →The wrong tariff costs solar and battery owners £200–£500 per year. Covers Octopus Flux, Go, Agile, flat-rate options, SEG export rates, and how to match your tariff to your system configuration.
Read guide →How to get paid for the solar electricity you export to the grid. Which tariffs are available, what your system needs to qualify, and how to check you are receiving the correct payments.
Read guide →How the three-period Flux tariff works, whether it suits your system, how to configure every major inverter brand, and what to do when the BST clock shift breaks your schedule.
Read guide →Why your DNO may limit how much energy your system can export, how inverters enforce the limit using CT clamp data, and what happens when the limit is misconfigured.
Read guide →Maintenance and system health
Solar systems are low-maintenance, not zero-maintenance. Knowing what to check and when means you catch small problems before they become expensive ones — and keep your system performing at its best for 20+ years.
What to check monthly, quarterly, and annually. Panel cleaning, inverter ventilation, battery health, monitoring review, warranty tracking, and when to call an engineer vs when to DIY.
Read guide →What can go wrong when updating inverter or battery firmware — settings resets, stalled updates, version incompatibility, and bricked hardware. When to update and when to leave it alone.
Read guide →Step-by-step shutdown and restart procedure for maintenance, emergencies, and roof work. Covers AC and DC isolation, battery shutdown, and the correct sequence for all brands.
Read guide →What fault codes mean, where to find them, how to read error logs in your monitoring portal, and when a fault code means you need an engineer vs when you can resolve it yourself.
Read guide →Backup power and power cuts
One of the most common surprises for new solar owners: your battery probably won't power your house during a power cut unless it has been specifically configured for it. These guides explain why and what you can do about it.
Why systems shut down by default during a power cut, what anti-islanding is, the difference between EPS and UPS, how island mode works, and what you can realistically power from a battery.
Read guide →If your system supports backup but it's not configured, here are the four EPS installation types: single socket, dedicated circuit, manual changeover, and automatic changeover. Pricing from £795 (socket) to £795 (dedicated circuit).
View options →Battery didn't kick in when the grid went down? Full diagnosis steps covering EPS configuration, wiring, neutral-earth bond, and battery reserve settings.
Diagnose →When something doesn't look right
Solar systems are reliable, but they are not infallible. If your monitoring is showing something unexpected, or your inverter has a warning light, these resources will help you work out what's happening.
The guided diagnostic that asks you what you're seeing and routes you to the right fault page. The fastest way to find relevant help.
Start diagnosis →Battery not charging, monitoring offline, system underperforming, inverter red light, export limitation issues — fault-specific guides for the most common UK solar problems.
Browse all problems →Inverter showing an error code? Look up GivEnergy, SolarEdge, Growatt, Sunsynk, Solis, Enphase, Fronius, and Huawei fault codes with plain-English explanations and next steps.
Look up fault codes →Common questions from new solar owners
Most UK systems pay back in 6–10 years depending on system size, electricity usage, export tariff, and whether you have a battery. A 4kW system generating around 3,400 kWh per year saves roughly £795–£995 annually at current rates if you use most of the energy yourself. Adding a battery increases self-consumption from around 40–50% to 70–85%, accelerating payback. The Smart Export Guarantee pays for surplus energy you send to the grid — rates vary from 3p to 15p per kWh depending on the tariff.
In the first week, check that your monitoring app is online and showing live data, generation figures look reasonable for the weather, the battery is charging and discharging daily (if fitted), there are no error codes on the inverter, and your export meter is recording correctly. If anything looks wrong, contact your installer during the snagging period. Our installation day checklist covers the specific checks and standards.
Very little. Rain keeps panels reasonably clean in most of the UK. Visually inspect them once or twice a year for dirt, bird droppings, or damage. Check monitoring data regularly — a panel producing significantly less than its neighbours may have a fault or shading issue. Inverters and batteries benefit from periodic firmware updates and annual checks on ventilation and connections. See our maintenance and system health guide for the full schedule.
Several common reasons. The quoted annual yield assumes average weather — winter produces significantly less than summer. Shading from trees, chimneys, or buildings reduces output, sometimes more than expected. Panel orientation and tilt affect yield — south-facing at 30–35° is optimal in the UK. A misconfigured export limiter can also throttle generation. If your system consistently produces less than its MCS-estimated annual yield, a remote diagnostic can determine whether the shortfall is normal or a fault.
Often, yes. Solar and batteries work best with tariffs that reward flexibility. With a battery, time-of-use tariffs like Octopus Flux or Octopus Go offer cheap overnight rates to charge the battery, plus higher export rates during peak periods. Without a battery, a good flat-rate tariff plus a competitive Smart Export Guarantee rate is usually simplest. The key is matching your tariff to your usage pattern and system configuration.
By default, your entire system shuts down — even with a fully charged battery. This is a legal safety requirement called anti-islanding. To keep lights on during a power cut, you need EPS capability, the correct wiring, and EPS mode enabled. Most hybrid inverters support this, but it must be specifically installed and configured. See our guide on how backup power works for the full explanation, or the EPS installation page for options and pricing.
Not sure everything is working as it should?
New systems occasionally have teething problems — misconfigured settings, reversed CT clamps, firmware bugs, or commissioning oversights. A 30-minute remote diagnostic checks everything and gives you a written report of what's right, what's not, and what to ask your installer to fix.