The short answer
For systems up to 4 kW the 2025/26 UK median was £1,595 per kW and the North West average £1,800, so 4 kWp sits around £6,400 to £7,200. Listed or conservation-area work and slate roofs can add to that. Installed solar is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, with 5% after that.
The government’s price data
Every year the energy department, DESNZ, sets out what households paid for small solar systems, based on the records kept for certified jobs (DESNZ solar cost data). The 2025/26 figures give a UK median of £1,595 per kW for systems up to 4 kW and £1,546 per kW for systems over 4 kW and up to 10 kW. For the North West, the average was £1,800 per kW for the smaller band and £1,627 for the larger.
Two things follow. Larger systems cost a little less per kW, because scaffolding, the inverter and the electrical work are spread over more panels. And the regional average sits above the national median, partly because an average is pulled up by expensive jobs while a median is not. Neither figure is specific to Congleton, but between them they describe the range most local quotes should fall in.
A rounded table to read quotes against
| System | Price band | At UK median | At North West average | kWh a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 kWp | Up to 4 kW | £4,800 | £5,400 | 2,726 |
| 4 kWp | Up to 4 kW | £6,400 | £7,200 | 3,635 |
| 5 kWp | Over 4 kW to 10 kW | £7,700 | £8,100 | 4,544 |
| 6 kWp | Over 4 kW to 10 kW | £9,300 | £9,800 | 5,452 |
| 8 kWp | Over 4 kW to 10 kW | £12,400 | £13,000 | 7,270 |
The output column comes from the PVGIS runs for this guide (PVGIS 5.3). A south-east or south-west roof makes a few per cent less, an east or west roof roughly a fifth less, and the full table is on output. The table is a yardstick. A real price depends on the roof, the access, the equipment and the firm.
What the per-kW figure covers
The government figures describe the installed cost of the solar system: panels, mounting, inverter, cabling, scaffolding and labour, as recorded for each installation. They do not tell you what a particular quote should include, so it helps to check that each quote covers the same things:
- scaffolding, including any licence needed to put it on a pavement;
- the panels, the inverter and the mounting system, each named with its warranty;
- the electrical work, isolators and any consumer unit changes;
- bird protection, if it is wanted;
- the network notification or application;
- the MCS certificate and handover documents;
- any battery or diverter, priced as separate lines.
Extras particular to the old town
Many Congleton homes will need nothing beyond a standard installation. In the town centre, three kinds of extra cost can appear.
Consent work. A listed building needs planning permission and Listed Building Consent for any panel, which means drawings, a heritage statement and sometimes a structural check. In the West Street and Moody Street conservation areas, panels on a wall facing the road need permission, and a flat-roof installation needs a prior approval decision. Someone has to prepare those papers, and that time is charged, whether by the firm or by an architect. Listed buildings and conservation areas explain when each applies.
Slate. The 2010 Moody Street appraisal describes the town centre’s roofs as mostly slate. Fitting to slate takes more care and time than to concrete tiles: slates are lifted, brackets fixed to the rafters and flashed, and the slates refitted or replaced. Broken slates need matching replacements, and on a listed roof those may have to be reclaimed or matched to the original.
Access. Narrow streets, terraces without rear access and tall buildings make scaffolding more involved. Where scaffolding has to stand on the pavement, a licence from the highway authority may be needed.
None of these is unusual, but each one should appear in the quote rather than as a surprise later.
Why two similar houses get different prices
Two neighbours with the same size of system can receive quotes hundreds of pounds apart, for reasons that have little to do with the panels. Scaffolding depends on the height of the eaves, the slope of the ground and whether the back of the house can be reached. The electrical work depends on the age of the consumer unit and how far the inverter sits from it. A roof with dormers, roof lights or a chimney in the middle of the best slope takes longer to lay out. And firms price differently according to how busy they are and how much of the work they do themselves.
That is why the table gives a band rather than a single figure, and why the line-by-line comparison matters more than the total. Where one quote is far above the others, ask what it includes that they do not. Where one is far below, ask what it leaves out.
Price and output together
Cost on its own says little; what it buys in output matters too. Congleton came out lowest of six Cheshire towns in the PVGIS runs for this guide, a few per cent below Nantwich at the top, so the same system makes slightly less here. That gap is smaller than the spread between quotes, and much smaller than the difference between a south roof and an east one. It is a reason to check that each quote’s yearly estimate uses Congleton figures, not a reason to pay less or more. How quickly households across the borough have taken up solar is traced in take-up near Congleton, and short answers on prices and schemes are collected on the FAQs page.
VAT
HMRC charges no VAT on solar panels or batteries fitted in homes up to 31 March 2027, and 5% from 1 April 2027 (HMRC). The rate depends on when the work is done, so a quote accepted in early 2027 for work finishing after March may be affected. Ask for VAT on a separate line and for the firm to say which rate it has used.
Ways to pay
Most households pay for panels from their own funds, but there are other routes, and some depend on income.
- Warm Homes: Local Grant. Until 31 March 2028, Cheshire East can fund insulation and renewables, solar included, where the household has a lower income, either owns and lives in the home or rents it privately, and the home is rated EPC D to G (council page). Eligibility turns on income or benefits, and the council decides the package for each home.
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme. The government has published a factsheet on its loan scheme for home energy improvements (GOV.UK factsheet). Read it for who can apply, what it covers and whether it is open, and check the terms before relying on it.
- Switch Together. Sign-up for the 2026 round of the council’s group-buy opened on 3 August 2026, shut on 25 September 2026, and that round has closed (council page).
- Credit from a firm. Some firms arrange loans through a lender. Check that the lender or broker appears on the Financial Conduct Authority’s register, read the total amount repayable, and compare it with borrowing you might arrange yourself.
- Mortgage borrowing. Some lenders offer additional borrowing for energy improvements. Ask your own lender.
Grants and schemes covers the eligibility rules in more depth.
Paying in stages
A deposit is normal, but it should be modest, and the bulk of the price should fall due when the work is finished and the certificate issued. Ask whether the deposit is protected, how, and what happens to it if the firm stops trading before the work is done. Using a credit card for the deposit may bring extra consumer credit protection, within the limits that law sets. A firm that wants most of the price before scaffolding goes up is a reason to pause.
Comparing quotes
Get at least three quotes, ask each firm to price the same layout, and put them side by side line by line. Check that the expected output uses Congleton figures: the town comes out lowest of the six Cheshire towns in the runs for this guide, so an estimate from a regional average can run high. Check the firm on the MCS search and against the list on choosing an installer. For a larger house with several slopes, detached homes shows how the price changes with size, and the question form takes anything else.