Places · Street note
Home battery installation in Croydon
Updated
Croydon splits between a high-rise centre and a large stock of suburban semis and terraces in the south of the borough. The centre has managing agents and loading rules.
The houses, not the postcode average
The south looks more like outer London family housing. Suburban roofs in the south of the borough can be productive. Tower and block roofs are rarely demised to a flat owner.
London labour and parking still apply, and UK Power Networks is the DNO. A flat in the centre is a consent job. A semi in Purley or Sanderstead is often a normal survey.
Tram-side and centre restrictions differ from a driveway in the south of the borough.
What gets fitted here
Outer-borough houses with garages are the installs that complete. Centre apartments often do not get past the freeholder.
Outer London solar is decent annually and weak in December.
UK Power Networks, yield and a 4 kWp example
A 4 kWp array at 990 kWh per installed kilowatt is about 3,960 kWh a year before shade. That is the local ceiling on solar charging, not a promise the battery will cycle fully in January.
In Croydon, on UK Power Networks, 5 kW sits above the 3.68 kW G98 line, so this wants a G99 application before anyone energises it. Export can still be capped. Agree that before the inverter is ordered. The figure uses 13.5 kWh and 4 kWp, which is enough to tell two quotes apart if they assumed something else.
Take a 13.5 kWh pack, cycled about 300 times, at 90% round trip. Charge at 13.0p, and value what comes back at 28.4p. Export given up is priced at 8.0p. About 2314 kWh a year of the charge is treated as spare solar from 4 kWp that might otherwise have been exported. Delivered energy is about 3645 kWh. After charging cost and lost export, the figure saves about £661 a year. Set that against £8,762 fitted, which is a September 2026 illustration at the temporary 0% residential rate, not a quote. That is a simple payback of about 13.2 years on these assumptions. Nudge the night rate up by 4p and see if you still like it.
What I would not sign in Croydon
Where the job is a qualifying install in a home, the 0% rate runs to 31 March 2027 and is due to become 5% after that. This figure prices the work at £8,762 on that basis. It does not apply to a shop, and it does not apply to a battery you buy and fit yourself.
I would not compare a £8,762 headline with another until usable kWh and the fate of any existing inverter match.
The centre of the borough is a managing agent. The south of the borough is often a normal house survey.
Common questions
Is the price on this page a quote?
No. £8,762 is a September 2026 illustration for a 13.5 kWh example at the temporary 0% residential rate. Your survey replaces it.
Will it stay on in a power cut?
Only if a gateway or essential-load board was designed and paid for. A standard grid-tied battery turns off with the grid. On this 13.5 kWh example the inverter is 5 kW, and backup is still a separate line.
What paperwork should I keep?
Keep the MCS certificate where the job is certified, the electrical certificate, the DNO record, the schematic, the warranty registration and a photo of the schedule. For an illustrated £8,762 job, that folder is part of what you bought.
What if the cheap rate is not 7p?
Then the figure changes. This page used 13.0p as a charge rate and 28.4p as the rate avoided. A smaller gap means a worse payback. Read the live tariff.
Sources
Want a price for your house?
The figures above are a rough guide. An installer still needs to see your fuse board, where the battery will go, and whether you want power during a blackout.