Last reviewed: 3 September 2026. Installed price ranges on this page
are ranges published by UK installers, not a price survey of our own — we label them wherever they
appear and we will label our own survey clearly when we have done it. Electricity figures use the
Ofgem price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026.
A fitted home battery in Britain in 2026 costs broadly £2,500 to £4,500 for about 5 kWh
and £4,000 to £7,500 for about 10 kWh, installed, with 0% VAT — roughly £400 to £900
per kWh of capacity. That is a wide band, and where you land in it has almost nothing to do with the
cells. It is decided by the inverter arrangement, the cable run, the state of your consumer unit and
the installer’s overhead. This page takes a quote apart so you can tell a fair one from a bad one.
We do not sell leads, we do not run a quotation form, and we take no commission on any battery
installation. See how we make money.
What the ranges actually are
The figures below are what UK installers publish. Treat them as the shape of the market, not as a
price list — nobody’s website price survives contact with your particular house.
| Usable capacity | Typical installed range | Implied cost per kWh |
|---|---|---|
| About 5 kWh | £2,500 – £4,500 | £500 – £900 |
| About 10 kWh | £4,000 – £7,500 | £400 – £700 |
| 13–15 kWh premium systems | Substantially higher; flagship products exceed £8,500 | — |
Two structural points. Cost per kWh falls as capacity rises, because a large share of the job —
the inverter, the electrician’s day, the paperwork — does not scale with the battery. And London and
the South East sit consistently above these ranges. The pillar page on
home battery storage covers how the technology works; this page
is about the money.
What has to be earned back
This is the calculation that decides whether any of the prices above are reasonable, and it is
arithmetic you can do yourself. Annual saving equals usable capacity × the gap between your cheap and
peak unit rates × cycles completed a year × round-trip efficiency. The table below uses 10 kWh usable,
350 full cycles a year and 90% round-trip efficiency, and shows the simple payback at three points in
the published price range.
| Peak-to-off-peak spread | Annual saving | At £4,000 installed | At £5,500 | At £7,500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10p per kWh | £315 | 12.7 years | 17.5 years | 23.8 years |
| 15p per kWh | £473 | 8.5 years | 11.6 years | 15.9 years |
| 20p per kWh | £630 | 6.3 years | 8.7 years | 11.9 years |
| 25p per kWh | £788 | 5.1 years | 7.0 years | 9.5 years |
Set that against a warranty that typically runs ten years, and often carries a total-throughput cap
in MWh that daily cycling can reach sooner. Anything in the bottom-right of that table is a system
that will not pay for itself inside the period anybody is promising to stand behind it. Anything in
the top-left is a purchase that pays for itself comfortably — provided the two assumptions hold:
a genuinely wide spread, and enough evening consumption to empty the battery most days. Under the
price cap a flat direct-debit rate is 26.32p per kWh with no spread at all, which is why the tariff
is part of the purchase and not an afterthought. See
charging on a cheap night tariff.
What is actually in the price
- The battery itself. Usually under half of a domestic quote, and the part whose
price has fallen fastest. - The inverter arrangement. A hybrid inverter replacing your existing solar
inverter is a bigger job — and a bigger bill — than an AC-coupled battery with its own inverter
bolted alongside. If you have solar already, ask for both options priced. - Electrical work. The cable run from the battery to the consumer unit, a new way
in the board, isolation, labelling, and any remedial work the installer finds. This is the line that
varies most between two quotes for the same box. - Labour and access. One or two days for two people; more if the battery goes
somewhere awkward or scaffolding is needed. - Certification and notification. MCS registration where applicable, the
building-regulations notification, and the G99 or G98 application to your network operator. A
battery is not a plug-in device: this is not optional paperwork. - Overhead and warranty provision. The margin that pays for someone to come back
in year four. It is the part you are most tempted to cut and most likely to regret.
The lines that are commonly left out
- Consumer unit upgrade. An older board may not accommodate the new circuit
safely. Four hundred to a thousand pounds, and often discovered on the day. - A DNO application that comes back with conditions, particularly for larger
systems or a constrained network. - Backup functionality. Keeping your lights on in a power cut requires additional
switching and is not included as standard. Ask explicitly and get it priced separately. - Making good. Plasterwork, decoration and cable trunking after the fact.
- Removal or relocation of anything already on the wall you had in mind. Where a
battery may legally and safely go is its own question:
where a home battery can be installed.
VAT: the number people get wrong in both directions
Supply and installation of a home battery in residential accommodation is currently
zero-rated under the relief for energy-saving materials, with or without solar panels, and that runs
to 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 it is legislated to revert to the
reduced 5% rate — not 20%. On a £5,500 job that is about £275, not £1,100. Any
salesperson using a 20% cliff edge to close you is misinforming you.
The error in the other direction matters just as much for cost: a battery you buy as goods and
install yourself is not zero-rated. HMRC’s guidance is explicit that supplying
energy-saving materials without installing them is standard-rated. The detail is in
VAT on home batteries explained, and the deadline
itself in the VAT deadline.
How to compare two quotes
Insist on all five of these in writing before you compare anything:
- Usable capacity in kWh, not nominal. “10 kWh” can mean 9 kWh of usable energy,
or less. Compare usable or you are comparing nothing. - Continuous power output in kW, which decides whether the battery can actually
carry your evening load or whether you import from the grid anyway. - The warranty in full: years, retained capacity percentage, and the
total throughput cap in MWh. See how to read a battery
warranty. - Whether labour and call-out are included in a warranty claim, or only parts. A
parts-only warranty on a wall-mounted battery can still leave a four-figure bill. - The VAT treatment, stated on the quotation, and what happens to it if the work
slips past 31 March 2027.
Then ask the question that separates a good installer from a good salesperson: show me the
half-hourly consumption data you sized this from. Your supplier will give you your own smart
meter data free. A quote sized from your annual kWh total, or from your roof, is a guess. Oversizing
is the most expensive mistake in this market, because capacity you never cycle earns nothing and ages
anyway — see what size battery you need.
One risk that is not on the quotation
In April 2026 GivEnergy Ltd, one of the best-known British domestic battery brands, entered
administration and ceased trading, and its hardware warranties stopped being honoured. The batteries
kept working; the ten-year promise did not. Price a battery accordingly: pay by credit card where you
can, buy from an installer with a real trading history, keep every document, and treat a
manufacturer’s warranty as worth exactly what the manufacturer’s balance sheet is worth. See
battery warranties and
what GivEnergy owners should do.
Sources.
Ofgem, price cap unit rates and standing charges ·
HMRC, VAT Notice 708/6, energy-saving materials ·
MCS ·
Energy Storage
Association, GivEnergy updates.
Installed price ranges are drawn from published UK installer guidance in 2026 and are labelled as such
throughout; payback figures are our own arithmetic from the stated assumptions. This is general
information, not financial advice — see editorial methodology.