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In the UK, 150,000 domestic solar arrays were installed in 2023 – and that number is expected only to grow as solar panel technology becomes more accessible and affordable for British households. In addition, the number of solar panel installers in England certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) has reached a remarkable 2,829.
With so many options across the country, how do you know which of those solar panel installers are right for you?
Headquartered in Harrow but with locations in five other UK cities, Solar4Good handles between 1,200 and 1,500 solar panel installations every year. Below, we’ll dive deep into the company’s background, customer service and installation process. We’ll also chat with Solar4Good’s Director, Rahi Vakani, in an exclusive interview, before unpacking the company’s prices, pros and cons. Finally, we’ll explore what the company’s customers are saying online.
Solar4Good is an award-winning UK company that offers solar panel, solar battery, and electric vehicle (EV) charger installation for British homes.
Founded in December 2020, the company brings 15 years of collective industry experience to the table. Led by solar stalwart Rahi Vakani, Solar4Good promises a safe pair of hands for both residential and commercial solar panel installation in the UK.
Solar4Good operates nationwide, with offices in Harrow, Leicester, Basildon, Exeter, Manchester, and Glasgow. To date, the company has installed solar panels on around 5,000 UK homes, and – considering the hundreds of five-star reviews the company has amassed on Trustpilot – the installation must be to the great satisfaction of its customers.
For a company that’s been operating for just under four years– and with a team of only around 12 people – Solar4Good already has several high-profile solar projects to its name and has installed around 5,000 arrays on domestic properties.
In 2023, Solar4Good’s commitment to customer-centrism and environmental friendliness was officially recognised when the company was commended as the Solar PV Installer of the Year at the Regional Energy Efficiency Awards. Solar4Good has also been featured in a number of publications – such as The Times and The Sunday Times – and on a handful of popular radio stations, including Sunrise Radio in Yorkshire and Manchester and Lyca Radio in London.
As it should be with all solar panel installers, Solar4Good isn’t purely focused on profit, but on the planet, and its people, too. Speaking to our researchers, Rahi Vakani said, “We are leaseholders of the world, and have the opportunity to leave our kids a cleaner environment.”
You can read more about our interview with Rahi below.
As a UK solar panel installer, Solar4Good fits renewable energy products – including solar batteries and EV chargers – to buildings across the nation. This work includes:
For domestic solar setups, Solar4Good offers three VAT-free residential packages:
On top of this, Solar4Good offers its residential customers heat pumps (for cooling and heating your property’s spaces and water) and inverters (which convert the DC electricity solar panels generate into usable AC electricity for homes). Solar4Good also provides cleaning and maintenance services to keep your solar panels free of dust and debris, ensuring they’re in optimal condition to maximise their energy output – and your energy savings.
Solar4Good’s products come many of the world’s top solar brands – including FoxESS, GivEnergy, JA Solar, Canadian Solar, Qcells, SolaX Power, Solis, Suntech, myenergi, Trina Solar, Pylontech, Seraphim and Jinko Solar – so you can be sure the company is kitting out your home with solar technology that’s been tried, tested, and built to withstand the ravages of time.
As part of its service, Solar4Good will help you determine whether your home is suitable for solar panel installation and, if so, the exact what panel and system type – and size – required.
Once you’ve settled on the right size and system and are happy with your quote, Solar4Good will install your solar array for you.
Solar4Good use a desktop site survey using Google Earth to assess your home’s location, as well as the size and angle of its roof in combination with your energy requirements. They’ll then provide an initial quote.
Following this, Solar4Good charges a refundable commitment fee of between £100 and £250 for an on-site survey before designing your solar array. If you’re happy with the design, Solar4Good’s staff will go ahead with the installation, deducting the commitment fee from the cost of your final bill.
If the solar installation is not viable (for example, if your home lacks sufficient space, or is at a suboptimal angle for solar generation) you’ll get a full refund.
From making that first phone call to completing the solar panel installation, the whole process with Solar4Good takes between two and four weeks – an impressively short turnaround time. In fact, the efficiency and speed of Solar 4Good’s installation process – along with the politeness and promptness of the staff delivering it – were some of the things customers loved most about the company.
Like most UK solar panel installers, Solar4Good doesn’t post any information about its prices online. This is because solar panel installation costs vary so widely based on the type of solar panel, the size of the solar array, and how easy your home’s roof is to access.
That said, we spoke with Rahi Vakani, Director of Solar4Good, to get a ballpark figure. According to Vakani, Solar4Good’s Package 1, which offers 10 panels and no battery storage, tends to be priced between £5,500 and £6,500. Package 2 (10 panels and 5.8kWh battery storage), one of Solar4Good’s most popular options, comes in between £9,000 and £9,500.
And, while it isn’t the company’s main line of business, Solar4Good can add additional individual panels to an existing solar array. These are generally between £200 and £300 per panel, which includes the costs of the rails the panels are mounted on and labour.
For a solar battery alone, Vakani says that, Solar4Good charges between £4,500 and £6,000 for 6kWh to 9kWh of energy storage. However, he points out that it’s more cost-effective to include a battery alongside the initial panel installation. This absorbs and eliminates some of the labour costs involved – saving you anywhere from £1,000 to £2,000.
Solar4Good doesn’t have an explicit price-match guarantee (at least not one it advertises on its website or marketing channels.) However, some of its customer reviews on Trustpilot – a handful of which you can read in more detail below – reveal that Rahi offered to match the prices customers had been quoted elsewhere. So be prepared to negotiate!
We find that customers love the Trina N-Type monocrystalline 425 panel.
Monocrystalline are the most popular panels used in the UK, because they draw on UV daylight, as opposed to sunshine – which is obviously ideal for the UK’s often grey, overcast weather. At around 21 per cent efficiency and above, monocrystalline panels also have a greater efficiency than other types of solar panels, making them a popular choice. Aesthetics play a major part, too – people love the all-black look of monocrystalline panels!
Most of our customers opt for a solar battery, because by storing energy and using it, you avoid paying out for energy from a supplier at peak consumption times.
That said, a solar battery won’t be a good fit for all homeowners. If you’re at home all day, for example, and go to bed early – like my elderly parents – you may not benefit from a battery because you’ll use the energy you generate during the day and not have to store any for nighttime use.
This depends on the size of your household, but we find the average payback period for solar panels is six to eight years. However, this can be as little as five years for heavy electricity users who are home most of the day. (This period takes into account replacing the battery after 10 years.)
Ultimately, we say that if you pkan to be in your home for five and eight years or more, and your budget allows for solar panel installation, then do it!
Not much – it’s the size of a small microwave. You can place it in your loft, in your garage, or underneath your stairs.
Firstly, MCS accreditation is key. Without this, you won’t be able to access solar panel government grants through the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), and you can’t be sure the installer is reputable or sufficiently qualified to install your solar panels to a high standard.
Secondly, look for an installer with a history of positive reviews. Don’t simply go with a ‘man in a van’, or someone who has jumped on the solar bandwagon in the last few years, and steer clear of picking the cheapest offer you find.
Do your due diligence on a company and ask yourself if you think it will be there in five years’ time.
Solar4Good offers two main channels of support. You can email support@solar4good.co.uk or call the company on 0800 999 1454.
To assess their service and test its responsiveness, we called Solar4Good on the above number. Not only did a team member pick up on the third ring, but they were friendly, helpful, and polite – answering a couple of questions we had about their solar products and installation process, and even offering to survey our property to assess its suitability for on-roof solar panels.
Solar4Good also has a presence on several social media platforms: including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp.
You can message Solar4Good on any of these platforms (except YouTube), although we found the company to be most responsive on Facebook and WhatsApp. That said, picking up the phone is still the quickest, most direct way of getting in touch with the Solar4Good team.
It’s worth noting that the above channels are only for support with your solar panels – not your inverter or batteries. For issues related to those products, you’ll need to contact the manufacturer directly. Fortunately, Solar4Good has placed these contact numbers on its website, too:
On Trustpilot, Solar4Good currently sports a rating of 4.7 out of five stars, and 91 per cent of its 415 Trustpilot reviews to date are five stars. Compare this with other solar panel installers in the UK, this score is more than respectable. (Glow Green and Effective Home, for example, have 4.5 and 4.4, respectively; Evergen has 4.2; Solarsense has just three out of five.)
Solar4Good also has an impressive Google rating of 4.3 out of five stars, from 61 reviews.
The good reviews highlight how responsive and friendly the Solar4Good team is, and the speed and seamlessness of the installation process.
“Solar4Good, owned and managed by Rahi, has done a superb job installing 17 solar panels (across four facets of our roof), [plus] a hybrid inverter and two batteries.
After doing our research of speaking to five respectable solar energy companies and receiving their quotes, Rahi kept his price-matching promise and beat their quotes. Over a few calls, I found Rahi to be honest, knowledgeable, informative, and genuinely helpful. In addition to promising me a first-class job, we saw his other installations in our area and got reassuringly positive feedback from his other customers.”
“The installation dates were quickly arranged: we did not have to wait for weeks. On the day of installation, Solar4Good’s engineers Charlie and Lewis arrived on time (they arrived at 12:28 and knocked at 12:30, the appointment time). The Solar4Good team completed the installation in two hours and it was spot on. They explained how it would work and waited patiently until we understood how to use the app.”
“Solar4Good was amazing: flexible and accommodating with the insulation of my system around our renovation where other companies weren’t. Nothing was too much trouble. There was a problem with a connection on the inverter after a year, but the Solar4Good team came out and replaced it – no problem. I can’t recommend this company enough.”
Despite Solar4Good having only a handful of negative reviews, its less glowing feedback focused on consistent themes – disorganised communication and heavy-handed sales tactics.
“After an initial inquiry with Solar4Good regarding solar panels last year, I have been receiving numerous calls, voicemails, and text messages from their sales team on a daily basis. Despite my lack of response to their attempts to contact me, they continue to reach out. In November 2023, I received a text message asking, “Is this you Rohail?” which I found incredibly weird and unprofessional. Although I did not reply, I am still being bombarded with calls and messages. For each number I block, they call and text me using another number. I would like my details deleted from their system and will be reporting them to the ICO.”
Another reviewer complained via Trustpilot that Solar4Good had failed to return ther £250 deposit after the site survey results reported that their home wasn’t fit for solar panels. However, the customer later updated their review to say that Solar4Good had refunded the deposit within an hour of their review going live. Solar4Good has also been prompt and courteous in replying to reviews – especially negative ones – acknowledging and apologising to disgruntled customers, and attempting to find a resolution for their issues.
If you’re looking for a reliable solar panel installer in the UK, Solar4Good is an excellent choice. Though it’s headquartered in the northwest London town of Harrow, its bases throughout the country – as south as Exeter and as north as Glasgow – mean you’re not limited by location.
For a company founded as recently as 2020, Solar4Good has been involved in a litany of impressive residential and commercial solar panel installation projects, providing them with the means to generate their own supply of clean, guilt-free, and sustainable energy.
Solar4Good’s installation process is smooth, speedy, and simple – and you can progress from quote to completion in as little as two weeks. Almost all of the customers the company has worked with have praised Solar4Good’s attitude, promptness and flexibility, even if some have found its sales tactics a little overzealous.
Regardless, we love that the process of procuring a quote with Solar4Good is easy and that the compan’s customer service team is available across different communication channels and platforms. Whether it’s Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram or even TikTok, you can always reach out to the Solar4Good team for support through the method you’re most comfortable with.
To carry out our solar panel installer review, our researchers considered various factors. We reviewed Solar4Good’s installation process by taking into account the quote and installation process, aftercare and the warranty provided. Read more about how we review solar panels.
To ensure we gathered a fair and accurate response, we interacted with the company as mystery shoppers. We examined the costs from the quotes provided and reviewed customer feedback to determine the quality of their experiences. This helped us assess the company’s overall reputation.
