Solar and battery storage for homes
Designed from your electricity bill rather than picked from a menu.
Solar panel installers in Stockport
Solar, battery storage and servicing across Stockport, from the interwar and post-war semis that make up much of the borough to the more exposed roofs towards Marple and Romiley. Mature trees and conservation areas shape a lot of jobs here, so we check both before we quote.
Where we work
Stockport and the towns around it: Marple, Bramhall, Cheadle, Hazel Grove, Romiley, Bredbury and Poynton.
What Stockport roofs are actually like
Interwar and post-war semis. A great deal of Stockport's housing is the kind of three-bedroom semi that suits solar about as well as any house in Britain: a simple pitched roof, a decent unshaded face, and a family using electricity through the day more than they used to. This is the most common job we do.
The higher ground. Towards Marple, Romiley and the edge of the Peak, roofs are more exposed and often older. Exposure affects fixings and the specification we would recommend. North-facing slopes at that elevation also hold moss and lichen for longer, which is one of the genuine cases where cleaning is worth paying for rather than an upsell.
Mature trees. A lot of Stockport's suburban streets are well treed, which is lovely and is also the single most common reason we tell somebody their roof is not a good candidate. Shading across a string costs far more generation than most people expect. We model it rather than guess, and if the answer is no, we say no.
Conservation areas. Several parts of the borough have them, and they can change the planning position on a front elevation. We check before designing.
What we do here
Battery retrofits
On existing panels, usually a one-day job.
Servicing, cleaning and bird proofing
On any system, regardless of who installed it.
Commercial and agricultural solar
On the Cheshire side, including farms. No array too small — a Stockport semi with twelve panels is ordinary work for us.
What it costs in Stockport
Most home installations we quote land between £5,995 and £8,995 installed, including VAT at 0%. Adding a battery to panels you already have typically costs £2,800 to £5,000.
The three-bedroom semi that makes up so much of Stockport usually lands in the middle of that range. The things that move it are scaffolding, how exposed the roof is, and how much the trees take away.
What moves the price
| Factor | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Two-storey semis | Most need scaffolding. It is normally included in our price and typically accounts for £500 to £1,000 of it |
| Exposed roofs on the higher ground | Towards Marple and Romiley, exposure affects the fixings and specification we recommend |
| Trees and shading | The most common reason a roof is not worth doing. We model it rather than guess |
| A battery | Adds £2,800 to £5,000, depending on capacity |
You get a fixed written quote after a survey. The price on the quote is the price you pay. How our pricing works
Grid connection in Stockport
Stockport's network operator is Electricity North West, which now calls itself SP Electricity North West, and its head office is in the borough, on Borron Street in Portwood. Its own network reports say the Bredbury grid substation supplies about 178,000 customers, in places including Reddish, Stockport, Marple, Bramhall, Romiley and Poynton. So Poynton is on the same network as the rest of the area, even though it is in Cheshire East.
They own the cables, not your bill. Up to 3.68kW on a single-phase supply, the paperwork is a notice sent within 28 days of the system going live; above that, they have to approve the connection first. We do both for you.
Planning rules in Stockport
Most domestic rooftop solar is permitted development, which means no planning application. Stockport is the exception to watch. The borough has a large number of conservation areas, and many of them also have Article 4 directions, which take away some permitted development rights.
Where a direction applies, work that would normally need no application can need one, and in some areas that includes elevations that do not face the road. The council publishes the list. It includes areas such as Alexandra Park, All Saints, Barlow Fold and Bramhall Lane South.
We check the council's list against your address before we design anything, and if an application is needed we tell you before you commit, not after.
The boundary matters too. Bramhall, Cheadle, Marple, Romiley, Bredbury and Hazel Grove are in Stockport borough, but Poynton is in Cheshire East, which has its own planning rules and its own council to deal with.
Questions from Stockport customers
Who can fit or service solar panels in Stockport?
DB Energy does, for homes, farms and businesses across Stockport and the towns around it, whoever fitted the existing system. We work from Warrington and cover the whole of the UK, and we are MCS certified (NIC-601172) and a RECC member (00075024).
Do I need planning permission for solar panels in a Stockport conservation area?
It depends on the area. Stockport has 37 conservation areas, and 24 of them have an Article 4 direction, which can mean an application for panels that would otherwise need none. In five of those the controls cover every outside wall and roof, not just the ones facing the street. We check your address against the council's list before designing anything.
I live in Poynton. Do Stockport's planning rules apply?
No. Poynton is in Cheshire East, so planning questions go to Cheshire East Council, not Stockport. The electricity network is the same as Stockport's, though: Electricity North West.
Can we cut back trees to make room for solar panels?
Check first. A tree with a tree preservation order needs the council's consent, and in a conservation area you have to give the council six weeks' notice before cutting or pruning most trees. We model the shade before quoting, and sometimes the honest answer is that the roof isn't worth doing.
Send a photo of your roof
Send two photos of the roof, one showing any trees near it, plus a recent bill and your postcode. We will check the shading and the council's Article 4 list and tell you whether it is worth going further.