Solar Panel Installer Southport · an independent guide · Money
Group buying solar in Southport: Solar Together
The councils of the Liverpool City Region have run Solar Together, a group-buying scheme, for several years. It is a way to get a competitively priced offer, not a grant, and it is worth knowing how it works before a round opens.
Figures checked at source on 3 November 2026. Written by SEO Dons, who neither sell nor fit solar panels.
How it works
- Register. During a round, households sign up online, free, with details of the roof and their electricity use.
- Auction. Once registration closes, pre-approved installers bid for the combined work in a reverse auction. More households means a bigger job, which is the point.
- Personal offer. Each registered household is emailed a personal recommendation for its own roof at the winning prices; battery storage is part of the scheme too.
- Decide. You accept or decline. Accepting leads to a survey and, if the survey confirms the roof, the installation.
What it has done in the city region
The first round in the Liverpool City Region, in 2022, saw 585 households get panels fitted, and a second round took registrations until 17 November 2023. Sefton Council's climate emergency report for 2024-25 records that 53 Sefton households had solar panels installed through the scheme that year, and 7 had batteries. Later rounds have been run through the Combined Authority; we could not confirm the status of a current one on 3 November 2026, because the scheme's city-region page was not working.
Judging the offer
A group-buy price is usually competitive, but it is still one quote. Check it the same way as any other:
- Divide the price by the system size and compare it with the North West average for that size band; see costs.
- Compare the number of panels with what the roof planner fits on your roof. The offer is based on what you told the scheme; the survey settles the real figure.
- Look up the named installer on the MCS register and its consumer code's list.
- Read what happens if the survey finds the roof needs work or fits fewer panels: can you walk away without cost?
A yardstick for the price
New solar systems fitted on homes across the UK in September 2026 averaged about 5.7 kW, working from DESNZ's monthly deployment figures. At the 2025/26 North West mean of £1,627 per kW for systems between 4 and 10 kW, a system that size would cost about £9,300, and on a south roof at 35° in central Southport PVGIS puts its output at about 5,730 kWh a year. The auction exists to bring prices down, so an offer at or above the regional average for a similar system deserves a question. Remember that the averages leave out batteries, so take any battery's price out before you compare.
Before the next round opens
The personal offer is built from what you register, so a little preparation makes it more useful:
- Measure the roof faces you would use and run them through the roof planner, so you know roughly how many panels should fit.
- Find your yearly electricity use on your last annual statement or in your supplier's app.
- Check whether the house is listed or inside one of Southport's nine conservation areas, where the position of the panels may need thought or permission; see conservation areas.
- On a slate roof, find out what condition it is in. Repairs found at the survey are usually priced separately from the panels; see slate roofs.
- Decide whether you want a battery included in the offer or left for later.
- Have at least one quote of your own ready to set beside the offer; finding an installer explains how to get one worth having.
Who it suits
Households who want a straightforward system on a straightforward roof, at a price they did not have to negotiate. It suits complicated roofs less well: a hipped villa with stacks and valleys, a slate roof that may need repair, or a house in a conservation area where siting needs thought may be better served by an installer who surveys first and quotes after.
Sefton Council's net zero target for its own activities is 2030, and the city region's is 2035; group buying is one of the ways the councils encourage homes to take part.
Read on
Sources for this page
- Growth Platform: Solar Together returns to the Liverpool City Region (1 November 2023)
- Sefton Council: climate emergency annual report 2024-25
- Sefton Council: climate emergency
- DESNZ: small-scale solar PV costs by region, 2025/26
- DESNZ: solar photovoltaics deployment, sub-regional statistics
- European Commission JRC: PVGIS 5.3 solar output model
- Sefton Council: conservation areas
- MCS: find a certified installer
Questions about group buying
Is Solar Together open in Southport now?
We could not confirm an open round on 3 November 2026. The city region's first round ran in 2022 and a second took registrations in 2023, but the scheme's Liverpool City Region page was not working when we checked. Ask Sefton Council or the Combined Authority before you rely on it.
Is Solar Together a grant?
No. It is a group-buying scheme: households register, installers bid in an auction for the combined demand, and each household then gets a personal offer at the winning price. You pay for your own system; you are simply buying at a price negotiated for many.
Do I have to accept the Solar Together offer?
No. Registration is free and the offer comes without obligation. Treat it like any other quote: compare it with the published averages and at least one independent quote, and check the installer named in it.
Want a second opinion on your roof or a quote?
Tell us about the house, the roof or the quote, with your Southport postcode. The message goes to SEO-DONS LTD, the company that publishes this independent guide, and we answer by email. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
What happens next
- Fill in the form. A full postcode tells us which part of Southport, and which rules, apply.
- We read what you sent and reply by email with the figures and sources that fit your house.
- What you do next, and which firm you use, is your decision alone.