Solar panels cut bills in half
Published
Friday 14 August, 2026
Updated
Friday 14 August, 2026
Swale Borough Council has slashed the electricity bills at its main office in half, saving taxpayers more than £9,000 in less than four months.
More than 200 solar panels installed on the roof of Swale House have cut the building's energy bill by 55% between late March and June 2026.
This saved the council £7,262 compared to the same period last year.
The system is also creating a new stream of income that further offsets the cost of running the council’s office.
On sunny days when the panels produce more power than the office needs, the system automatically exports the extra electricity back into the national grid.
So far, the council has sold 13,850 kWh of spare energy, which will bring in an extra £1,864 to help offset operating costs.
Because the system reduces costs and creates income so quickly, the project is currently on track to completely pay for itself far quicker than predicted.
This rapid return guarantees financial value for local people, making sure the building remains as cheap to operate as possible for the future.
Along with the strictly financial benefits, the upgrade delivers on the council's climate change commitments.
The panels have already stopped 13,000 kg of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere - the equivalent of planting 806 trees or driving 195,000 km on sunshine.
This project builds on previous work to make Swale House more cost-effective, which included adding new insulation and stripping out old, single-glazed windows.
Push Power, a leading UK provider of solar solutions, fitted the panels just in time to capture the peak summer sunshine.
Following this strong financial and environmental success, the council is exploring how to install solar panels on other council-owned properties to recreate these savings across the borough.
Cllr Dolley Wooster, chair of the Environmental Services and Climate Change Committee, said:
“While we have all been trying to stay cool during the recent heatwaves our solar panels have been hard at work turning the sunshine into free power for our office.
“In less than four months, we’ve cut our electricity bill in half and even sold our extra power back to the grid.
“The results are better than we expected. If we continued at this rate the panels will pay for themselves much quicker than projected, making this an effective investment that also heavily reduces our carbon footprint.
“This investment to save shows we can make Swale House much cheaper to run, providing best value for local people, while operating in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way.”
