Blog

Note: This is an updated version of a blog originally published on 21st October 2021.

Everytime it seems like energy prices are creeping downwards, they always find a way to creep back up again (conveniently this always happens to be just before winter). For the past few years now, the average cost of powering a home has stood between £1,600 and £1,800. Heating, of course, makes up the lion’s share of that total.

And seeing as gas prices don’t want to stabilise, and we’re being herded towards electric solutions in pretty much every avenue of our lives, it would seem that electricity is the future.

Especially when you can generate your own.

Enter the infrared heating-solar panel tag team. Together, they represent perhaps the most energy efficient, low maintenance and future-proof way of heating your home.

Let’s take a closer look.

The Argument For Infrared Heating

Despite the fact that Heat Pumps seem to be the media darlings right now, they’re not always a realistic option. Up front costs still hover around £6,000 to £18,000 depending on the size of your property.

Even if you factor in government incentives, they still cost a big chunk of change to install.

Infrared heating panels however, are way more affordable. They’re much easier to install, require pretty much no maintenance, and can be decentralised, for a much tighter level of control, resulting in lower energy bills.

Although they might seem pricier than traditional systems, IR heaters are much more flexible in how they can be used, and solar power is one of those ways.

Why Solar Power Makes Sense in 2025

Solar panel installations have skyrocketed over the past few years. Approximately 1.7 million homes have them installed. In actual fact, solar has now overtaken fossil fuels as our main source of electricity, supplying around 37%.

The British government are doubling down on this too - they’re setting regulations in place where all new build homes built in 2027 onwards have to have solar panels installed.

When you look at what they can do now, it makes a lot of sense. A typical 3.5kW system can generate anywhere between 2,800 to 3,200kWh every year, depending on which way your roof is pointing and where you live.

Whichever way you look at it, that's more than enough to cover a home’s annual infrared heating needs.

IR panel heaters generally use between 0.29 to 0.8kWh per hour. At an average of 0.54kWh, running multiple panels for 12 hours a day across the whole year ends up using around 2,387kWh. That’ll give you at least 500kWh to play with.

Or better yet, that’s 500kWh you can sell back to the grid, usually around the 4-5p per unit.

Will It Work In Winter?

While British winters aren’t exactly primed for solar panel usage, that doesn’t mean they stop working. SPVs still collect energy on cloudy days, and nowadays, battery packs are becoming just as popular as the panels themselves.

Not only are they more affordable and widespread than ever before, but systems like Tesla Powerwall, GivEnergy or SolarEdge allow you to store excess electricity from sunny days, and use it when it inevitably clouds over and starts raining.

Even if batteries aren’t an option, smart diverters and intelligent grid integrations can prioritise solar power for heating and household use, ensuring you get the max out of every ray of sunshine.

There are more options too for tenants or those who live in flats. The government is now backing plug-in solar panels. These are compact units that you can set up and install yourself, without the need for an electrician.

These are incredibly low cost, and typically cut around 20-30% off your electricity use.

Help From The Government

It’s not just us that love solar. The folks at Downing Street do too, and they’re introducing incentives to help you make the switch.

Their £6.6bn Warm Homes initiative is offering grants and cheap loans to homeowners for adding solar and efficient heating.

Zero VAT on solar systems and simplified Smart Export Guarantee schemes reduce costs even further.

A typical solar panel installation used to take around 20 years to pay for itself, but that number is now closer to 5-10 years, depending on your usage and location. It can be even less when used with infrared heating.

Infrared Heaters With Solar Panels

Infrared panels are already low energy, low maintenance and kind to the environment.

Solar panels are also low energy, low maintenance and kind to the environment.

Combine the two, and you have all of the above…on steroids.

IR heaters are one of the most efficient types of electric heating, second to Heat Pumps. However they don’t come with extortionate up front costs. Throw solar into the mix, and you can use your low energy heaters with a free, renewable source, courtesy of the giant nuclear reactor in the sky that we call our sun.

To make matters even better, IR panels…

• Come with any level of control you need. Want an on off panel heater? Our Classic range has you covered. Need Wi-Fi and automated heaters? Opt for our Nexus panel heaters.
• Are easy to install. In fact, they can be installed yourself within about half an hour per panel. No pipes, plumbing, ripping floorboards out or anything like that.
• Look so much nicer than other types of heater. There’s plain white panels for the subtle look, Mirror Panels for incredible space savers in the hallway or bathroom, and even Image and Custom Image Panels for truly decor enhancing heating.
• Can be swapped in and out on an individual basis. Start off with a single room and scale outwards, or replace the odd faulty panel without losing the ability to heat the rest of your home.

Ready To Make The Switch?

If you’ve decided that Infrared Panel Heaters are the way to go for your home, firstly, congrats! Second, you might want to speak to our team who can point you in the right direction, talk you through how to use them, and put a custom quotation together for you.

Just give them a call on 0116 321 4124, or send an email to sales@suryaheating.co.uk.

Don’t forget that you can drop us a DM on Facebook or Instagram too, whilst our YouTube channel has loads of info about the tech, the heaters and everything in between.