Britain's best solar month ever.
Export rates did not notice.
July 2026 was the best month for solar in British history. 3.2TWh, 14.4% of all electricity generated. On Sunday 12 July solar peaked above 15GW and covered 44% of demand late morning. The people who own those panels were paid the least that month.
📊 The records
July 2025 was 9.6% of generation. July 2026 was 14.4%. The previous record month, May 2026, was 12.4%.
Peak output 15,427MW on 12 July between 10.30am and midday. For that window nearly half the country was running on rooftops and fields.
The average month in 2025 produced 1.67TWh. July nearly doubled it.
📉 Why the price fell
When everyone generates at once, the grid does not need to buy. Midday wholesale prices in July sat close to zero on several days and below zero on some.
A standard export tariff pays a flat 4p a unit whatever the time. Some pay 15p or 20p if you buy your electricity from the same supplier. None of them pay more at 6pm than at noon.
So the record month was a record for volume, not for income. More units sold at the lowest price of the day.
🔋 The fix is timing
A battery lets you keep the midday sun and use it at 7pm instead of buying from the grid at 26p. That is worth more than any export rate.
A house that can be told when to charge and when to hold is also worth money to the grid, which pays for that kind of thing separately.
The panels are the easy bit. Most of Britain has now done the easy bit.
Britain made more solar electricity in July than in any month in its history and paid households a few pence for most of it. The sun is not the scarce thing. Teatime is.