1. Who we are
Solar Balcony is a trading name of PlugSun Ltd, a company registered in Scotland with company number SC884455. You can reach us at sales@plugsun.co.uk.
Registered office: 5 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AN. Post reaches us there, but email is faster.
2. What these terms cover
Everything below applies when you buy a balcony solar system from us. Clauses 17 and 18 also apply to anyone simply reading this website.
Where these terms and something else we have written disagree — an email, a page elsewhere on this site — the more specific thing we have told you about your own installation wins. We are not going to hide behind small print we wrote before we had met you.
3. The estimate is not an offer
The figure our estimator produces is an estimate calculated from what you tell us, using the MCS method described on the estimate page. It is not a quotation, it does not bind either of us, and it is not a guarantee of how much electricity you will generate or save.
A price becomes real when we send you a written quotation after the survey.
4. The survey
Free, and it carries no obligation on either side. A surveyor looks at your balustrade, the cable route and what will shade the panels.
If the survey concludes your railing cannot safely carry a panel, or that there is no route for the cable that you are permitted to use, we will tell you and that is the end of it. There is no charge, and there is nothing for you to pay back, because at that stage you will not have paid us anything.
5. Permission is yours to get
You are responsible for obtaining any consent you need from a landlord, a factor, a freeholder, other owners in your building, or a planning authority. We will put the technical details in writing for you to forward, and our guide to the rules sets out who usually needs to agree, but the consent itself is yours to obtain.
We will not install a system without it, and we will not ask you to pay for one until you have it.
6. How a contract is formed
In this order, and not before:
- You ask for an estimate. Nothing is binding.
- We survey your balcony, free of charge. Still nothing binding.
- You obtain the permission you need, in writing.
- We send you a written quotation.
- You accept it and pay. That is the point a contract exists, and not a moment earlier.
7. Price and payment
The price is the one in your written quotation. It includes VAT at the rate applying on the date of the quotation — currently 0% on a supplier-installed system, rising to 5% on 1 April 2027 — and it includes the survey, the hardware, the mounting, the electrical work, your certificate and the notification to your network operator.
Payment is due in full when you accept the quotation. We do not take a deposit and then chase a balance; there is one payment, and it happens after your free survey and after your permission is in writing, so you are not paying for something nobody has looked at.
If you pay by credit card you may have additional protection under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 for purchases over £100, which applies to a system at £1,380. That protection is between you and your card issuer and is not something we can give or take away, but it is worth knowing you have it.
8. Your right to cancel
Because you are buying at a distance or away from our premises, you have a legal right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. This is in addition to anything else in these terms and we cannot reduce it.
You have 14 days to cancel, running from the day you receive the hardware. You do not have to give a reason. Tell us at sales@plugsun.co.uk — a clear statement that you are cancelling is enough, and we will confirm we have received it.
We will refund you within 14 days of being told, using the same method you paid with. Where the hardware has been delivered, we may hold the refund until it is back with us or you have shown us it has been sent.
Two things to know, because they are the parts that catch people out. If you ask us to install within the 14-day window and then cancel, you must pay for the work already done up to that point — that is the trade-off for not waiting. And once a system is installed and working at your request, the right to cancel has been exercised out rather than lost: you can still cancel, but you are paying for what you asked for and received.
If you would rather keep the full cancellation right intact, say so and we will schedule the installation after the 14 days have run. It costs you nothing but a fortnight.
9. If we cancel
We will refund you in full, within 14 days, if:
- the survey finds your railing or cable route will not take the system;
- a consent you had is withdrawn before we install;
- we cannot source suitable hardware; or
- we have made a mistake in the price and you do not want to proceed at the right one.
In none of those cases do we keep anything, and in none of them do we charge you for the survey.
10. When we install
In Fife, Angus and East Lothian we work week to week. Everywhere else in Scotland we travel in batches, once 2 customers in the same area are ready. We will tell you where you stand before you pay, and we will keep telling you.
We need access to the balcony and to your consumer unit on the day, and somebody over 18 at home. If we arrive and cannot get in, or the balcony is not clear enough to work on, we may charge £100 for the wasted visit.
We do not install outside Scotland.
11. Ownership and risk
The system is yours once you have paid for it. Risk in the hardware passes to you when it is installed, or when it is delivered to you if that happens first.
12. What you get on the day
- An electrical installation certificate for the work.
- The manufacturer’s reference number for your inverter.
- A G98 notification lodged with your distribution network operator by us.
There is no MCS certificate, because a balcony system is not eligible for one. That is why it is not eligible for the Smart Export Guarantee either, and why nothing we have told you includes income from exported electricity.
13. Guarantees and your statutory rights
We pass through the manufacturers’ warranties for the panels and the inverter, and we state their terms on your quotation. We do not sell a workmanship guarantee on top of them.
What you have by law is not affected by that. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the hardware must be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose, and the installation must be carried out with reasonable care and skill. If it is not, your claim is against us. See how it works for the longer explanation.
14. Visits after the install
A visit that is not part of an installation — an out-of-warranty callout, or taking the system down when you move — is £100. Where we can, we will fit it into a run we are already making to your area.
Putting a system back up at a new address is £450. That is the install line rather than the visit rate, because it is a full installation — new railing surveyed, mounted, wired, tested, certified and notified.
15. What we are not responsible for
- Consent you did not get, or consent that is later withdrawn by a landlord, factor or freeholder.
- Planning or listed-building consent, which is yours to obtain where it is needed.
- How much electricity the system makes, beyond it working as it should. Generation depends on weather, shading and how you use power.
- A change in the law after we install. We will tell you what we know, but we cannot insure you against a rule changing.
- The condition of a balustrade we did not fix anything to.
16. Our liability
We do not exclude or limit our liability where it would be unlawful to do so. That includes death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, and any of your rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Subject to that, we are responsible for loss you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss that is not foreseeable, or for business losses — this is a domestic product and we supply it for domestic use.
17. This website
The content is ours. You are welcome to quote it with attribution; the method notes in particular are published so they can be checked. You may not reproduce it wholesale as your own.
The guidance in the rules is general information and not legal advice, and every regulatory statement carries the date we last checked it. Whether you are permitted to install anything on your own balcony depends on your tenancy, your title deeds or lease and your local planning position — your documents, and worth reading.
We try to keep it accurate. If you find something wrong, especially on the regulatory pages, please tell us at sales@plugsun.co.uk.
18. Complaints, and the law that applies
Email us first — sales@plugsun.co.uk. We will acknowledge a complaint within five working days and tell you who is dealing with it.
These terms are governed by Scots law, and the Scottish courts have jurisdiction. If you live elsewhere in the UK you keep the protection of the mandatory consumer law where you live, and you may bring proceedings there.