Why we launched JJB Volta — and what it means for you.

Nine years of watching it done badly

We started JJB Electrical in 2016 with a straightforward idea: do the work properly, charge what you quoted, leave the place clean. It turned out to be rarer than it should be.

By the time solar panels and EV chargers became things our domestic customers were asking about, we'd already seen enough of the renewable energy market to know there was a problem.

Not with the technology — the technology is genuinely excellent. The problem was with how it was being sold and installed.

Homeowners were being quoted systems sized to hit a price point rather than sized for their actual consumption. Batteries were being undersized to win on headline cost — small enough to look good on a proposal, not big enough to carry a household through a winter evening. Installers with MCS certification on their vans were subcontracting the work to people who'd never installed a system before.

And customers — often spending £8,000–£12,000 — had no reliable way to tell the difference until the system was on the roof.

We're electricians. We understand how these systems actually work. So we decided to do it properly instead.

What JJB Volta is — and isn't

JJB Volta is not a separate company. It's a dedicated brand within JJB Electrical — the same people, the same standards, the same guarantees, with a specific focus on solar, battery storage and EV charging.

The reason for a separate identity is simple: customers researching solar or EV charging are in a different headspace to customers looking for a reliable local electrician. The questions are different, the decision process is longer, and the financial stakes are higher. A dedicated brand with dedicated content — honest guides, real numbers, straight answers — serves that customer better than a page buried on a general electrical contractor's website.

But the substance behind it is the same as it's always been:

• We survey your property and design a system for your specific consumption — not a generic package.
• We quote a fixed price and we charge that price.
• We specify premium components — Trina Vertex panels, Fox ESS hybrid inverters and batteries — because they're what we'd install in our own homes.
• We certify everything properly: MCS, Part P, DNO notification, SEG registration.
• We explain the right tariff and set the system up to use it from day one.
• We back every installation with a 6-year workmanship guarantee.

Homeowners are our core focus

Homeowners are at the heart of what JJB Volta does. A family spending £10,000 on a solar and battery system is making a significant financial decision on the basis of advice they usually can't independently verify. The quality gap between a correctly specified installation and a budget one isn't visible on the day — it shows up in January when the battery runs out by 8pm, or at year seven when the cheap inverter fails.

We exist for the homeowner who wants straight answers, a fixed price, and the confidence that the person fitting the system actually understands what they're doing. Not the cheapest quote. The right one.

But we don't turn our back on small businesses either.

The case for small businesses is just as strong

A small office, retail unit, workshop or business premises in Hertfordshire or Essex with a south-facing or east-west roof and a daytime electricity load is often an excellent candidate for solar. Commercial solar ROI in the UK in 2026 typically runs at 14–20%, with payback periods of 4–6 years — faster than residential because businesses tend to consume more electricity during the hours solar generates most.

Two specific advantages for businesses that most installers don't explain clearly:

For businesses with staff driving EVs or a commercial vehicle fleet, workplace charge points compound the case further. Staff can charge at work — at the business's electricity rate, which on a Time-of-Use tariff can be as low as 7p/kWh — and the business can claim 100% First-Year Allowances on the charger installation cost.

We work with small business owners across Hertfordshire and Essex. The conversation is the same as it is with homeowners: we survey the premises, model the actual financial return, and tell you honestly whether the numbers stack up. If they don't, we say so. If they do, we give you a fixed price and get on with it.

What comes next for JJB Volta

The site you're reading this on — jjbvolta.com — is where we'll publish honest guides, real financial data, and straight answers to the questions we hear most often on surveys and quote calls. No inflated claims, no industry jargon used to obscure rather than explain, no content designed to make solar sound simpler or cheaper than it is.

We'll also be building out a dedicated section for small businesses later this year — covering commercial solar, battery storage, workplace EV charging, and the tax and grant landscape that makes the financial case more compelling than most business owners realise.

If you want to know whether solar, battery storage or an EV charger makes sense for your home or business premises, that's exactly what our free survey is for.

You'll speak to Jamie or Dan directly. They'll give you a straight answer.