How We Use AI and Automation, and Where We Never Do
Fixed code produces the calculator's cost and payback figures, and no AI tool runs when you use the calculator. We do use AI tools to research, plan and draft our pages, and the Solar Panel Cost Calculator Editorial Team checks each page before it is published. Our AI and automation policy says which parts of Solar Panel Cost Calculator are made by fixed code, which are made with AI tools, and how each page is checked before it is published.
| Job | What does it |
|---|---|
| Working out your estimate | Fixed code. The same answers give the same result every time. |
| Setting the verdict and the survey offer | Fixed code, from a rule published in our methodology. |
| Supplying a figure, a price, a rate or a date | A named source in our data files. An AI tool is never the source of a figure. |
| Dating figures and building page lists | Fixed code, from the same data files. |
| Research, page plans, first drafts and site code | AI tools, followed by the checks set out below. |
| Reviews and testimonials | Nobody. We publish none. |
What We Mean by AI and by Automation
We use two different things, and the difference matters: fixed code that gives the same answer every time, and AI tools that write text.
- Automation (fixed code)
- Instructions that turn the same inputs into the same outputs every time. The calculator, the dates beside our figures and our page lists work this way.
- AI tools
- Software built on large language models that produces text or code from a prompt. It is useful for drafting and it can be wrong, so nothing it produces is published unchecked.
Where Fixed Code Does the Work
Your estimate is worked out by fixed code: the same answers about your home always give the same cost, saving and payback. Fixed code does four jobs on this site:
- The calculator. Generation is the system size in kWp x a yearly yield figure x a shade factor, the form of the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) method. Saving, export income and payback follow from it. Every line is in our page on how we calculate solar cost, savings and payback.
- Dated figures. Each figure is stored once in our data files with its source and its date, and a page reads it from there when the site is built. Nobody types a figure into a page.
- Page lists. The sitemap, the menus and the breadcrumbs are built from one list of pages, so they match the pages that exist.
- The survey request. The request form is switched off, so no details go to Leads 2 Trade Limited today.
The calculator runs in your browser. A change to a formula gets a new method version and a dated entry in the changelog.
The Verdict and the Survey Offer
The verdict (Good fit, Borderline or Poor fit) comes from a published rule, not from AI, and it decides whether we offer you a survey. The rule and its payback limits are on our methodology page, where the limits are marked as our own rule, not a source figure. On a Poor fit result we do not offer a survey. We show what would change the answer, and you can run it again. The verdict does not stop you contacting any installer yourself.
Where We Use AI Tools
We use AI tools as a starting point for research, writing and code, never as the final word. The table pairs each of the five tasks with the check that follows it.
| Task | What the AI tool does | The check that follows |
|---|---|---|
| Research | Finds sources and reads them. | A fact goes into our data files with its source and the date it was read. A fact not confirmed at its source is held back and cannot appear on a page. |
| Page planning | Proposes headings and the order of sections. | The editorial team checks the page before it is published. |
| Drafting | Writes the first draft of a page's text. | Figures are not typed into a draft: the page reads them from the data files. The editorial team checks the page before it is published. |
| Wording | Rewrites stiff sentences in plain English. | Headings, figures, dates and links are locked and do not change in this pass. |
| Site and calculator code | Helps write the code. | After every change to the method, the calculator is rerun on a fixed set of test homes and each result is compared with a hand-worked answer. |
An AI tool publishes nothing on its own. We do not claim that a person wrote every sentence here; we claim that every page is checked.
Where We Never Use AI
Some parts of this site are never produced by AI, because a mistake there would cost you money or mislead you. Four rules hold today:
| Never | Why | What we use instead |
|---|---|---|
| An AI tool as the source of a figure, a price, a rate or a date | An invented number is the worst error a cost site can make. | Named sources in our data files, listed with the datasets and dates behind our figures |
| An AI model working out your estimate | You should get the same result from the same answers. | Fixed formulas, set out in our methodology. |
| An AI model deciding whether you are offered a survey | You should be able to see the rule. | The published verdict rule. |
| Reviews, testimonials or quotes from people | A review nobody can check is not evidence. | Nothing. We publish none. |
Our build enforces the first rule. A figure on a page that has no match in the data files fails a check, and so does an owner fact that is still missing.
How People Check Every Page
The editorial team checks each page before it is published, and automated checks run at every build. A page passes through four steps:
- The build checks the page. A fact name that does not exist stops the build, and a figure with no source in the data files fails the number check.
- The Solar Panel Cost Calculator Editorial Team checks the page before it is published.
- A technical reviewer checks formulas, system sizing and technical claims before a page says it was reviewed.
- After publication, prices are re-checked every quarter and export tariffs every month, and each correction is dated.
The roles, the review cycle and the corrections rules are in our editorial policy.
AI Tools and Your Personal Data
This site sends none of your details to an AI tool, because it collects none today. The calculator works in your browser, and your postcode and answers stay on the page. The survey request form is switched off. The AI tools we use to make the site are Anthropic's Claude, an AI assistant that helped draft and check our page text and write our site code, and an OpenAI image model (gpt-image, run on Microsoft Azure) that made the pictures of houses and roofs on our calculator pages, on the front pages of our main sections and on our main cost pages, and the picture shown when a page is shared. None of these pictures shows a real home or a real installation. The facts and figures on our pages come from the source rows in our data files, not from an AI tool. When the form opens, the companies that handle your details will be listed in our privacy policy.
AI Search Engines and Our Pages
We let search engines and AI assistants read our public pages. Our robots.txt file sets one rule for every crawler and blocks no public page. Our policy on AI crawlers is to allow them, under the same rule as every other crawler, which keeps out only the /api/ path and the survey thank-you page. We control access to our pages, not what an AI product says about them. If an AI answer quotes an old figure from us, the date beside the figure on our own page shows what is current. The facts to quote about this site belong on one page: brand facts and how to cite us.
Spotted Something Wrong?
If you think a figure or a sentence on this site is wrong, whatever made it, email [email protected] and we will check it against its source. A fix is dated on the page and logged, as our editorial policy sets out.
Changes to This Policy
This is version 1.0 of the policy. When we start or stop using AI for a task, we change this page and log the change in the changelog.