[BISHI]

Free solar panels worth £12,000: Save £120/year on your electricity...

Anybody here got any experience of these deals - basically they pay for your panels to be fitted, you get free electricity and the company keeps the surplus that is sold back to the electricity company. You have to keep them for 25 years and most of the profit goes to the company but you get some savings off your bill whilst reducing your carbon footprint and reducing the energy rating on your house. We have a south facing roof so am thinking of applying - thought I would see what you guys thought about it ....

[sean5302]

A bit of a con, actually.

I looked into this and the installer gets £35k from input relief, a Gov't handout.

If you spent the £12k yourself you'd be eligible for the same handout which would pay for the installation within 8 years and the kit would be yours to keep.

The NAEA estate agents report houses with solar panels are extremely difficult to sell. Many owners have had to get the panels removed before any buyer would even view their house.

[BISHI]

I don't understand why having solarpanels would be a bad thing !! If they were at the back of the house out of view I'm sure that would be fine !!! The energy rating of our house is almost as low as it can be so surely improving it would be a selling plus .
We don't have the 12 K to spend so I'm thinking at least we get some free electricity and as the price of it will inevitably go up and up it might be worth a punt ...

[sean5302]

Green living or a hot new investment? Tariffs for solar panels pay eight per cent a year - at taxpayers' expense | Mail Online

[BISHI]

Ok, read it and it simply makes the idea of somebody else taking the risk instead of me more appealing!!!
The way i see it I will be getting most of my daytime electricity ,if not free, at a significantly reduced rate and therefore my bills will decrease. If the feed in tarrif scheme folds then I have lost nothing as the installation company is takinh 100% of the risks. This has to be win win surely ?

[sean5302]

Yes. I couldn't find the link I wanted.

I read in the Telegraph that people could make £35k by installing the panels and owning them outright. If they got £12k worth of kit from the supplier, that supplier would make £23k out of the house owner, which you could have got for yourself.

[BISHI]

Yeah but you gotta have 12K up front...........which I dont. And that 23k will be over 25 years assuming the scheme stays in place..

[la gran siete]

A s with most things its probably best t wait a few years as the price of the panels is sure to drop as they become more popular

As for the scheme , on the surface it appears a good idea for those whpo havent the capital but it must be remembered the company effectively owns the roof during the 25 yr period, which must be strong enough to hold the panels,and could make selling the house very difficult.Of course they would be responsible for the maintenance of the panels and they will only fit them on south facing roofs anyway

[johntheexpat]

I know photovoltaics are 'in' and the cool and trendy technological 'must have' of the moment, but a microCHP, could actually be much more appealing. Not only to the homeowner, but also to the people buying the power off the small producers.

Looking through the link, the Worcester Bosch jobbie produces 1KW of electricity for every 7KW of heat produced. But as most people will have their heating on when it is cold (ie a period of higher demand for electricity) then surely this is a better time to produce power than at midday in the middle of summer* when presumably demand is at its lowest?

Admittedly you have to burn natural gas for the MicroCHP, but I don't think I have ever seen a comprehensive assessment of how green solar panels are from fabrication through to disposal (possibly not very green if the truth is told).

*I have very serious doubts about any scheme that pays through the nose to produce something very expensively at a time when the need for it is at it's lowest.

[ojock]

Originally Posted by la gran siete

A s with most things its probably best t wait a few years as the price of the panels is sure to drop as they become more popular

I think the Feed-in tariff goes down by about 9 or 10% if you install them after Apr 2011, anyone ?

[IronGiant]

I just signed up

Purely for research purposes

Dave

[ojock]

Originally Posted by sean5302

The NAEA estate agents report houses with solar panels are extremely difficult to sell. Many owners have had to get the panels removed before any buyer would even view their house.

Can I ask where you got this information from ? I'm thinking of installing them, but rather than what you suggest, having spoken to a few local estate agents, I got the opposite impression.

And this doesn't really back up what the report you found;

http://www.bhl.co.uk/article/1488/Mi...y+important%27

Was this "report" pre-April 2010, i.e. before the new feed-in tariff scheme ?

I suspect momentum will build and many more will take up the "free" install scheme, and for those with the capital, they will look at the potential 8-10% tax free p.a. and view it as a much better option than say 3-4% ISA. Additionally, the feed-in tariff I believe is linked to inflation - together with the additional savings in electricity, financially I think it's a no-brainer.

[logiclee]

Bringing up an old thread but I have Eon coming to do a survey on my roof on Monday (5th Sept).

I comply with having a shade free south facing roof and have enough roof space for a full 22 panel install. They just need to check the roofs strength.

For me to finance myself this install the cost would be £16k to £18k. I do have a £30k investment due to mature in 5 years so could probably get a return in 10 years or so but I could also get run over by a bus tommorrow so I'm going for free panels and I'll use the £30k on something nice.
We do have a high base load in the day, large fish pond with 2X120W pumps + air pump + uv filter, large fish tank with 2X300W heaters + pumps + UV + lights, usuall fridge and freezer, my wife doesn't work so has tv etc on during day. I can also set washer and dishwasher etc to come on during day so I should see a sizable saving on the electricity bill having a 4kw system installed.
Installers pay for insurance of the panels so my insurers say they will not increase premium.
Now the offer has been up and running a while having a qualifying south facing roof or having the panels already installed is seen as a selling point by our honest Estate Agent friends.
I'll let you know how the survey goes.

Cheers
Lee

[BISHI]

I would get a couple of quotesfrom other companies. Forget how many panels they can put on your roof, they come in different sizes - you want to know how many KW the system is. You should be paying about 4 to 4.5 thousand per KW - yours sounds between 3 and 4 KW which could generate a healthy profit if you pay for them yourself and get the feed in tarrif. If you can afford it I would suggest it will be the best investment opportunity for your money now and for the forseeable future.

[logiclee]

System is 4kW or 3.98kW I think they actually quote.

Will see what is said during the survey. I still think I'm going for free panels, I could finance them and pay up the loan in 5 years when my current investment finishes but my thoughts currently are......

Just got to the stage where we have no loans/mortgage and a bit of savings and would have to borrow £15k+ for the panels.
Due to wife's health may need to move into a Bungalow in the next 10-15years.
Had two heart attacks myself (Only 42) so fancy spending my £30k investment rather than reinvesting it for another 25 years.

Cheers
Lee

[Tigerblade]

I've been looking at this recently as have noticed quite a few houses getting them. Normally if it's too good to be true then it normally is but I don't think I've read any negatives....just what if's. The only downer I can see is the fact it's a 25 year lease and something that could be a problem when selling, but the way things are going it would seem that houses without panels will be the odd ones out if this keeps up. With the Mrs being a childminder the bulk of our electricity will be daytime use too.....

Having said that I'm still not sure tho. Anyone actually have them under this free scheme got any input/advice/reassurances?

[IronGiant]

I applied a year ago and they weren't installed until the end of June, so it can be slow process.
Points to note:
Measure your roof yourself. They miscalculated ours and said it was too small originally, but they could sell us 1.5kW system

Although it's a free installation be wary of last second unanticipated charges. Because we had decking in front of the south facing roof they announced that a larger scaffolding installation might be required and they may have to make a surcharge of £175. This was a week before they were due to come and do it. Scaffolders said the decking wasn't an issue, so no charge. Two days before they came they announced that they hadn't spotted any earth bonding to the gas pipes when they did the survey. (The surveyor never looked for it, I was with them). They told me that if they had to put it in they would have to charge me £150. They must have forgotten to tell the electrician, because he didn't look for it either. Again, no charge, but it left a slightly sour taste in an otherwise painless process.

They've generated 873kW since installation on the 23rd June(3.42kW installation ) I can't tell how much of that we've used but as I'm here during the day it's a good proportion.

Any more questions, just ask.

[johntheexpat]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

Any more questions, just ask.

Have you installed the free roof insulation yet?

I know its a thread about solar panels, but it will probably save you more money than the soalr panels in the medium to long term.

[IronGiant]

It's next on my list I wanted to wait until after the installers had been and when loft temps dropped. That sounds like about now.

[conrod129]

Originally Posted by IronGiant

Any more questions, just ask.

Would you get it done again if you moved house ?

[IronGiant]

Yes, like a shot. If the tariffs were still favourable though, I 'd try to get the costs put on the mortgage so that I owned the panels and got the tariff myself.

Although we aren't planning to move any time soon