Local Solar Scheme - legit or scam?

Kess
Kess Posts: 111 Forumite
in Green & ethical MoneySaving
We're suddenly being hit with advertisements for this firm:

http://view.localsolarscheme.tk/

Does anyone have any experience of them, or whether such schemes are worth pursuing?
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Comments

  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036 Forumite
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    It seems no different to any other solar installation - complete with the usual 'assumptions' of inflation and presumably a loan to pay for the installation.

    'Saving up to 50% of energy bills for life' is plain silly. 10% to 20% would excellent.

    £600pa in FIT from 16 panels in the Midlands(presumably 4kWp) is again silly. Even if the system produced 4,000kWh pa payment of FIT would be around £160pa with an export payment of around £50. Even with their estimated inflation figure of 3.04% it wouldn't be £600 at year 20.

    The ballpark figure for such a system is around £5,000 - I suspect their cost will be a lot more, and the loan interest will high.

    If you are interested get more details from the firm and post them here; and the experts(not I) will doubtless rip them apart if they are silly.
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,752 Forumite
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    Cardew wrote: »
    'Saving up to 50% of energy bills for life' is plain silly. 10% to 20% would excellent.

    £600pa in FIT from 16 panels in the Midlands(presumably 4kWp) is again silly. Even if the system produced 4,000kWh pa payment of FIT would be around £160pa with an export payment of around £50. Even with their estimated inflation figure of 3.04% it wouldn't be £600 at year 20.

    10% to 20% of bill is pretty poor, certainly not excellent. 50% of import is possible.

    Export would be about £100 in your example.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • Kess
    Kess Posts: 111 Forumite
    edited 16 March 2017 at 7:46PM
    Cardew wrote: »
    The ballpark figure for such a system is around £5,000 - I suspect their cost will be a lot more, and the loan interest will high.

    That's what puzzled us, the website boasts about "ZERO up-front costs", I guess trying to trick people into thinking it's a free government-supported scheme.
    If you are interested get more details from the firm and post them here; and the experts(not I) will doubtless rip them apart if they are silly.

    Maybe, but to request details you have to provide quite a lot of personal data - I don't want to be plagued by sales calls if it's a known scam. :(
  • pinnks
    pinnks Posts: 1,259 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper Photogenic
    Looks odd to me but perhaps I am just so sceptical.

    I typed in some details (not mine) and surprise, surprise I qualify. I will be contacted (not) within a couple of days. They will try a few times but if they don't get me I may no longer get accepted - REALLY??

    Then there is the fact that they are now moving into [area] - seems that is where I live! And then there are the typos, grammar errors and general lack of information.

    I would go find a straightforward installer in your area if you are interested. Ask on here and/or take a look at yougen.co.uk.
  • Kess
    Kess Posts: 111 Forumite
    I tried too. The advert implied that my village had been specially selected, so I entered a nonsense postcode of XYZ and - surprise, surprise - was informed "Success! Funding is available on your postcode" (although, of course, I must hurry to secure my place because there are "only 6 allocations left in my street").

    I look forward to them trying to locate XYZ...
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036 Forumite
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    Originally Posted by Cardew viewpost.gif
    'Saving up to 50% of energy bills for life' is plain silly. 10% to 20% would excellent.
    Martyn1981 wrote: »
    10% to 20% of bill is pretty poor, certainly not excellent. 50% of import is possible.

    .

    Their website doesn't say '50% of import' (which I agree is possible, but would be less than 2,000kWh)

    As I put in my post the exact wording on their website is ' Saving up to 50% of energy bills for life'

    Energy bills include heating, hot water, all electrical usage. The UK average is approx 16,000kWh for gas/electricity combined and this array is on a house with a roof big enough to accommodate 16 panels.
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,752 Forumite
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    edited 17 March 2017 at 9:05AM
    Cardew wrote: »
    As I put in my post the exact wording on their website is ' Saving up to 50% of energy bills for life'

    Fair enough if you are talking energy bills, not leccy bills, though even then 10% would be about £116 which is average, not at all excellent. Plus It was necessary to point out the error in your export payment too.

    @Kess for more detailed information on PV and income/savings, please have a look at the PV FAQs. The lack of information in that web link is concerning.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Rampant Recycler
    Martyn1981 wrote: »
    Fair enough if you are talking energy bills, not leccy bills, though even then 10% would be about £116 which is average, not at all excellent. Plus It was necessary to point out the error in your export payment too.


    .

    How petty!

    I(Cardew) wasn't 'talking energy bills' - the website referred to 'energy bills'.
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,752 Forumite
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    Cardew wrote: »
    How petty!

    I(Cardew) wasn't 'talking energy bills' - the website referred to 'energy bills'.

    I'm sorry you feel that way, but obviously given the fact that you've spent this whole decade attacking PV and FiTs, it will take some time before you can regain my trust.

    So when I see you giving questionable numbers for the returns, I think it's worth challenging them just for clarity (until such time as your motives can be trusted), after all shorting the returns by £50 is about a 15% reduction on the earnings/savings based on your 4,000kWh example, and that could easily be the difference between someone making a good or bad decision regarding PV.

    Regarding the 50% claim, it may be that they were referring to the whole income package (FiT + export + savings), but that is not made clear, and I think we both agree that the site is at the very least 'concerning'.

    If you still have any questions on how to work out the returns, then may I refer you to the PV FAQs.

    Thanks.
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW)

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • Exiled_Tyke
    Exiled_Tyke Posts: 1,188 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    To get back to the original issue. The installer appears the have made extremely dubious claims (no one here thinks the numbers are reasonable) and appears to be expensive too. At this point trust in the installer is gone and so it's time to walk away. No further questions necessary nor explanations to the installer. Simply get rid!
    Install 28th Nov 15, 3.3kW, (11x300LG), SolarEdge, SW. W Yorks.
    Install 2: Sept 19, 600W SSE
    Solax 6.3kWh battery
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