Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

rustyg

I own a 3 bedroom semi-detached house in Yorkshire and have a south-facing roof. I work from home during the day so this kind of "free" electricity might appeal to me as my PC is always on and I need regular intakes of caffeine to keep me going. I could organise my schedule to run my energy intensive appliances (washing machine,tumble drier, etc) during daylight hours and effectively for free. However, I have gas central heating, cook and heat my water by gas.

I'm currently with British Gas for dual-fuel but I switch energy suppliers every year or so after checking with Uswitch or one of the other comparison websites. Would this still be possible using this solar system? Or would I be forced to stick with the same supplier (which might not be the most competitive)?

kate83

You'd still be able to get your 'topup' elec from wherever you wanted

Will my electricity supply be disrupted?
No, not at all.
Will I have to change Electricity Supplier?
No.
Will I still receive an electricity bill?
Yes, because you will still be with your main Electricity Supplier. However, it should be much less than you are used to because you will have our FREE electricity during daylight hours.

Stubert

Cardew wrote: »

I am intrigued here.

For us mere mortals to buy solar PV systems to put on our roof, and be eligible for grants, we have to use an accredited installer. The going price as discussed elsewhere from these installers is £2,000 plus £5000 per kW.

So, at those rates, to buy a 3.3kW system that Shade Greener intend to install would cost us £18,500.

Now Shade Greener are to source, install, and crucially maintain these systems, for the income from FITs – bear in mind they are in Yorkshire which is fairly far North in UK and the systems do not have the output of those at a more southerly latitude.

Shade Greener will never release details of their business model, but personally I would doubt that it would be viable if the cost per system (including budgeting for maintenance) was more than 50% of the £18,500!

Makes you wonder what would be a fair price for us mortals to pay!!

I wonder if Shade Greener will ever get into selling their systems? Including an option for those ‘renting space on their roof’ to buy their fitted system.

I've wondered this cost issue and was surprised it wasn't discussed before! As you mention its going to cost most houses at least that figure you quoted in order to just generate enough electricity to power the whole house - even if there is an excess produced I imagine the money generated from selling back to the grid would be quite little.

A_Shade_Greener wrote:

Will I still receive an electricity bill?
Yes, because you will still be with your main Electricity Supplier. However, it should be much less than you are used to because you will have our FREE electricity during daylight hours.

I thought most systems would generate electricity for the house then sell back to the national grid? Therefore as per my point above, it'd be free? If the system isn't generating excess electricity for the house (to sell back), what's the point in installing it? That or all the electricity is sold back to the supplier and there would be no benefit to the property owner.






I'm not criticising, just interested how this system works!

Cardew

Stubert wrote: »

I've wondered this cost issue and was surprised it wasn't discussed before! As you mention its going to cost most houses at least that figure you quoted in order to just generate enough electricity to power the whole house - even if there is an excess produced I imagine the money generated from selling back to the grid would be quite little.




I thought most systems would generate electricity for the house then sell back to the national grid? Therefore as per my point above, it'd be free? If the system isn't generating excess electricity for the house (to sell back), what's the point in installing it? That or all the electricity is sold back to the supplier and there would be no benefit to the property owner.






I'm not criticising, just interested how this system works!

The proposed system to be introduced in April gives an income(the FIT) for every kWh of electricity you produce - not what you export. That for small systems is 36.5p/kWh.

So if you and I both have identical systems that produce 2,000kWh per year, our income from FITs will be £730 a year regardless of the fact that I use all my generated electricity in my house, and you only use 100kWh in your house and export 1,900kWh.

So for the purpose of this scheme we are both 'renting our roof' and I will gain £200 as I save paying my electricity company for the 2,000kWh I use (assuming cost of electricity I pay to be 10p/kWh). However you will only save £10 because it only saves you paying for 100kWh.

CrashUK

this sounds like a good idea.. I just when to apply.. My gf is a childminder and are bill has gone up a lot now she is childminding full time. Could save a lot of money

CrashUK

Cardew wrote: »

The more solar energy that is generated by systems that qualify for FIT, the more customers will pay for their electricity.

Yes it will put up the cost of electricity once number are very high. Prices have gone up in Germany down to this but about 40% of all power is now renewable.. We have less then 10%... as prices get higher more people will turn to renewable power.

CrashUK

incus432 wrote: »

As a newcomer to this thread I am staggered at the vitriol, incivility and negativity being directed at this company and at Sarah . Her contributions seem to me totally open, frank and helpful and deserve much better than the smarta* nit-picking 'you dont even understand what a FIT is, na-na' comments from others. Shame on you!

As 'used to be' said above this seems a very worthwhile venture. The householder benefits from reduced electricity bills, the country gets extra renewable energy generated, it helps save the planet and the company makes a profit . And profit is not a dirty word in my vocabulary!

(PS I have no link to the company or vested interest at all)

Also this type of business could make a lot of new jobs.

I was thinking will you get any extras like maybe a wireless electricity meter that shows you the output of the solar panels and how much power your using?

Cardew

CrashUK wrote: »

I was thinking will you get any extras like maybe a wireless electricity meter that shows you the output of the solar panels and how much power your using?

With a normal system you will be able to see what you are generating and exporting.

Bear in mind that it will be impossible to 'match' what you are using in the house with what the system is generating. i.e. at times you will not be able to use all the electricity that the system is producing, and at other times the opposite - you will be using more electricity than the system can provide.

However with this particular scheme you will want to use as much of the generated electricity as you can, so you would, say, put on the washing machine during the day rather than at night.

CrashUK

I have been reading about Feed-in tariff

power that you dont use is metered and you are paided 5p kw and the power you have made is also metered and you get 36.5p kw.. Working off npower site customer would save about £200 per year on they bill and ashadegreener would make a income about £1000 maybe more if they can get more for the exported power.

got info off here..
http://www.npower.com/web/feedintariffs/index.htm#___revealer_ident_3

Grolsch30

Cardew wrote: »

With a normal system you will be able to see what you are generating and exporting.

Bear in mind that it will be impossible to 'match' what you are using in the house with what the system is generating. i.e. at times you will not be able to use all the electricity that the system is producing, and at other times the opposite - you will be using more electricity than the system can provide.

However with this particular scheme you will want to use as much of the generated electricity as you can, so you would, say, put on the washing machine during the day rather than at night.

Can I just ask,

I don't know much about solar panels, but I always thought that the panels generate and store a certain amount of electricity which then can be used during the night when there is no light?!

I am looking to buy a new build property which has not been built yet and trying to weigh up this scheme from ASG or would it be more worthwhile buying my own istallation.
If the panels cannot store a certain amount of electricity to use during the evening then the benefits of ASG are'nt that great as you'd be paying your supplier for the electricity and during the daytime when everyone is at work ASG will get the benefit. Only at weekend could one get the full benefit of this scheme?
Whereas if you can afford to buy a system then you will benefit from all the electricity produced even though the payback maybe some years down the line, but the resale value of your house should you decide to move should be alot higher than the norm no?

Am I looking at this in a to simplistic kinda way?