Free solar panel discussion

zeupater

Cardew wrote: »

That is simply unbelievable!

I totally agree .....

'As with Free Solar, SolarShare includes the system, installation and maintenance for 25 years. The only difference is cost: for SolarShare there is a one-off fee of £500 and £5 per month for SolarCare.'

.... Isn't it the case that they're providing the kit and the consumer is paying for the installation (£500) and the maintenance (£5/Month) as well as providing the roof for free.

Take £500 out of your savings will cost around £1/month in lost interest, add the £5 gives a £6/month real cost.

Use 8kWh of electricity per day and generate 50% of that from the array saves 4kWh/day, probably somewhere around 35p/day or around £11/month,

Net financial gain for the customer (£11-£6) .... a fiver a month.
Fit+Export gain for the company on a 2.6kWp system, just under £1000/year ...... around £80/month !!

.... as Cardew says .... 'Unbelievable'

I would think that Abraham Lincoln's words are seen as being applicable to schemes such as this ..... 'You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.'

Regards

beedydad

energysavingexp wrote: »

Is it realy worth renting your roof space out for 25 years for as little as 20-30p per day?

Seems people are cottoning on that to "rent a roof" is a very charitable offer from a house owner giving away the use of their own roof for 25 years with practically no income!!!!!

Have constantly recommended that if people are "renting a roof" that they should get a real proper income - try getting any of these companies to offer a minimum of £100 per annum. That will still give them a really fantastic return (probably profits from year 8 onwards).

Don't let them fob you off with any sob story that they are the "charity" theyt are not - they make serious money from you the "rent a roof mug"!!!!!

Regards

zeupater

margin wrote: »

Help

I have a couple of quotations in front of me for a self-financed PV system.

Has anyone had any dealings with Ecofirst ? Tesco ?

Thanks in advance

Hi Margin

Probably better to ask the question on one of the threads in the 'green & ethical' forum section which isn't related to the rent-a-roof (free) schemes as it's less likely to get missed in all of the discussions here .....

Regards

alan101140

If you cant afford to buy your solar panels, then any free electricity is better than none even if someone else is making more out of it than you!!
I have applied for this but, although the house is ideal, there appears to be a hold-up with the building society (we have a mortgage) approving the lease. The company solictors have told me that they are negotiating with all the building societies but are having difficulty getting a decision.
Has anyone else had this problem arise?

Doc_N

alan101140 wrote: »

If you cant afford to buy your solar panels, then any free electricity is better than none even if someone else is making more out of it than you!!

Not if the very small savings in electricity costs (and they are very small) are outweighed by a substantial drop in the value of the house - as could very well be the case.

rollerman_2

Hi All
This is the reply i got for a 3bed semi corner position.

In order to for your application to be successful, your building needs to match our specific requirements. We require that your property is south facing at 180 degrees; however we do operate between 140 to 210 degrees orientation. We also stipulate that the roof is pitched as flat roofs have the added costs of placing a frame to support the panels which can reach up to £4000. We also require that the roof space measures up to a minimum of 300sq ft for our 3.3kW panels or a minimum of 200sq ft for our 2.2kW panels. Our final criterion is that there are no obstructions to the roofs such as dormer windows, velux windows, large chimneys, as they cause the panels to become disjointed, and large trees that would shade the roof and therefore limit the amount of electricity the panels would generate.

In regards to your property there is not enough roof space for us to install our panels. The orientation of the property is also outside our parameters at 227 degrees. We would like to thank you for your interest and regret to inform you that your property has not been successful.

energysavingexp

rollerman wrote: »

Hi All
This is the reply i got for a 3bed semi corner position.

In order to for your application to be successful, your building needs to match our specific requirements. We require that your property is south facing at 180 degrees; however we do operate between 140 to 210 degrees orientation. We also stipulate that the roof is pitched as flat roofs have the added costs of placing a frame to support the panels which can reach up to £4000. We also require that the roof space measures up to a minimum of 300sq ft for our 3.3kW panels or a minimum of 200sq ft for our 2.2kW panels. Our final criterion is that there are no obstructions to the roofs such as dormer windows, velux windows, large chimneys, as they cause the panels to become disjointed, and large trees that would shade the roof and therefore limit the amount of electricity the panels would generate.

In regards to your property there is not enough roof space for us to install our panels. The orientation of the property is also outside our parameters at 227 degrees. We would like to thank you for your interest and regret to inform you that your property has not been successful.

which company did you get this from?

Equaliser123

alan101140 wrote: »

If you cant afford to buy your solar panels, then any free electricity is better than none even if someone else is making more out of it than you!!

Not sure I agree.

No way would I buy a house with solar panels on unless I was receiving the FIT.

JenR8

Most (but not all) companies give you the option to buy the panels later, at a straight line depreciation from day one cost. You then get the Fit set at today's rate. Surely if you can't afford to buy now this has got to be the next best thing?

zeupater

JenR8 wrote: »

Most (but not all) companies give you the option to buy the panels later, at a straight line depreciation from day one cost. You then get the Fit set at today's rate. Surely if you can't afford to buy now this has got to be the next best thing?

Hi JenR8

Is it possible to link to any form of independent consumer oriented analysis so that people looking into the 'rent-a-roof' solution can be steered towards scheme operators who provide the ability to 'get out' of, or change, obligations which are agreed to/imposed at the contract stage.

Regards