Free solar panel discussion

Cardew

energysavingexp wrote: »

LOL.
so its ok for the RICH PEOPLE who can afford to pay for the system
to take all OUR MONEY. (THE POOR ) BY CLAIMING THE FIT.
yet again the rich taking from the poor!!
if a poor person (ME) can save a few pence by having a free system and lower their bill, good look to them/us otherwise they will still have to pay the profit to the people who are claiming the FIT.
ie: if they are paying say £200 PA in leccy cost some of it going to the FIT system and if with a free system their leccy cost is £100. what they pay to the FITs is now half.

So just in case you haven't understood, I am not criticising those who rent out their roof,

Well you obviously did not understand what I wrote in the post above.

I am afraid I don't know how to explain it in simpler terms and I fear simply repeating it to you will not get through to you either.

M4ximillion

Cardew wrote: »

A couple of general points.
Firstly, there are new people joining this forum every day. So the repetition of points is not for your benefit. Having elected for a ‘Rent a roof’ system, you are as fixed in your beliefs as us ‘usual suspects’.

Secondly, nobody has stated that anyone electing for the meagre(IMO) returns of a free system is a mug...

Fair enough - yep you have made some valid points, and youre right iam as stuck in my belief as you are but i still think you should stop ridiculing people if they think its a good idea - what may be meagre to you isnt to some folk. Youre obviously well off. And actually beedydad did call us mugs - its in his comment furtherr up

Cardew wrote: »

Lastly, it contributes nothing to reasoned debate to act like some aggrieved and upset ‘keyboard warrior’ standing up to Cardew and the ‘usual suspects’ as if you are the champion of the downtrodden.

Im not aggrieved or upset, you couldnt upset me Cardew because you arent important to me. No offence meant, but thats a fact. Youre just an anonymous poster like me:). I just think its unfair that people are put off from saying what they think because theyll get rounded on. Look at what Jon Tiffany said

For the record, so that I dont appear to be pro ASG

He doesnt want to appear pro ASG - and im sure hes not but it sucks that he feels he has to say it just in case he gets a verbal clobbering:(

M4ximillion

Cardew wrote: »

I have made it perfectly clear that I don't think the 'rent a roof' companies should be allowed to get us to pay for their profits by exploiting a loophole and claiming thousands of subsidies for individuals

Just thinking about this loophole business - yeah i do think from time to time Cardew;). If it were a loophole wouldnt the government have closed it when they had chance when they announced all the cuts?

beedydad

M4ximillion wrote: »

Just thinking about this loophole business - yeah i do think from time to time Cardew;). If it were a loophole wouldnt the government have closed it when they had chance when they announced all the cuts?

I think you will find that behind the scenes they are looking into this matter. They are looking to see what share of the market and the level of take up occurs over this initial period. loopholes are not closed just because someone states or thinks it is a loophole it has to be proved and checks and balances made against the intention of FIT's in the round.

Quotes above about the costs of panels and installed kits have been overestimated.

I posted yesterday about checking out the REAL website as they have guidance on "free" solar kits.

You should check it out as they are highlighting that any company marketing/promoting "free" solar should inform, amoangst other things:-
1. The total FIT returns over the lifetime of the kits
2. The cost to the company of the installed kit.

Now this should give anyone a true picture of what kits cost reletive to the overall money/profit made. You might find that Cardews figures are pretty close to the truth (given the price of kits are coming down).
Regards

energysavingexp

M4ximillion wrote: »

Just thinking about this loophole business - yeah i do think from time to time Cardew;). If it were a loophole wouldnt the government have closed it when they had chance when they announced all the cuts?

i totally agree. well said :xmassign:

K4blades

Cardew wrote: »

Incidentally I have not seen a single independent organisation that shares your enthusiasm for the scheme.

try The Energy Saving Trust.
(I could name more.)

bonzocat99

Hi, I'm new to this forum but first read about the solar offers on this site.

I contacted Isis via their web site and submitted the required info on my property so they could assess it for suitability. I have a roof with a large south-facing aspect and was told that we should qualify under the free installation and usage scheme. So far so good.

I had some questions I wanted answered so I called them. This property is all-electric and runs on economy7. The guy had never heard of it! So I had to explain. He then decided it would be ideal and I asked how, if at all, it would work in tandem with it? i.e. could I in effect use daytime solar energy to power up the storage heaters. He thought it was 'possible.' What about the water tank? That heats up overnight too. 'Should' be OK to change that. I was and still am sceptical. I looked at my past leccy bills and decided that even without being able to top-up my heating during the day, my day-time usage was still enough to make it worthwhile having a solar panel. So I decided to proceed. This was at the beginning of September. I have periodically emailed this person at Isis and been told, sorry for the delay, techical problems blah, blah, blah and finally, 3 weeks ago, received an official email from them congratulating me and that a contract would be in the post. Once signed, they would be out to survey the property. I'm still waiting for the contract. I emailed my initial contact at Isis and my message was returned undeliverable. I then contacted Isis via their web site on Monday, adivsing that if I don't hear by the end of this week, to forget it. So far, nothing has been received. It has taken me over 2 months to get this far. I'm sure they've been inundated with requests but I have to ask myself: If this was a service I was actually purchasing, how would I feel? The answer is simple, I would drop them like a hot potato, so I'm wondering if others have had a similar experience with this organisation and can you direct me anywhere else? I don't have time to read all the blogs on this site and if this subject has been answered before or a similar story told, I apologise, I just want to get the process moving. Thanks for listening!

Gizmosmum_2

Welcome to the forum Bonzocat.

The problem with ISIS and all the other frims providing free pv is they have simply been overwhelmed by take up and don't have the staff to cope with demand. If you drop out there's a hundred other people waiting to take your place.

None of the firms are perfect but then again not many firms offer up to 15k of kit free. I hate poor customer service but can't see it getting any better with these offers because there's such high demand.

I guess you make your own mind up - take the free offer with it's "issues" or find the cash to do it yourself and buy from a company who will provide the service you want.

Good luck

bonzocat99

Thank you Gizmosmum!

I take your point and if indeed demand has been so high and I can well imagine it has, I'll give them a bit longer. I do get suspicious of 'undeliverable' email responses, when it has worked OK in the past and of someone who works in the energy business asking me to explain Economy7 to him, does not fill me with confidence but perhaps I was his first call straight from his training class. We'll see! Thanks again.

Equaliser123

energysavingexp wrote: »

LOL.
so its ok for the RICH PEOPLE who can afford to pay for the system
to take all OUR MONEY. (THE POOR ) BY CLAIMING THE FIT.
yet again the rich taking from the poor!!
if a poor person (ME) can save a few pence by having a free system and lower their bill, good look to them/us otherwise they will still have to pay the profit to the people who are claiming the FIT.
ie: if they are paying say £200 PA in leccy cost some of it going to the FIT system and if with a free system their leccy cost is £100. what they pay to the FITs is now half.

Wondered when the 'them and us' debate would rear its ugly head.

The bit you have missed is that the poor who don't get the 'free' system for whatever reason will also be subsidising those 'poor' who do - together with subsidising the commercial organisations behind the 'free' schemes.