Free solar panel discussion

JenR8

EddyB wrote: »

Thanks, Jen. Well, I'm now quaking in my boots with regard to the forthcoming visit by the Eaga chappie. From what you say it sounds like he may ask for £100 and when I say "What £100?" he'll say the rep should have told me about it. .

I don't think Eaga will ask you for any money. Homesun appoint them to survey. It's Homesun who will collect any money. They may well have stopped doing so, and be funding the surveys themselves now. After all people say they're not asking for £500 for a system now, so they have had to change their ways of operating. You could well be on to a good thing!

grahamc2003

Interesting extract from Solartwin's take on the fits. Speaks for itself really. The article is about how the government now want to cut spending on the fits by 10% from previous plans (surprise surprise), and how that will be done 'as painlessly as possible'.
The effect of fits in this case being a transfer of wealth from uk consumers to global venbture capitalists (well, they've got to earn their million pound bonuss somehow!, so might as well be with our government's blessing). Here's the extract ...


The new government fuzzword for "bungle" is "glitch". At the meeting, "glitch" was deployed in the circumstance of the (previous - haha) government failing to anticipate that global venture capital managers, investment bankers, toms, dicks and harrys would all gorge on UK's feed in tariff - because today the UK is probably the most generous solar subsidiser on the planet. (Solar Twin Ltd have even been pitched by representatives of a major Hong Kong fund manager seeking low cost Cornish sites for solar farms which would be sold on to third parties within three months of completion.) Paid for by the everyday energy user, the returns on investment from such giant scale solar farming promises to outstrip virtually any other form of (legitimate) investment.

slacky555

But isn't the fit for installs registered before 31st march 2012 41.3p for the whole 25 years and the fit is only reduced for people installing after this date and as you say possibly less and less as the years go by.

JenR8

stphnstevey wrote: »

The return on buying the panels yourself seems to depend on the feed in rate being so high - but i have read that this will be reviewed in 2012 and plans are to reduce this rate every year.

Your Fit is gaurenteed for 25 years. The reduced rate would be for new installations, either after 2012, or from a date before that if an unspecified number of systems have been installed.

slacky555

JenR8 wrote: »

Your Fit is gaurenteed for 25 years. The reduced rate would be for new installations, either after 2012, or from a date before that if an unspecified number of systems have been installed.

so in my case if homesun fit the system and collect the fit at the rate of 41.3p then i buy the system from them in 5 years time they have informed me that i will get the fit for the remaining 20years will i get the 41.3p as it is just a change of person collecting the fit not like a new install of 25 years.

JenR8

slacky555 wrote: »

so in my case if homesun fit the system and collect the fit at the rate of 41.3p then i buy the system from them in 5 years time they have informed me that i will get the fit for the remaining 20years will i get the 41.3p as it is just a change of person collecting the fit not like a new install of 25 years.

Yes you will. As mentioned before, if you bought Isis out they would expect you to pay to them the Fits they'll miss out on for the next however many years!

Gizmosmum_2

Thought you might find this interesting - a very good solar firm in the Midlands quoted an eaga solar pv surveyor for solar panels on his own home. Not only did eaga take 4 weeks to reply but they were £700 more expensive than the local company - even though it was for a member of staff!

Needless to say - he's going with the local installer rather than the firm he works for..

slacky555

JenR8 wrote: »

Yes you will. As mentioned before, if you bought Isis out they would expect you to pay to them the Fits they'll miss out on for the next however many years!

Good, as far as i am aware this is not an issue with homesun it would be just a payment for the system at a reduced price not any fits the miss out on.

zeupater

M4ximillion wrote: »

..... the bank said they wouldnt extend my mortgage even by £6000, didnt think they would as we're up to hilt anyway so I didnt even apply and i canceled that rep who was coming over to see me .....

Hi M4ximillion

I know it would probably be a pain, but it might be an idea to rethink the above.

If you're in a position where you have high borrowings but little equity in your property it is likely that a well constructed proposal built around something similar to the following .... If finance for the system was made available, the full FiT annual payment would be used to reduce the outstanding balance on the mortgage ..... would/should go down well with any lender wanting to reduce their overall risk exposure in the housing sector with little additional risk as the capital value of the property should be enhanced, as would your ability to maintain the higher repayments, they gain, you gain, the 'rent-a-roof' company is the only loser ......

Just a thought, but well worth considering, getting a couple of system quotes, noting down the relevant calculations and talking to your mortgage lender again, face to face, before going down the other route .... it's not ideal, but may be a better prospect for you ...

HTH

EddyB

M4ximillion wrote: »

a house was sold with ASG panels on them:D

http://www.ashadegreener.co.uk/news/


My neighbour spotted it - shes been accepted too (we're a semi)

M4ximillion, this could be a bona fide endorsement by a client, but I think its produnt to distrust such endorsements that companies publish by their websites when (a) hardly any details of the client's true identity are given, and (b) there's only one or two such endorsements. Salesmen have for centuries invented all sorts of ringing endorsements to encourage customers to buy.

One of the things I will be doing soon is ringing the managers of local estate agents and asking them whether solar panels that are tied in with a company's "free" scheme aid the sale of a house or not, particularly if those panels are highly visible from the front of the property.