Free solar panel discussion

slacky555

HomeSun_company_representative wrote: »

Hi slacky555,

I have received your email which I have forwarded on to the relevant person for a final decision. I will email you directly as soon as I hear back from them.

Thank you for your patience.

Krish

Hi krish

Anymore info would be great, and I will await your reply and hope we can move forward.

Thanks
Jonathan

zeupater

HomeSun_company_representative wrote: »

Hi grahamc2003,

The £15k was illustrated to make the calculations and the numbers simple. The cost will obviously vary between systems and the customer will need to make a decision at the time they decide to buy out.

It is also true, those customers who buy out right will gain all of the FIT’s from the start however the reason why not many people are buying out right is because they don’t have such funds available. Should a customer buy out right then they should be aware that it will be the customer’s responsibility when additional costs are incurred such as maintenance & parts. On the other hand under our schemes we would bare the costs of maintenance and any additional costs there might be such has the inverter etc.

As I have recently been approved by MSE of being an official company rep on this forum, I am not too keen in to going to great detail as it would violate some rules. I hope you can understand.

Thanks

Krish

Hi Krish

Seeing that the system you supply is likely quite standard from a materials point of view, the only possible differences in cost can really be installation issues and travelling distance from the installers' base ..... therefore, in order to help those who are considering the 'rent-a-roof' system you supply make an informed decision, can you provide a realistic price range for the buy-out option based on your most frequently installed system configuration, along with details of the calculation involved as your previous information doesn't exactly stack up with other information regarding the 25 year straight line depreciation. This must be quite a simple exercise to perform in order to provide transparrency to an interested potential customer (supplier ?) base.

Also, have you had any further information to support the buy-out VAT being 5% and not the standard prevailing rate (~20%), as previously requested ?. I think that there must be a definitive, supported and official answer to this as opposed to an assumption.

Regards

furlongrob

Hi All.
Well, I applied back in September to be accepted for the "Free Installation". At that time the website had been inundated with enquiries and was lacking all contact details address etc. After a few weeks I was contacted by email for further info, postcode etc so that they could see it on Google Earth and do a quick assessment.
I was shocked to hear that in their opinion the roof was too small and faced the wrong way, (rubbish). Contacted them again and they accepted the wrong property had been reviewed!
My app was back on. Was then contacted to say the roof was still too small and after a couple of emails back and forth they accepted that yes the roof was perfectly big enough, knew it was, I built it!! Had to contact the planners in my area as we are in a National Park and all was ok there and I was waiting to hear that they had applied to the land registry for copies of deeds etc. Getting excited now!!!:rotfl:
However, this morning I had a phone call from ISIS to say that a management decision had been made not to take on ANY small PV systems and the whole thing was definitely OFF:mad:
I've wasted hours doing this application, taking photos, emailing, contacting planners, doing research, lengthy calculations not to mention talking the other half into the deal. All to nothing.
Ok perhaps the "Too Good To Be True" rule should have applied here?
But I think it's more likely that ISIS now realise it's going to cost too much for them to initiate the installations and get a return in reasonable time.
I was looking forward to doing more for the environment, I already use rainwater for our 4 Loos, garden watering, car washing even on the washing machine, this alone had reduced water bills by 50%!
Hey Ho.

beedydad

Furlongrob

It probably definately is too good to be true!!

Thats what a number of posters have been advocating.

ISIS as do some others only want roof spaces that can hold larger solar PV arrays, to maximise their income stream, so many people will be disappointed as they would like to engage in this but find they cannot.

So whose benefit are they doing this for?

To enable more and a wider population to take up solar (for the good of all and cut carbon, etc etc) - or is it for the sole benefit of the installation companies whom have seen an oportunity to make money - at others expense?

Then this undermines the industry and we go backwoods rather than make progress and enage many more people in to having some form of renewables.

The sooner this loophole is closed and sensible pricing is enabled and the green deal loans comes out the better.

These "free" or "rent a roof" have only a limited life to make money before the industry moves on and evolves for the better leaving these few scavengers to fall by the wayside.

JenR8

beedydad wrote: »

Furlongrob


ISIS as do some others only want roof spaces that can hold larger solar PV arrays, to maximise their income stream, so many people will be disappointed as they would like to engage in this but find they cannot.

.

Had the Myenergystation surveyor here yesterday, and they are much more flexible on numbers of panels, and orientation.
Seems size matters fellas! - in terms of panels dimensions. Homesun turned us down for their 3kw system, yet with smaller panels MES will fit a 3.8kw system on our roof. I think their minimum fit was 8 panels. We can fit 20 apparently.

Kontiki

Here is a site where you can play about with the figures from a PV array entering costs, interest rates etc. to see what the predicted payback might be. PV Solar Panel Payback Calculator

slacky555

JenR8 wrote: »

Had the Myenergystation surveyor here yesterday, and they are much more flexible on numbers of panels, and orientation.
Seems size matters fellas! - in terms of panels dimensions. Homesun turned us down for their 3kw system, yet with smaller panels MES will fit a 3.8kw system on our roof. I think their minimum fit was 8 panels. We can fit 20 apparently.

At what point was u turned down by homesun at the desk review stage or after a survey?

If after a survey what were there reason for not being able to change there orientation.

What size roof would you say you have? And did you get offered the solar share scheme?

Are u saying that the mse panels are smaller yet more efficient

JenR8

slacky555 wrote: »

At what point was u turned down by homesun at the desk review stage or after a survey?

If after a survey what were there reason for not being able to change there orientation.

What size roof would you say you have? And did you get offered the solar share scheme?

Are u saying that the mse panels are smaller yet more efficient

Homesun offered us their 'solarshare', not their free system, after survey. MES panels are smaller so you can fit more in and cover more roof area.(less wasted space). Our roof worked out to 27 m square.Also they can fit either landscape or portrait, and up to 200ml from edge, as opposed to 300ml with Homesun who only seem to fit the panels portrait, and we need landscape. The other orientation I was referring to was of the house. MES will consider west through to east-facing properties.

zeupater

JenR8 wrote: »

Homesun offered us their 'solarshare', not their free system, after survey. MES panels are smaller so you can fit more in and cover more roof area.(less wasted space). Our roof worked out to 27 m square.Also they can fit either landscape or portrait, and up to 200ml from edge, as opposed to 300ml with Homesun who only seem to fit the panels portrait, and we need landscape. The other orientation I was referring to was of the house. MES will consider west through to east-facing properties.

Hi JenR8

I thought that there were actually reasons/requirements for not fitting right up to the edge of the roof, many installers will not go closer than 500mm from the edge, others 300mm for windload calculation (lift) reasons ...... did anyone from MES say that they would assume responsibility for insuring your roof for any consequential damage (financial or physical) which could result from mounting their panels in this way (ie 200mm from edge) ?

Just interested, and so should you be .... afterall, it is your roof, not theirs !!

Mcfi5dhc

Hello

I'd like to ask Krish (official HomeSun company representative) how the matter of existing meters is dealt with in providing customers with estimated savings with the free panels.

For example, I had a backwards spinning meter which I voluntarily changed to an export meter (I have bought my own PV system). This turns out to be a huge mistake.

Your customers will have one of two types of meter, backwards spinner, or not, and the savings they make will be vastly different between the two.

If they have a backwards spinner, do you warn them that the fairly large savings they'll get now, will be erroded virtually overnight once a smart meter is forced upon them.

Many thanks