Free solar panel discussion

dorsetboy

I personally think that the "free" system is a good deal for some people.

In our case, we are both in our late 60's, and live in our retirement bungalow in Weymouth, with no intention of ever moving. We have no immediate family, and have taken equity release in the bungalow, so that we can enjoy our retirement in comfort. We have no worries about selling the property, as it will not be sold until after we are both dead.

We have just been accepted for their "free" system, which is the larger 16 panel system, 3.52. Homesun reckon we could save around £100 PA, which we are very happy with, and the several thousands our own system would have cost us can now be spent on making our retirement more comfortable and enjoyable.

To me it's a no brainer.

Brian

Cardew

dorsetboy wrote: »

I personally think that the "free" system is a good deal for some people.

In our case, we are both in our late 60's, and live in our retirement bungalow in Weymouth, with no intention of ever moving. We have no immediate family, and have taken equity release in the bungalow, so that we can enjoy our retirement in comfort. We have no worries about selling the property, as it will not be sold until after we are both dead.

We have just been accepted for their "free" system, which is the larger 16 panel system, 3.52. Homesun reckon we could save around £100 PA, which we are very happy with, and the several thousands our own system would have cost us can now be spent on making our retirement more comfortable and enjoyable.

To me it's a no brainer.

Brian

It is 'risk versus reward' again.

In your circumstances the risk is minimal, but your situation is atypical.

At least the employee from HomeSun was realistic about the savings of around £100. For a large(3.52kWp) system right on the South coast that is a reasonable estimate and much different to the figure of £236 with a similar system that Krish implied was achievable.

zeupater

dorsetboy wrote: »

I personally think that the "free" system is a good deal for some people.

In our case, we are both in our late 60's, and live in our retirement bungalow in Weymouth, with no intention of ever moving. We have no immediate family, and have taken equity release in the bungalow, so that we can enjoy our retirement in comfort. We have no worries about selling the property, as it will not be sold until after we are both dead.

We have just been accepted for their "free" system, which is the larger 16 panel system, 3.52. Homesun reckon we could save around £100 PA, which we are very happy with, and the several thousands our own system would have cost us can now be spent on making our retirement more comfortable and enjoyable.

To me it's a no brainer.

Brian

Hi Brian

I totally agree with the decision in your situation and would accept that £100 saving would be the likely annual saving on electricity on a 3.52kWp system, which is broadly in line with savings available from my (self funded) system.

This does raise a valid question though ..... why is there such a large discrepancy between the estimated (realistic) savings in this case, other cases, and what has recently been referenced as being possible by Homesun, as all systems must conform to very tight orientation and location requirements ......

Good luck with the system, and please keep us updated on your progress.

Regards
Z

beedydad

dorsetboy wrote: »

I personally think that the "free" system is a good deal for some people.

In our case, we are both in our late 60's, and live in our retirement bungalow in Weymouth, with no intention of ever moving. We have no immediate family, and have taken equity release in the bungalow, so that we can enjoy our retirement in comfort. We have no worries about selling the property, as it will not be sold until after we are both dead.

We have just been accepted for their "free" system, which is the larger 16 panel system, 3.52. Homesun reckon we could save around £100 PA, which we are very happy with, and the several thousands our own system would have cost us can now be spent on making our retirement more comfortable and enjoyable.

To me it's a no brainer.

Brian

Brian thanks for your comments and believe you are a probable target for "free" system due to your situation given you are asset rich/cash poor - you do not state whether you had to pay either £500 and/or £5 per month to get the system?

I wonder whether by actually looking around your house whetehr there would have been fairly simple ways of making energy savings, such as full insulation - which will help bring costs down, other things are like having ful range of energy saving lights etc.

Additionally we have found that you can make savings thru switching utility company, maybve even joining gas/electricity together - these are discussed elsewhere on this board.

I am sure that you would easily save your £100 per annum without the need to have a large solar kit on your roof and the potential hassles let alone that they will cream off atleast £1,300+ per annum. Which I guess is an amount of money that you could do for your goodselves given you have already gone for equity release.

Regards

dorsetboy

Beedydad, our bungalow is about as snug as it can be made, with all insulation (roof, cavity wall etc), low energy bulbs, double glazing etc. We have researched energy providers, and consider we are on the best deal available. We have no upfront or ongoing payment to make to Homesun.

I still consider it to be a no brainer.

Brian

suecoo66

Did you have to pay a deposit to Homesun?
How long did they take to contact you?

HomeSun_company_representative

Hello Everyone,

First of all I am sorry I have not been responding. I have been away.

Wow, I've missed quite a bit in the last few days and seem to have upset a few of you. (Was not intentional, I promise)

I will catch up shortly and get responding to your questions in due course.

For the lot who are requesting specific detailed readings from our current customers, I will try my best and get this info for you - no promises - as I'm mainly replying on MSE to resolve issues for customers who want to publicly address their concerns with our systems currently installed or any other issues they have with HomeSun . So your patience will be appreciated.

For those who have emailed me directly, I am chasing up with the relevant people for an answer and I will reply back shortly. I have not forgotten about you.

Again thank you all for your patience.

Krish

matt987106

What a interesting thread

i was looking at this " rent a roof schemes " last week

the free electric in the day interested me alot, though our little girl starts school in sept, so we will most likely be out of the house most of the school day anyway

i was going to sign up to 1 of them, good job i found this thread, the savings they talk about are not really what they claim

dorsetboy

Sue, if that question is for me, no we didn't pay any deposit to Homesun, I believe they have scrapped that idea. I originally applied on line, and it was a few weeks before they responded,(Not sure quite how long) but since their first response, it has taken us probably 6 - 8 weeks to get to this stage. The survey has been done, we have been approved and now have the lease. Once we sign the lease, their rep will call to collect it and arrange a date for installation.

Hope that helps

Brian

dobbers

Just curious, how do the energy providers measure the amount of energy you produce from the panels to work out the FIT payments? Is there a separate meter that they have to read on a regular basis?

Dave