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zeupater

Elainemary wrote: »

OK! I know I've said before that I'm thick, but what are RHI's and what are they for? They just suddenly popped up on the thread from nowhere and I'm lost ( again ).

Hi Elainemary

RHI is a proposed scheme similar to FiTs for renewable heat sources .... Official information source here ... http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/uk_supply/energy_mix/renewable/policy/incentive/incentive.aspx

HTH
Z

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broke_mother_of_students

mickflynn39 wrote: »

3.2KW £10,900
3.5KW £12,250
4.0KW £13,500

These rates are before any haggling.

Hi mickflynn39,
Would you mind telling me which company you approached? We have had a quote for a Sanyo, 4KW system, but it was for £14,980. Your system sounds about the same size, but is a far lower cost. It didn't occur to me to haggle, but I shall be back on the phone tomorrow!
Many thanks

Doc_N

broke_mother_of_students wrote: »

Hi mickflynn39,
Would you mind telling me which company you approached? We have had a quote for a Sanyo, 4KW system, but it was for £14,980. Your system sounds about the same size, but is a far lower cost. It didn't occur to me to haggle, but I shall be back on the phone tomorrow!
Many thanks

£14,499 for 3.96 kWp from Tesco (and Clubcard points). I was very pleased with the way they did mine last summer:

http://www.tescohomeefficiency.com/electricity-pricing/

They're looking a bit pricey now, though. The other guy I had a quote from was more than happy to discuss prices once he found out that we had a lower quote - I'm sure your company will do the same. Prices do seem sometimes to be based more on what a firm thinks they can get away with charging than actual cost + profit margin. In my case exactly the same installation by the same installers (Mark Group) would have cost £5000 more if I'd gone through e.on!

Gizmosmum_2

broke_mother_of_students wrote: »

Hi mickflynn39,
Would you mind telling me which company you approached? We have had a quote for a Sanyo, 4KW system, but it was for £14,980. Your system sounds about the same size, but is a far lower cost. It didn't occur to me to haggle, but I shall be back on the phone tomorrow!
Many thanks

Thats a great price for a Sanyo system, their panels are about 25% more expensive than mono or polycrystalline panels and they're at least 17% efficient.

broke_mother_of_students

Thank you so much, Gizmosmum and Doc N, for your reponses. I'm a bit uncertain with all of this and you seem to know so much! Would you mind another question? The really helpful guy who came to quote also gave me a price for a Sharp 245w, system, which came in at £13,800. Looking at the breakdown it will be year 18 before we gain any advantage from the Sanyo system, so I am currently inclined to go with the sheaper Sharp system, since we anticipate moving before we get to year 18. The Sanyo sysrem seems a bit more efficient, but not £1,200 worth. One more question ~ has anyone had any problems with the inverters? Did you take out the additional warranty? (just under £300 for 10 yrs). Sorry, I realise that is 3 questions!
Thank you again.

Gizmosmum_2

I'm a big fan of Sharp because they are at least put together in the UK even if the components are shipped in BUT I have to say if you gave me the option of Sharp or Sanyo with only £1200 difference I'd be going for Sanyo. Nicer panel, more efficient and a better selling propostion if/when you come to sell. I'm not a great fan of extended warranties, I'd be tempted to leave the inverter as it is without a warranty and if/when it needs replacing look at microinverters which are relatively new and expensive now but will have become the norm in the next few years.

Gizmosmum_2

Forgot to say - hold on for a month or so and get the new Sanyo's - a tiny bit more expensive than the current Sanyo's but 19% efficient. I'm sure your installer will be happy for you to sign with him/her while you wait until the panels got MCS approval in March.

broke_mother_of_students

Thank you so much, Gizmosmum. The quote is for the new, 19% panels so it looks as if it will be worth installing those. I hadn't condsidered the sell-on, so that would be worth taking into account. To be fair to the guy, he didn't recommend the more expensive option. I'll leave the warranty too; I feel much the same as you, but I wasn't sure how reliable the inverters are.

Elainemary

Hi Zeupater and thanks for the info and link.
Is RHI in addition to FITs or are they just replacing it? The site doesn't make it too clear.