Free solar panel discussion

DABenji

I am well up for this BUT one thing that bothers me, the FITs thing is a government back initiative and the companies fitting the panels (in the free panels sence) claim the money from the government which I am ok with as long as i get free leccy, but what happens if or when the government decide to do the typical U turn and pull the plug, excuse the pun, will the PV companies just think "oh well that was a big waste of money" or are they gonna bill me for the value of the panels which i obviously wont have hense the reason for the appeal of FREE panels in the first place. Anyone with a copy of the contract seen anything about what happens if the scheme comes to an end?

BTW My names David and according to the bar on the left im an alert newbie, first time poster but viewed the site many times.

Strawberts

Isis have turned us down as our bungalow has not got the required roof size.

ronlizpatsimon

"

khris210

" Thanks for your figures. What is the maximum your installation can produce (in theory) e.g. 4 kw? You do not appear to have made an allowance for the fact that the best sunshine is still to come in your year. Your return percentages are good, but of course you no longer have access to your £10,500 - as you would if it had been invested in say

ISAs

. After 25 years your return on investment will drop hugely as the only return will be on electricity bills.

ronlizpatsimon

DABenji wrote: »

I am well up for this BUT one thing that bothers me, the FITs thing is a government back initiative and the companies fitting the panels (in the free panels sence) claim the money from the government which I am ok with as long as i get free leccy, but what happens if or when the government decide to do the typical U turn and pull the plug, excuse the pun, will the PV companies just think "oh well that was a big waste of money" or are they gonna bill me for the value of the panels which i obviously wont have hense the reason for the appeal of FREE panels in the first place. Anyone with a copy of the contract seen anything about what happens if the scheme comes to an end?

BTW My names David and according to the bar on the left im an alert newbie, first time poster but viewed the site many times.

You need have no fears about the Govenment dropping the scheme. They only initiated it, they make no payments towards it. These are paid for directly (by law) from your power company. They in turn recover the money by charging every one of their consumers a little extra on their bills

ronlizpatsimon

Strawberts wrote: »

Isis have turned us down as our bungalow has not got the required roof size.

If you are still keen to have panels; you will have to buy an installation.

ronlizpatsimon

CASEBOOK
29th May 2011 Applied online to "Ecovision" for consideration for free installation. Return message said I would be contacted soon.
31st May 2011 Received phone call from "Ecovision". They asked a few simple questions. Survey due on 7th June 2011

furndire

Have a look on here to see half a dozen systems that Nang (MSE'er) is comparing - http://www.uksolarcasestudy.co.uk/
Had a great month - 466 KW produced with a 3.96 KW system.

Travis01

[FONT=&quot]Solar energy is a form of renewable source of energy which is being chosen by many individuals in recent times to save money in the long run. So, if you are planning to opt for solar energy devices then do lookout for the great deals on solar panels available for you online.[/FONT]

Y_Phrunts

murphydavid wrote: »

Just to add a note of controversy.
This is such a morally bad scheme and I will vote for any party that will bring it to an early end. In the name of going green companies are investing in a project that will net them a fortune from you and me. They advertise by saying you may (if lucky enough to have the correct roof configuration) gain £100 a year up front. But those with "free" panel's along with the others will soon be funding the profits that these companies will be making. You save a percentage of your bill, but the percentage that you pay (or your tax) will be going up in leaps and bounds once this gets fully under-way. What you should consider is, if your total bill is increased by 30% (or your tax bill by an equivalent amount) by the power company (or government) having to pay for all this heavily subsidised energy and you manage to reduce it by 25% by having a solar system then what did you gain? Or put it another way these companies did not exist, now they do and intend to make a healthy profit. You don't get out for nowt so who do you thing is going to fund their profitability? Its the greed trap con game, you think you're going to get something for nothing and you fall right in dragging us with you. If you are making money (which I doubt) you are not doing it by generating electricity but by getting people poorer than you to pay you a subsidy.

1/ What do you expect the government to do in order to meet its promise of reduced C02 emmissions? Reduce power and give us all periods of black outs? That certainly is a moral issue considering the mayhem it would cause.

2/ Yes the scheme is a subsidy so are you against ALL subsidies , not just in relation to energy?

3/ The PV fitting companies (and self purchased systems) will be generating electricity so it’s hardly an ‘owt for nowt’ situation is it. They have put their money up and would not have done so without some form of motivation. ‘Financial incentive’ would be a more appropriate description than the word ‘greed’. Greed is over indulgence. Many people don’t want to be a drain on the national grid (I certainly don’t) and I would partake in the scheme for my own good in the short term and everybody’s good in the long term so ‘greed’ is not really applicable here I don’t think.

4/ You might also complain about grants for insulation while you’re at it. Everybody through the tax system I assume pays for these. Or do you wish for people to continue to waste energy and the power stations to meet the supply needs and the government to use YOUR TAX MONEY to pay the huge fines for failing on the international agreement?
It has been forecast that this scheme will cost you about £8 a year on top of your existing bill. That is hardly ‘a fortune’ in your words is it? A previous poster (digital toast) has argued that PV power generation will make no difference to what the power stations have to produce because of the time scale involved in changing their output. I am no expert at how all this works and bow to his expertise in this area but I find it hard to believe that (in your words) this whole thing is a con trick. Who is being conned? Is it the EU that has conned our government into accepting reduced C02 emissions when this is not possible? Have the power generating companies conned the government into thinking that green energy could make a difference, even a small difference? Are the government conning themselves into thinking they can effect a change in production and consumption thereby keeping everybody’s price levels reasonable?
The way I read it is that PV is a way for households to reduce their dependence on the national grid and that they would like as many households to go down that route as possible. Public inertia is something that they have to get around and kick starting a scheme by putting out financial sweeteners to encourage pioneers to advertise the innovation and to put the word around is hardly a scathing ploy is it. I wonder if the Germans have done something similar and we are just following their lead.

5/ There is no doubt that there is a lot of wasted capital locked into bank accounts doing nothing. The government has made a move to tap into that resource by getting investors to use that money and help bail them out of the situation they find themselves in. Can’t see anything morally shocking about that really.
Unless, as said before, you would like to pay for it through your taxes and vote for such an incompetent government?

John_Pierpoint

http://www.breathingearth.net/

Who is up for a party when we hit 7,000,000,000 guests?