Free solar panel discussion

John_Pierpoint

About 6 months ago, I created some scenarios, using differential rates of inflation.
(We pensioners know all about differential rates of inflation - falling prices of (say) "X" Boxes do very little for our cost of living.)

If one believes there is going to be a serious shortage of oil/gas (Hubbert's peak and all that stuff) and the price of energy will increase at twice the speed of excess money supply general inflation, then in 15 - 20 years time, the FiT payment starts looking like a far sighted investment in the future for government and power companies.

Mind you British Gas, back in the days of Cedric-the-Pig, thought it had bought up the future with its "Take or Pay" contracts, and fell somewhat flat on its face.

At the the moment oil has much out paced the FiT payment (Nice one BP) and the new techniques for getting at the extra gas, are not looking too good after "earthquakes" in Blackpool.

lazyhead

GeeBeeEl wrote: »

But surely you would be better off purchasing them yourself and getting the circa 8% tax free index linked return on the investment, rather than a financial institution pocketing the cash whilst using your roof ?

Or if you can't free up the circa £13k, wait for the cheap green loans scheme to kick in, It still doesn't cost you a bean, someone else doesn't end up essentially 'owning' your roof for 25 years and you get the financial benefit of the cash-back once it's paid off ( which is also done via the cashback scheme so you don't need to find any money yourself )
eg:
h t t p : / / w w w .yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Leeds-Home-made-power-move.6436873.jp

I've been looking at this and it depends on your situation.

If you have the cash festering in your bank and are out of the house all day then buy your own panels and watch the money come in while you're out at work.

If you don't have wads of money and would have to borrow to get the installation then beware. The payback time will become very long indeed (although the green loans announced recently may change that)

Also you can have both. As long as the conditions of the contract for the free panels don't prohibit it (and there's no reason that they should) you can put your own panels on the same roof under a separate FiT that pays directly to you. We're thinking of doing this; first get a free installation and use it for a couple of years to ascertain the returns and then add a second set of panels from which we get all the money - genius

K4blades

lazyhead wrote: »

If you have the cash festering in your bank and are out of the house all day then buy your own panels and watch the money come in while you're out at work.

This is not really the case, you are better off if you are in the house during the day. Using the free electricity will save you about 10p / kwh, depending on your tariff, but exporting to the grid only earns you 3p / kwh. The real money comes from the generation.

wayne21

New to the forum, I have had Homesun look at putting panels on my roof, back in March but my Mortgage lender, (Northern Rock Asset Management) will not contact, allow me to contact or have really anything to do with their legal team. They are blaming the legal team for taking the time (now 3 months) as the air space is leased (a few inches above the roof) for the installation. I am in the South and would look forward to a bit of saving, but I am being hampered by a legal team looking in to a three or four page document. I am in effect losing money that I could otherwise be saving and am really getting a bit hacked off with the lack of communications going on. As a serving member of the HM Forces, if I did not do my job then people get injured and I would be in deep trouble, are the legal team really doing their jobs for the money they earn?

Be aware of NRAM as their legal team do seem a bit slow on the take up especially now Homesun are advertising this package on National TV. Can I do anything to push the legal team??

M4ximillion

lazyhead wrote: »

Also you can have both. As long as the conditions of the contract for the free panels don't prohibit it (and there's no reason that they should) you can put your own panels on the same roof under a separate FiT that pays directly to you. We're thinking of doing this; first get a free installation and use it for a couple of years to ascertain the returns and then add a second set of panels from which we get all the money - genius

You cant have two fit schemes on one house. Thats my understanding anyway. I looked into buying my own instead of free ones because i think its worth it but i couldnt get a remortgage because i haven't got enough equity in my home and then found out that no finance companies lend you money for solar pv, which i think is ridiculous. They lend you money for a new car that loses its value as soon as you drive it off the forecourt but not for somehting that has a guaranteed income for 25 years. So i opted for free solar from Shade Greener.

zeupater

wayne21 wrote: »

New to the forum, I have had Homesun look at putting panels on my roof, back in March but my Mortgage lender, (Northern Rock Asset Management) will not contact, allow me to contact or have really anything to do with their legal team. They are blaming the legal team for taking the time (now 3 months) as the air space is leased (a few inches above the roof) for the installation. I am in the South and would look forward to a bit of saving, but I am being hampered by a legal team looking in to a three or four page document. I am in effect losing money that I could otherwise be saving and am really getting a bit hacked off with the lack of communications going on. As a serving member of the HM Forces, if I did not do my job then people get injured and I would be in deep trouble, are the legal team really doing their jobs for the money they earn?

Be aware of NRAM as their legal team do seem a bit slow on the take up especially now Homesun are advertising this package on National TV. Can I do anything to push the legal team??

Hi

I do find it quite interesting to see that a number of posters who claim that this doesn't/wouldn't & couldn't happen haven't commented on this yet .....

Any rent-a-roof advocates care to comment as I find this to be particularly interesting ....... ????

Z

Doc_N

wayne21 wrote: »

New to the forum, I have had Homesun look at putting panels on my roof, back in March but my Mortgage lender, (Northern Rock Asset Management) will not contact, allow me to contact or have really anything to do with their legal team. They are blaming the legal team for taking the time (now 3 months) as the air space is leased (a few inches above the roof) for the installation. I am in the South and would look forward to a bit of saving, but I am being hampered by a legal team looking in to a three or four page document. I am in effect losing money that I could otherwise be saving and am really getting a bit hacked off with the lack of communications going on. As a serving member of the HM Forces, if I did not do my job then people get injured and I would be in deep trouble, are the legal team really doing their jobs for the money they earn?

Be aware of NRAM as their legal team do seem a bit slow on the take up especially now Homesun are advertising this package on National TV. Can I do anything to push the legal team??

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

I do find it quite interesting to see that a number of posters who claim that this doesn't/wouldn't & couldn't happen haven't commented on this yet .....

Any rent-a-roof advocates care to comment as I find this to be particularly interesting ....... ????

Z

I'd be equally concerned as a potential seller, too.

If this is being delayed by the lender's legal people, you'd have to imagine that there's potential for exactly the same sort of delay when it comes to sell to anyone needing a mortgage!

furndire

For anyone who is interested A ShaderGreen have now expanded the area they will fit free panels

From Facebook
"We are increasing our install area. As well as parts of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire we are now extending to Lancashire, Cheshire and Staffordshire. Check here to see if your postcode is included:
http://www.ashadegreener.co.uk/downloads/postcodes.pdf

beedydad

furndire wrote: »

For anyone who is interested A ShaderGreen have now expanded the area they will fit free panels

From Facebook
"We are increasing our install area. As well as parts of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire we are now extending to Lancashire, Cheshire and Staffordshire. Check here to see if your postcode is included:
http://www.ashadegreener.co.uk/downloads/postcodes.pdf

Mmmnn - interesting - is this good or a reflection that it is tough out there and they have to widen a potential customer base?

Looking at there website it is curious to see that they have not even installed 3,000 kits yet! are people more synical than first thought or are there not enough suitable roofs of 24+sqm in true south facing orientation to take up the offer and they are now having to look further afield. However they then move into others territory and a bit of a bun fight goes on!!

I live in SE and yet we are regularly posted invites for "free" solar or "make money" whilst the govt are giving it away. The last was from a company in Lake district area sending out plain brown envelope with their speal inside!

Going back to A shade of purple or whatever colour it is interesting to see they have a "power generated" clock which shows how much energy they have saved!! - If you work it out they have on average saved 50% of the overall installs. This would possibly be correct if they started last year and have taken an equal time to install them over the year.

this is approx 4.2 million Kw - giving them an income so far of 4.2mill x 0.413p = £1.75 million!!!!!! (they wont have got the new rate of 0.433 yet!)

So all the money we have to pay in our bills is landing at the doors of a corporate body - happy now!!!

M4ximillion

beedydad wrote: »

So all the money we have to pay in our bills is landing at the doors of a corporate body - happy now!!!

Yes, im delighted:D. Because of my free system ive reduced my consumption by about 40%. If it werent for free solar companies there is NO WAY i would have been able to afford to buy solar but i would still be paying for the privileged few who can afford it. I'm a happy bunny!