Free solar panel discussion

zeupater

K4blades wrote: »

And just to put to bed another silly myth...
The Council of Mortage Lenders have just issued guidance on the rent a roof schemes.
Basically, as long as certain conditions are being met, such as the installer paying the insuarance, and no excessive maintenace costs placed on the householder, all stuff I would expect a decent installer to comply with anyway....then there is no reason not to allow an installation to proceed or refuse lending.


Oh dear, the argument against FITs gets weaker by the day.

Hi

Don't really follow the above post ..... how is there a logical link between mortgage lenders reviewing their position on allowing rent-a-roof schemes and the payment of FiTs, as the both the lender and the householder have no claim on the FiT payment ????

I thought that the only questions around this were linked to property values, the low energy savings to the householder and the high profits available to the 'rent-a-roof' scheme operators through claiming FiT within the tariff bands which they do .....

Anyway, being interested in what the CML had to say on the subject, I've just read the guidance in the following link, .... http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/policy/issues/6229 .... and it doesn't really provide any information relating to the lender, it is effectively addressed to householders and scheme operators and provides a basic guideline to them of the minimum requirements which lenders would need to consider, it then leaves it to the individual lenders to apply their own 'specific requirements' ..... the way I read it is that the guidance document, as drafted, is designed so that the 'status quo' is maintained, so any argument could not possibly be weakened or strengthened as a result of the guidance given.

HTH
Z

K4blades

Some people have suggested that you wouldn't be able to get a mortgage on a property with R-A-R panels, so making it harder to sell. That does not appear to be the case.

zeupater

K4blades wrote: »

Some people have suggested that you wouldn't be able to get a mortgage on a property with R-A-R panels, so making it harder to sell. That does not appear to be the case.

Hi

I agree, some have ... however, how do the CML guidelines which you referenced make any difference to the debate ?. To me, reading the text of the guidelines, the decision on whether to lend or not stays with the lender, as it has always been. The guidelines are not aimed at the lender at all, they simply tell anyone operating a R-A-R scheme what the minimum requirements for information and the decision making process are likely to be .... it is still up to the individual lender to apply their own 'specific requirements' to the decision making process, therefore I can see no direct link between the referenced guideline and the post referenced above ..... can you please clarify whether the previously referenced guideline is the document which you are referring to ..... if it is, then you are mistaken, as it does not say anything of the sort, it's just a minimum requirement guideline for 'rent-a-roof' scheme operators to adhere to and gives no guidance or instruction to lenders ..... if you know of other CML guidance which does provide instruction to lenders which either obliges them to lend to, or would cause them to take a positive view to lending to, the 'rent-a-roof' sector, can you please provide a link to allow others to examine the CML's claimed position change.

HTH
Z

suecoo66

Does anyone know what the figures on the meter mean if you have a solar panel system ? I've had one for a few weeks and unfortunately wasnt here, my husband was so don't know what they mean?
Seems to never drop below 14 and when looked at earlier read 285.7.
The numbers rise during the day which makes sense as the system would be building up power and yes I know it doesn't hold a charge. Any advise I'd be grateful.
I have noticed this thread seems to have turned into a battle ground which is sad as most of us come on this site to get and give advice. It's off putting when all you read is people !!!!!ing at each other and trying to score points.

albyota

Hi, suecoo66, what meter are you refering to, is it the PV array generation meter, or a bluetooth / wireless display?, I will help If I can.


I couldn't agree more about the tone of some of the posters.....sad!

digitaltoast

I'm surprised no-one has picked up on BBC Radio 4's "You and Yours"/Which? investigation into dodgy solar panel sales practises.
Here's a direct link to the clip. Well worth a listen within the next week. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0122td7#p00html0
Thoughts? Comments? Personally, I am totally unsurprised by this.

John_Pierpoint

Everyone thinking of PV Panels should listed to this Radio 4 programme.
Mind you those of us who have waded through this thread would not be surprised by the "double glazing" attitude of the salesmen.
[7 out of 12 were prepared to install on a partially shaded roof. Most(?) forgot to mention that the inverter would not last the 25 years of the panel and it subsidy.].

grahamc2003

digitaltoast wrote: »

I'm surprised no-one has picked up on BBC Radio 4's "You and Yours"/Which? investigation into dodgy solar panel sales practises.
Here's a direct link to the clip. Well worth a listen within the next week. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0122td7#p00html0
Thoughts? Comments? Personally, I am totally unsurprised by this.

The second salesman is the one who came to do our initial survey/sales pitch. I must say, he was very personable in a genuine way imo and I didn't suffer from any hard sell at all. However, the written info he supplied was a bit off the mark imo - the return assumed I'd use 100% of the generated electricity (that was written in by him), and the adjustment for shading was 10% (we have shading by trees, and also by a big chimney and, being on two roofs at 90 degrees, one roof partly shades the other roof early and late in the day. No mention of replacing the inverter.

Within the above there are one or two inaccuracies which probabloy the mcs would like to correct. But can we ever expect to get salesmen to tell you the exact truth and do themselves out of probably half their commission? (i.e. exaggerate the returns on probably half the properties they survey which aren't ideal for pv). That really is wishful thinking.

The problem as I see it is that some people seem to believe every word a saleman utters, and I suspect that sometimes, when people on here say 'I'm saving £400 pa in electricity' they possibly mean 'the saleman told me I'd save £400 pa'.

zeupater

digitaltoast wrote: »

I'm surprised no-one has picked up on BBC Radio 4's "You and Yours"/Which? investigation into dodgy solar panel sales practises.
Here's a direct link to the clip. Well worth a listen within the next week. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0122td7#p00html0
Thoughts? Comments? Personally, I am totally unsurprised by this.

Hi

I particularly liked the 'robust procedures' comment .... :rotfl: ... it's easy to spend a day or two writing procedures, the REAL effort (forgive the pun) needs to be expended in ensuring that the procedures are adhered to, and this must be done proactively ..... looks like the REA are looking like just another worthless trade body who will selfishly act on behalf of their own membership revenue stream whilst claiming to 'protect the public interest' unless/until shamed & pushed by the media to pull their socks up ...... The proof of the pudding is in the eating, the procedures obviously state that breaking the rules results in membership suspension, so I wonder how many of the members highlighted by Which? will actually be suspended ......



Z

Cardew

A good example of exaggerating estimated output - and quoting an outrageous price - is in this post in the 'Green' section of MSE:

Installation Ipswich. 2.1kw X12 panels yingli,Aurora inverter. First year 1830 SW facing roof. Supplier Solar PV.co Lanarkshire. Everything o.k. but their SAP calculation at 2520 was high another company qouted 1800 for the same setup. Solar PV had the best price at just under £10000 and did advise the inverter will probably need relacing after about ten years,some companies dont. Affordable Solar qouted £18300!

An estimation of 2,520kWh pa from 2.1kWp on a SW facing roof is unbelievable. 1,830kWh is excellent.