Free solar panel discussion

John_Pierpoint

You need to worry about inflation. If you nest egg is earning 4% gross (most unlikely) you are definitely not saving you are losing.
The real return on the electricity you make is supposed to be inflation protected and that is before you work out how much (ever increasing in price?) electricity you won't be buying any more.

terryf

One thing that makes the 'free' installation better for me is that being 'mature', if I put down the cash to have these installed I 'might' not reap the benefit. I doubt whether I could get a mortgage or a loan to pay for the installation. Anybody else got opinions about that situation?

cnmzroej

The answer given to "Why does it do this?" appears to be that if the company installs £12,000 solar panels, it can collect £800 in lucrative government cashback.

I don't get it. Why does it do this?

Jon_Tiffany

GeeBeeEl wrote: »

Sorry Poosmate, but you are mistaken.
It comes from the taxpayer ( via the Government )
It is a Government incentive.

Sorry GeeBeeEl, it is you who is worng and Poosmate is correct. The scheme is funded by the energy companies. Not a single penny comes from tax payer money.

Keev

Does anyone who has had a system installed by ISIS or ASG know what kind of solar panels are being installed? Who supplies them with this equipment, and what is the quality like compared with others in the industry?

Thanks,

Keev

grahamc2003

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

You need to worry about inflation. If you nest egg is earning 4% gross (most unlikely) you are definitely not saving you are losing.
The real return on the electricity you make is supposed to be inflation protected and that is before you work out how much (ever increasing in price?) electricity you won't be buying any more.

Of course, helping the ever increasing electricity prices are schemes like this! (The supplier is allowed to pass on the FIT costs plus all the admin costs onto all customers).

There's a lot of miscalculating of the savings too. If you generate 20% of your needs (very unlikey, except for very low users), then that doesn't translate to a 20% drop in leccy bills.

My prices are 29.5p/kwh (inc vat) for the first 125 units per quarter, then 8.28p/kwh for any remaining units. The savings on my tariff would be at the lower 8.28p level for anything generated and used(unless I managed to use less than 125 units per quarter, which is unthinkable). For electricity generated and not used, the amount paid is about 3.5p/kwh iirc.

grahamc2003

cnmzroej wrote: »

The answer given to "Why does it do this?" appears to be that if the company installs £12,000 solar panels, it can collect £800 in lucrative government cashback.

I don't get it. Why does it do this?

Because the £12,000 is a retail cost to you. The company pays the wholesale costs or manufactures them themselves, so the cost to the company is closer to £2000 rather than £12,000 imo.

£800pa for a £2000 investment multiplied by hundreds/thousands is a worthwhile business. That's why car salemen are moving from the forecourts to selling these things.

mark333333

Hi, i had a 4 kwh system fitted by a local company called azure eco here in sheffeild a week ago. I have generated 75 kwh in 0ne week which is 75x41.3 =£30.95 + 75divided by 2x .03p= £1.12 =£32.07 tax free refund for that week and i get to use the 75 kwh on top. Personally i feel if you can raise the money for the total cost of the system it makes more sence than having the free solar company fit the system and take the profit.

nzseries1

Antispam wrote: »

What it doesn't tell you is that the feed in tariffs are paid for by us the customers

Actually, it does tell you that, quite clearly. From the article:

Who pays for the feed-in tariffs?

Electricity suppliers fund the payments. It's generally accepted that they will pass costs on to customers.

cypher915

Are there any free solar panel options for N. Ireland. I already have the solar hot water system and it is very good as it cuts down the time the oil fired boiler is on.