"free" solar panel offer.

PaulJM

There is an article on MSE here re this - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2637431
However, can't find anything relating to the below, so I'll soldier on!

Just been glancing through the lastest copy of "Which?" and found an article about this solar panel offer. I've been interested in this for a while, and we have a large roof area, pointing south, so I thought we'd be ideal (However also considering we live in the north west, there's not much sun )
I won't quote directly from "Which?" as there's probably rules about that, but the gist is that if you take out a loan for the probable £19,000 cost for the installation, instead of getting the 'free' offer, you could be saving up to £10,500 over the time period, depending on the hours of sun in your area - even central and north Scotland and Northumbria were down as saving an average of £4,000.
I guess this is because you can 'sell back' your energy if you purchase them yourselves...
Makes the offer seem less appealing, if you're able to get a loan.
Wonder what everyone else thinks?

Premier_2

PaulJM wrote: »

There is an article on MSE here re this - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2637431
However, can't find anything relating to the below, so I'll soldier on!

Just been glancing through the lastest copy of "Which?" and found an article about this solar panel offer. I've been interested in this for a while, and we have a large roof area, pointing south, so I thought we'd be ideal (However also considering we live in the north west, there's not much sun )
I won't quote directly from "Which?" as there's probably rules about that, but the gist is that if you take out a loan for the probable £19,000 cost for the installation, instead of getting the 'free' offer, you could be saving up to £10,500 over the time period, depending on the hours of sun in your area - even central and north Scotland and Northumbria were down as saving an average of £4,000.
I guess this is because you can 'sell back' your energy if you purchase them yourselves...
Makes the offer seem less appealing, if you're able to get a loan.
Wonder what everyone else thinks?

I think the 'free' deal is designed for those who don't want, or can't, stump up thousands for initial installation costs.

As the MSE article begins:

It’s possible to get free solar power. A company is fitting free solar panel systems for homeowners worth over £12,000, slashing leccy bills by £120-ish a year.

Alternatively, if you shell out £12k for your own system, it's predicted you can earn £1,000s profit from a govt. scheme that pays for all the energy you produce. This quick briefing shows you how the schemes work and which one's for you ...

So there's a possible saving of £7k compared to the Which deal, and the MSE article goes on to quantify the return over 25 years to be about £23k (if you do pay the installation costs)

Cardew

There are literally thousands of posts on this issue both here and in the Green forum.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2637431

The consensus of opinion is that buying a system from savings is a good long term investment - but it is very long term.

Borrowing to purchase a system is an even longer term proposition - depending on the rate at which you borrow.

There are a lot of unknown factors that will affect the 'payback' period.

PaulJM

Agree with the above comments.
Frankly I'd have difficulty justifying a loan or outgoing of 12/19 grand with other things to pay for, even if there is a probable return.
I guess the 'free' offer is good if your main concern is the environment. The jury is out on the actual energy savings you'd make - especially the further north you go.
Many people have commented on the fact that the main energy is generated during the times you possibly won't need it so much - Summer, sunny daytime hours, but this is when you'd make the potential money, selling back the energy - which you do not gain from under the free scheme.
Anyway, I don't have enough disposable income to be an early adopter for anything, but it'll be good to see the actual figures roll in from different areas.