Current PV panel prices

David_Aston

Didn't know if I should just tack this onto an existing thread.
Really just a few comments on a home visit by Solatricity, a company selling PV technology. The guy arrives pretty much on time, and spends two and a half hours doing a very thorough pitch. In fact, by the time he got down to projected payback charts, I think he was as shattered as we were. His company uses Kyocera panels. A ten panel "self sufficiency" package would pay back in eight to ten years. A twenty panel, "Investment return" package, (the largest amount of panels we can get on our roof,) also paying back in the same time. Just short of thirteen grand for ten panels, and just short of twenty grand for twenty. There was a two grand reduction for being the "first postcode in the area" purchase, on both of these prices. He had a laminated sheet with the prices on which seems very straightforward. A twenty four panel system costs, neatly enough, twenty four grand. This being the largest setup qualifying for the FIT system.
We didn't purchase, my wife in particular felt we were too old to benefit.
However, I can't fault the salesman on his presentation.
Hope this info may help some prospective purchaser.

jackieblack

David_Aston wrote: »

Didn't know if I should just tack this onto an existing thread.
Really just a few comments on a home visit by Solatricity, a company selling PV technology. The guy arrives pretty much on time, and spends two and a half hours doing a very thorough pitch. In fact, by the time he got down to projected payback charts, I think he was as shattered as we were. His company uses Kyocera panels. A ten panel "self sufficiency" package would pay back in eight to ten years. A twenty panel, "Investment return" package, (the largest amount of panels we can get on our roof,) also paying back in the same time. Just short of thirteen grand for ten panels, and just short of twenty grand for twenty. There was a two grand reduction for being the "first postcode in the area" purchase, on both of these prices. He had a laminated sheet with the prices on which seems very straightforward. A twenty four panel system costs, neatly enough, twenty four grand. This being the largest setup qualifying for the FIT system.
We didn't purchase, my wife in particular felt we were too old to benefit.
However, I can't fault the salesman on his presentation.
Hope this info may help some prospective purchaser.

Anyone considering pv and getting quotes needs to find out the kWp for each system.

Different manufacturers panels are different sizes and can generate different amounts of electricity.
Our pv system is 12 x Sharp 185w panels and the kWp is 2.22kwp, but when were getting quotes different installers were quoting for different panels and 12 panels from a different manufacturer might generate more or less and you need to compare like with like.
(We paid about £11300 for our 2.22 kWp 12 panel system with a Fronius IG20 inverter)

Also, there will alot of debate around the accuaracy of those 8-10 years payback claims!

reeac

jackieblack wrote: »

Anyone considering pv and getting quotes needs to find out the kWp for each system.

Different manufacturers panels are different sizes and can generate different amounts of electricity.
Our pv system is 12 x Sharp 185w panels and the kWp is 2.22kwp, but when were getting quotes different installers were quoting for different panels and 12 panels from a different manufacturer might generate more or less and you need to compare like with like.
(We paid about £11300 for our 2.22 kWp 12 panel system with a Fronius IG20 inverter)

Also, there will alot of debate around the accuaracy of those 8-10 years payback claims!

I reckon that 12 years is nearer the mark although it will depend uopn the local microclimate. I prefer to think of it as a 9% p.a. tax-free and index-linked return which makes cash ISA s look pretty sick. We recently paid £9945 for a 12 panel Sharp system with Fronius invertor - contrary to all consumerist advice we had just the one quote but the small firm was strongly recommended by a neighbour and we didn't have to suffer a prolonged sales spiel. All looks good so far.

keith_r59

David_Aston wrote: »

Didn't know if I should just tack this onto an existing thread.
Really just a few comments on a home visit by Solatricity, a company selling PV technology. The guy arrives pretty much on time, and spends two and a half hours doing a very thorough pitch. In fact, by the time he got down to projected payback charts, I think he was as shattered as we were. His company uses Kyocera panels. A ten panel "self sufficiency" package would pay back in eight to ten years. A twenty panel, "Investment return" package, (the largest amount of panels we can get on our roof,) also paying back in the same time. Just short of thirteen grand for ten panels, and just short of twenty grand for twenty. There was a two grand reduction for being the "first postcode in the area" purchase, on both of these prices. He had a laminated sheet with the prices on which seems very straightforward. A twenty four panel system costs, neatly enough, twenty four grand. This being the largest setup qualifying for the FIT system.
We didn't purchase, my wife in particular felt we were too old to benefit.
However, I can't fault the salesman on his presentation.
Hope this info may help some prospective purchaser.

A two and a half hour presentation and promised reductions for being the "first postcode in the area" - sounds like you had a double-glazing salesman in your house.

Seems a bit pricey to me and the payback times are overly optimistic in my view. As with any major purchase I would recommend getting as many quotes as you can. When I purchased my own system I had 5 different companies come round to give me a quote and anyone who didn't go into my loft to measure the pitch of the roof were scratched off the list straight away.

David_Aston

Jackieblack, The ten panel system is 1.35kwp and the 20 panel, 2.7kwp. I agree about the payback times. On my quote, the "now" figure which is current useage at current prices, payback would take twenty years!
reeac, I presume you have to earn back your ten grand, before this 9% return starts to kick in. I agree mini cash isa's look sick, we may be forced back into equity Isa's this year.
keith_r59, thank's for your comments. The guy did guess a 90 degree pitch by sight, but I reckon he would be pretty close.
Hot news folks, the marketing manager of the company has just phoned us with a £8526 offer for ten panels. Feel rather pressured just now.

keith_r59

David_Aston wrote: »

Jackieblack, The ten panel system is 1.35kwp and the 20 panel, 2.7kwp. I agree about the payback times. On my quote, the "now" figure which is current useage at current prices, payback would take twenty years!
reeac, I presume you have to earn back your ten grand, before this 9% return starts to kick in. I agree mini cash isa's look sick, we may be forced back into equity Isa's this year.
keith_r59, thank's for your comments. The guy did guess a 90 degree pitch by sight, but I reckon he would be pretty close.
Hot news folks, the marketing manager of the company has just phoned us with a £8526 offer for ten panels. Feel rather pressured just now.

£8,526 for a 1.35kWp system is way too high. Tescos do a 1.32 kWp system for £7,499 and I'm sure you will find other suppliers offering cheaper alternatives below the £7k mark.

If you want to get the Solatricity off your back just tell them that you have gone with Tescos.

David_Aston

Thanks Keith, I told the guy I would phone back if we were interested.

Cardew

David_Aston wrote: »

Jackieblack, The ten panel system is 1.35kwp and the 20 panel, 2.7kwp. I agree about the payback times. On my quote, the "now" figure which is current useage at current prices, payback would take twenty years!
reeac, I presume you have to earn back your ten grand, before this 9% return starts to kick in. I agree mini cash isa's look sick, we may be forced back into equity Isa's this year.
keith_r59, thank's for your comments. The guy did guess a 90 degree pitch by sight, but I reckon he would be pretty close.
Hot news folks, the marketing manager of the company has just phoned us with a £8526 offer for ten panels. Feel rather pressured just now.

When the Government got involved with the legislation for Solar PV panels we were assured that with MCS accreditation we wouldn't get the 'double glazing' style selling.

That selling approach to you is an absolute disgrace!

To start at £13,000 for a 1.35kWp system, then offer £2k off and then reduce to £8526 is just unbelievable.(and still too expensive)

Prices have come down a lot and it is possible to get a 4kWp system for about £13k according to some quotes people have recently posted.

I would report them!

The sensible way to look at Solar PV panel 'investments' is as an annuity.

If you 'invest' say, £10k in a building society you can now get 5% interest on a long term account(4% after tax). You need to calculate how that capital grows with compound interest over a period of time.

You then have to take the predicted savings from the panels(also invested) and calculate how long it will take for that sum to equal the amount to which the £10k was now worth.

Obviously you will have to estimate inflation rates and possible maintenance costs.

If you take his initial pitch of £13k for a 1.32kWp system. You will, depending where you live get about 1,000kWh pa. That will initially raise an income of about £480 pa(1000 x 41.3p + 500 x 3p + £50 off your bill)

£13k invested at 4%(after tax) will produce £520 in interest.

Frankly with those figures it probably won't pay back in the 25 years the FITs are paid.

David_Aston

Thank you for your calculations Cardew.
To put our experience in context, I did approach Solatricity's stand in a Mall, and I did agree to a visit by a rep. That much is down to me. In 1996 my wife and I agreed to a visit by a thermal panel company. Following his spiel he gave us fifteen minutes to agree an on the spot purchase, in order to get a reduction of a thousand pounds from the price of four panels. On that occasion we succumbed and signed an agreement which, the following morning, a local solicitor told us must be adhered to, or we could be sued.
We certainly wouldn't make that mistake again!

reeac

David_Aston wrote: »

reeac, I presume you have to earn back your ten grand, before this 9% return starts to kick in. I agree mini cash isa's look sick, we may be forced back into equity Isa's this year.
QUOTE]

I don't understand. I paid out £9945 and my calculated return should be £900 [£760 from the 41.3p/unit, £27 from exported electricity and £120 from reduced elect. bill]. That works out at 9% p.a.. The £9945 was sitting in a b.soc. account which was paying a measley 1% or so but I would otherwise have put it in two cash ISAs [his and hers] yielding 3-4% come April 5th. It's not exactly comparable as the PV spend isn't retrievable and must be regarded as a home improvement like a conservatory or a daughter's wedding [joke].

jackieblack

David_Aston wrote: »

Jackieblack, The ten panel system is 1.35kwp and the 20 panel, 2.7kwp.

:eek: ...........................................