EON Solar Panel Deal - £99 but would it affect my house resale

MaggieBaking

HappyMJ wrote: »

That's the only thing I would be worried about. Selling. Why wouldn't you pay an extra £10,000 which can be covered by a low interest mortgage. You would get free daytime electricity in the summer and most of autumn and spring. You would also be getting a cheque for nearly £1,000 every year to put towards the extra cost of the mortgage. I would think that's it's a good thing to spend an extra £10,000 for a tax free return of 10%.

Personally, I wouldn't think I'd be guaranteed to live anywhere for 10 years, especially in a house I had yet to try out so I wouldn't be sure I'd recoup the cost, although theoretically the value would sell on, I wouldn't know so I would have concerns.

With two houses the same, one with solar panels at an extra £10k, I would buy the other one.

PS - when you're talking about free daytime electricity, I would have thought that in the houses where you purchase your own solar panels, you would have 24 hours of free electricity?

For the "free" ones I just thought that it siphoned off into the grid, and you took what you could as it was doing that? (Very very simple brain I have!)

I certainly wouldn't pay £10k for them to not be able to watch telly and leave the lights on at night!

Leif

MaggieBaking wrote: »

but I don't think I would pay an extra £10k for a house with solar panels so it's important to be able to stay there long enough to get a return on your investment.

That would be my thinking too.

Leif

MaggieBaking wrote: »

PS - when you're talking about free daytime electricity, I would have thought that in the houses where you purchase your own solar panels, you would have 24 hours of free electricity?

We do tend to get less sun at night. Your area may differ. (I couldn't resist a cheap comment.)

MaggieBaking

Leif wrote: »

We do tend to get less sun at night. Your area may differ. (I couldn't resist a cheap comment.)

Still feeling confused... I can understand when your roof is "loaned out" with free solar panels why you can only get free electricity in sunshine hours only.

However, when you buy your own solar panels, and sell electricity to the energy company, I wouldn't expect to buy it back at night time - therefore, in spite of sunlight the electrics would be free to use 24 hours a day and you sell the "excess" you don't use?

As in, your electricity use-age is free all year, plus a lump sum at the end for what you've sold on?

I'd be perplexed to get a bill for my electricity, and a separate cheque for the surplus!

Or am I completely wrong still?

Leif

MaggieBaking wrote: »

Still feeling confused... I can understand when your roof is "loaned out" with free solar panels why you can only get free electricity in sunshine hours only.

However, when you buy your own solar panels, and sell electricity to the energy company, I wouldn't expect to buy it back at night time - therefore, in spite of sunlight the electrics would be free to use 24 hours a day and you sell the "excess" you don't use?

As in, your electricity use-age is free all year, plus a lump sum at the end for what you've sold on?

I'd be perplexed to get a bill for my electricity, and a separate cheque for the surplus!

Or am I completely wrong still?

I think I see where you are coming from, and the source of confusion. My understanding is that the free electricity is that which comes from the solar cells, and any excess is sold to the electricity company. In other words, at night you have to pay for your electricity because you are not generating any.

kevsan

Take a look at the green and ethical board- lots of threads on the cost effectiveness (or not!) of PV.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=100

MaggieBaking wrote: »

I'm unsure of the complications of selling the house afterwards, but as far as I can see it's an asset and as any future occupants would extend the house over the garage, not up into the roof. If I were to buy their house, I would get the advice of a solicitor to get their take on the legalities of it.

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You may see it as an asset, a buyer certainly may not. A prospective buyer might want to extend over the garage, but again they might not. And if a loft conversion is not possible because of panels on the roof that is potentially a lost sale, or they might have wanted to invest and install their own panels.

Assuming that any buyer would gladly take on a house with a roof rented out to a third party is not realistic.

Leif

kevsan wrote: »

Assuming that any buyer would gladly take on a house with a roof rented out to a third party is not realistic.

I think the effective income for the householder from the cells is relatively small i.e. a few hundred pounds worth of electricity per year, assuming the person does not own the cells.

MaggieBaking

kevsan wrote: »

Assuming that any buyer would gladly take on a house with a roof rented out to a third party is not realistic.

I wouldn't assume what every buyer would think. No doubt some people would refuse to buy based on their open plan living style for example.

Everything we do to improve our homes are bound to make it an improvement to some buyers, or put off other buyers. I was making a guess as to whether, to the average buyer of their home, it would be better, or worse for having solar panels.

My guess is that the average buyer might see it as an additional benefit, though I'm happy to be proved wrong on that. It's certainly something to seriously consider before you have any work done. As I've already mentioned, the legal implications would be my biggest concern and I'd have to talk to a solicitor.

You can't make a home that pleases every buyer, but you need to take a punt on how the general market will view it.

dillsonwheelz

SailorSam wrote: »

I thought what happens with these sort of plans is you share the value of any energy that was produced, so if it goes back down the pipes to the grid but the electric company buy it off you.
Lets say it's worth 10p a unit, they'll only give you 5p, the other 5p they keep for themselves, and it's this that is paying for your cheap installation.
There was a similar thing on Mse last year and i applied on line but couldn't get it done, They asked me to put my post code into Google Earth so my house could be checked out to see if i had enough of a south facing roof to be allowed to go ahead. They said to much would have been in shadow.

Hi SailorSam, I can see that everyone in this thread is totally confused and misled. The way the Feed-in Tariff works is that by legislation the utility companies are forced to pay out if your home is GENERATING electricity. Just by generating electricity on average each home through solar would produce £1500 of electricity payments. In addition all the electricity being generated is fed primarily to your home and is ALL free for you to use all the time there is daylight. If you have a free solar system, the company does not take ownership of the roof, but they rent the airspace above the roof for the use of solar the panels, the roof still belongs to you. The company takes the Feed-in tariff which essentially pays for your system overtime and gives a bit of money extra for the business to run on. If you pay for the system or decide to buy out your own free system, you would earn the remainder of the 25 years of feed-in tariff which is anywhere between £1000 to £1500 a year in addition to you savings in electricity as you don't pay for your daytime usage. Basically you get paid 43.3 pence for every KW your roof generates. In addition what ever you do not use, goes back to the local grid as clean energy and you or the company gets paid a dreary 3pence per KW, which works out to be small £60 A YEAR for exporting your unused electricity.

Great thing about free systems through Homesun is that they maintain, repair and insure it for the full 25 years incase anything happens. They also replace the inverter box for free every 10 years, which MUST BE replaced every 10 years, if you buy an inverter you would pay £1000 a pop to replace it.

I hope this helps clear up everyones understanding of how Solar Panel systems work and the financial aspect. It is a common misconception that the money earned is from selling back to the grid. Its my job to correct everyone every single day regarding this, haha.

If your interested send me a message, It defiantly good idea and either way everyone with large roofs and near-enough south facing should obtain a system, its common sense to save £££'s on utilities.

Kind Regards

dillsonwheelz

paulus_the_woodland_gnome

As far as I know these schemes are operated under a lease . The companies will provide the lease for free but not contribute anything towards the freeholders legal advice costs .... something to bear in mind and lets face it you will need legal advice if you sign a 25 year lease.