Solar Panel Guide Discussion

shafeeq

shafeeq wrote: »

HI Mart.

Thanks for useful help as always. So do you think is to wait for them to change the meter, after they estimate the bill then give them above argument?

Also do you think I should request for Economy 7 meter, since I have SP, during the day it will usually provide electricity and at night if use energy then it will be cheaper? or should I just leave it as it is.

Thanks again
Shafeeq

After the meter was changed on 4th January 2013. I got my bill and they left things as is they where. Managed to use less electricity due to meter going back for six months. wished I kept quite lol

KevinG

There's a short item in the March 2013 Which? magazine headed "Meters in reverse". Around a quarter of the members they surveyed noticed their meters were running backwards, and there were others who hadn't checked. 67% with backwards-running meters had informed their supplier. There is a reference to more information at https://www.which.co.uk/meter, unfortunately this link doesn't work at the moment, but as the magazine has only just been published, they may fix it.

Edit: Which? link now working, and worth a read.

Oscargrouch

InVestor wrote: »

Hi

Prior to having my panels fitted 2 years ago, I spoke with several estate agents who didn't seem aware of the value of panels or of the FiT scheme (not sure how enlightened they are now). Most thought 'no added value but may help sale', one thought 'may even put people off'.

Recently I had my house independently valued by a surveyor, who added £20,000 to the valuation after I had shown her my (detailed) spreadsheet and receipts/bills from FiT payments, leccy bill reduction.

I would suggest getting as much detailed information together as you can regarding FiT payments and bill reductions etc and make sure your chosen agent takes it into account for valuation/pushes it in the sale process.

The actual value will depend on many things, ultimately only you and the buyer will decide it with an actual sale.

Good luck.

I think most people do not realise that many Estate Agents do not know what they are talking about, they are just trying to make money; like the rest of us. I would say, if you are getting your house valued for sale, get the valuation from an Agent, say £200K then tell him/her that you want him/her/them to market it for ( Assuming you want an extra £20K for the Panels on top) (scuse the pun) Example £220K. Then ask, 'Do you want to sell it at that price or not'? If not, get on yer bike and start to peddle. :mad:

John_Pierpoint

I checked out a neighbourhood where precariously coal would have been burned (and the occupiers would have had access to free miners' coal in the neighbourhood , if not in their own right)
These terraced houses were freehold, mainly owner occupied but a significant proportion were "buy to let" - The government, ie you and me, realised that the community was "deprived" and large grants were arranged for a neighbourhood "sustainability" / "fuel poverty" alleviation scheme.

The scheme was not totally free and as number of owners looked a gift horse in the mouth (The scheme pre-dated the 2008 requirement, when landlords were required to produce an energy performance certificate for their prospective tenants). So the community now provides a choice between two sorts of air source heat pump, expensive red gas cylinders, economy 7, and presumably open fires.

Obviously the homes in the scheme had been rewired, re-windowed, cavity filled and loft lagged, (I cannot remember if the floors were insulated too) ,

Three years ago, I did my own "Rightmove" survey of the community and found that the only factor influencing the price significantly was "repossession" versus still occupied - the former clustering around £40k and the latter hoping for £50K. Most estate agents self evidently did not bother to understand what they were selling. Some claimed gas fired, forgetting the word "bottle".

I have kept an friendly eye on the place since and there has been an empty one banged out to a London BTL landlord for between £20k & £30k with not what you would call the BMW model of heat pumps (was anyone interested - probably not)

http://www.heatking.co.uk/

To pretend to get back on topic, I will now check Google to see if any of the roofs have now got PV panels.

Out of the 85 (?) homes with SE facing roofs 4 have what could be large "Velux" windows or more likely solar thermal panels - Nobody has PV but they probably could not have afforded it or just as likely Google has not updated its satellite views for 5 years.

EricMears

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

To pretend to get back on topic, I will now check Google to see if any of the roofs have now got PV panels.

Out of the 85 (?) homes with SE facing roofs 4 have what could be large "Velux" windows or more likely solar thermal panels - Nobody has PV but they probably could not have afforded it or just as likely Google has not updated its satellite views for 5 years.

If you look at Google Earth (rather than Google Maps - satellite view) the photograph date is usually shown at bottom left of screen when you're viewing at reasonably large scale.

N Derbys was last done in Sept 2011 (and my SPs are visible) but Somerset was 2010, Dungeness was 2008 and a bit of Norfolk I've just looked at was 2006.

Google maps will just say "photos copyright 2013" however old the source files.

John_Pierpoint

If I click across from the satellite view to Google earth, I fly about BUT it is the same old photo underneath. claiming copyright 2013 for Google, Infoterra & bluesky, getmapping, terra metrics.

Presumably I have to clutter up this PC with the latest version of Google earth to get the latest views? [The application makes the PC issue the same noises as a virus scan]

BirnamBear

Going out with a bang today......beautiful clear sky and the sun is shining

KevinG

The Which? link I posted the other day on backwards-running meters is now working and worth a read:

https://www.which.co.uk/meter

However, once you have told your supplier that your usage meter is running backwards, the company has a period of one year in which to issue a bill for past usage. After this period, you don't legally have to pay a bill issued retrospectively.

This is capable of more than one interpretation. I informed my supplier that my meter was running backwards at the time of the FiT registration (twice, because there were two different registrations). So far, nothing has happened.

EricMears

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Presumably I have to clutter up this PC with the latest version of Google earth to get the latest views? [The application makes the PC issue the same noises as a virus scan]

Pretty sure GM uses exactly the same (latest) satellite image as GE. Only 'difference' is that GE show photo date on screen but GM don't.

Oddly, if you use GM & switch to 'street view' they do start showing photo date (but of course the street level photos don't give any clue to age of satellite views).

John_Pierpoint

Very strange, I have checked my own home. The satellite shows a view about 5 years ago (I know from the cars) while I actually spoke to the streetview driver last May (to explain the limitations of public highway and that it goes past me and terminates at the farm gate). He obligingly did not take a photo looking through the gap in the hedge but there is this picture of me in the hedge side gutter looking like I am trying to "Moon" for the camera (actually I am shovelling up a pile of hedge cuttings) If you zoom in, with me as the target I disappear and so does the pile of hedge clippings.

However my privacy was some what compromised as someone about 3 years ago walked up "my" drive to my gate and took a photo of my bungalow from there - when you click "photos near here" Google provides this photo (with no PV panels)