Is this a good deal?

Johnnn

Having resigned myself to applying too late and missing the boat I've now been offered a 3.9kwp system, (12 Sunpower 327w panels with a Kaco 4202 inverter) by a reputable supplier (a cancelled order) with a guarantee of fitting and having everything in place before the 9th December deadline for the old FIT.
The price is £15300.

There is no time to get alternative quotes, and in reality I wouldn't get any on this timescale for the old FIT, but the price seems high - 3.9p/kw.

Is this a good deal, or am I being charged a high price for an otherwise unobtainable offer?

Yut_Man

Seems high. look at http://www.tescohomeefficiency.com/electricity-pricing/?gclid=CL6skMK9pqwCFcgc4QoddjhI_g. These are not the cheapest by a long way. but its the time factor thats your real concern. Remember you will need to get your certificate into your electric company and accepted by this date. so really you need your system up and running a week before. So what you need to know is if you pay deposit when will the system be fitted. and if not can you get deposit back. then its decision time.

Freepost

Johnnn wrote: »

Having resigned myself to applying too late and missing the boat I've now been offered a 3.9kwp system, (12 Sunpower 327w panels with a Kaco 4202 inverter) by a reputable supplier (a cancelled order) with a guarantee of fitting and having everything in place before the 9th December deadline for the old FIT.
The price is £15300.

There is no time to get alternative quotes, and in reality I wouldn't get any on this timescale for the old FIT, but the price seems high - 3.9p/kw.

Is this a good deal, or am I being charged a high price for an otherwise unobtainable offer?

I think it's too high, considering how prices have dropped over the last months about £4K too high. Of course nobody wants to miss the boat leaving on the 12th but how long will it take for you to recover the £15K outlay?

F.

Johnnn

They quote an 11.22% return, so it should take 9 years. What's a normal return period?

TailSpin_2

I just paid about £11k for a 3.75 Kwh system from Tesco about 6 weeks ago.

I got an email from them last night quoting "We have reduced the cost of a 3.84kWp system to a new price of only £8,499 (inc. VAT)"

Clealry they are reacting to the FiT payment drop.

If anyone wants the full email, I'd be happt to oblige but it llooks a pretty good deal.

Johnnn

Yes, I understand that the panel suppliers are dropping prices in view of the new FiT, but my quote is for the old tariff.

Equaliser123

Johnnn wrote: »

Yes, I understand that the panel suppliers are dropping prices in view of the new FiT, but my quote is for the old tariff.

Assuming it is installed and the system is FIT registered in time...

Still seems very high to me. You need to do the sums on whether the lower FIT's could work with the (much) lower prices being quoted.

Johnnn

Looking at the Tesco link above, the 4KW system seems to have a payback period of 11.6 years. whereas my quote (assuming everything is done in time) showas payback by 9 years. Doesn't this make it a better deal - or am I missing something?

zeupater

TailSpin wrote: »

I just paid about £11k for a 3.75 Kwh system from Tesco about 6 weeks ago.

I got an email from them last night quoting "We have reduced the cost of a 3.84kWp system to a new price of only £8,499 (inc. VAT)"

Clealry they are reacting to the FiT payment drop.

If anyone wants the full email, I'd be happt to oblige but it llooks a pretty good deal.

Hi

I've seen a few 'post tariff change' adverts pricing a 4kWp system at around the £8k mark already starting to appear this week ..... if that's the case then the UK will soon only be about £1k more expensive than Germany .... well there's a result after less that two years of the UK playing catchup, especially as the planned German FiT reduction for 2012 was pulled forward to mid 2011 (€0.2874/~£0.248, not index linked) due to falling equipment prices and continuing high demand with a strong likelihood that they will further reduce the tariff next year too ...... a bit more to go yet, but getting there !

HTH
Z

zeupater

Johnnn wrote: »

Looking at the Tesco link above, the 4KW system seems to have a payback period of 11.6 years. whereas my quote (assuming everything is done in time) showas payback by 9 years. Doesn't this make it a better deal - or am I missing something?

Hi

Seriously, I wouldn't be on these boards wasting time & trying to make a decision ....

If you want a system with the best cash return over 25 years and have the money available, get your skates on, check them out for MCS accreditation, check the guarantees and offer them what they want (or say ~£1k less) on the condition, in writing, that the install is correctly registered by the deadline with something like a £4k to £5k price penalty if it isn't .... if they believe that they can get the system up in time they should accept something like this ....

If you want a system with a similar percentage return for your outlay and want to tie up less money .... simply wait for the market to react and prices to stabalise at a level which will achieve this ...

Wait too long and the first option goes out of the window as either someone else gets the system, or the installation date gets too close to the deadline and there will be no chance that the installer would agree to the penalty clause ...

If you decide to pursue the first option whatever you do don't panic buy .... check things out as carefully as possible, but also do it quickly .... remember, it's situations such as these which scammers use to their advantage ...

Take care & good luck

HTH
Z

BornAtTheRightTime

All else being equal, if you have the choice between investing £11 now at approx 10% return, or £8k later at similar ~10% return, the £11k is a better investment (because where else can you invest the additional £3k at 10%pa index-linked?).