Solar PV – Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

David_Cardiff

I have my gas and electricity with NPower as well as my feed in tariff with solar PV. I want to know if I can change to an alternative supplier. Do I have to move the feed in tariff if I move the gas and electricity?

I did a search on MSE and found the heading above (9. Feed-in-Tariff registration and changing suppliers). Unfortunately the pages that I could see did not reach as far as no 9.

Where can I find the answer?

tunnel

David_Cardiff wrote: »

I have my gas and electricity with NPower as well as my feed in tariff with solar PV. I want to know if I can change to an alternative supplier. Do I have to move the feed in tariff if I move the gas and electricity?

You can move your gas and electric as and when you please and leave the FiT where it is. I must have swapped 3-4 times since having my panels installed.

Martyn1981

David_Cardiff wrote: »

I did a search on MSE and found the heading above (9. Feed-in-Tariff registration and changing suppliers). Unfortunately the pages that I could see did not reach as far as no 9.

Where can I find the answer?

Hiya Dave, if you go to the first post, and click on the link (near the beginning for sections 6 onwards (or simply now go to post #37) you'll find the section you want.

Mart.

PS, if your name reflects location, then welcome from a fellow Cardiffian!

PPS, I've tried to make the jump to the FAQ's part two more obvious with some boldening and a reference to the post number. Hope that helps. M.

NacNac

Hello everyone and happy new year.

After learning so much from this forum I would now like to share my own personal experience and hope this can be helpful to someone.

I placed the order for my solar installation in December 2015. There was a big rush as the government decided to prepone the drop of the FIT from March to the 14th of January 2016. It went from something around 12p/kWh to around 4.
I was lucky enough to find a company who accepted to take the order. Some refused as they could not guarantee to have the installation completed before the 14th of January. The company kept me informed of their progress (they worked all over Christmas and also during Sundays). My installation took place on Sunday 10th and I was able to apply and have my installation registered on the deadline. I therefore now benefit of the 12p/kWh FIT.

In a week, I will have had my system for exactly 12 months.

I have 16 panels 250W connected into two string on the inverter. I have opted for the device to warm the water when there is an excess of electricity.
My roof is facing 10° South with a pitch of 28° and is located between Chester and Manchester. There is no shade at any point in time.
To date, the panels generated 3825kWh. The company estimated (or guaranteed) for the first year at least 3400kWh and this is what was used for my Return On Investment calculation)

I do not know by heart the exact rate for the FIT and export tariff but let’s take respectively 12p and 4p

3825*0.12= 459pounds
3825/2*0,04=76.5pounds

I do not know yet how much imported electricity I have saved but it will not only be due to the electricity generated as I have replaced many bulbs by LED (be it the spot lights in the kitchen, lounge, dining room and floodlights in the garden). Prior the panels and the LED I had an average consumption of 2900kWh.

Finally, I have also made some savings on gas for heating the water. Generally, from mid April to mid October I have not used the gas boiler to heat the water. Surely they had been some odd days when cloud cover was too think but I am pretty sure that during that period there has been less than 10 to 15 days when I need to switch the boiler on.
The rest of the year, the solar panels still heat the water, more often than not, it still needs some help from the boiler but for instance on the 2nd of January, it has been sunny all day and 7,91kWh were generated. As we were not at home in the day, we had hot water in the evening. Note that I do not know how much kWh is required to heat the water entirely. Something worth knowing though.

I paid 6000 pounds exactly for my installation including the device for the hot water.

On the technical aspect, I have no regret, it works exactly as the company predicted (actually much better but they told me they would be conservative). Financially, It is nice to receive the tariffs and knowing that the bills on gas and electricity are less but I have 6000 pounds cash less in the bank. Nonetheless, if I take 459+76,5 = 535.5
(6000+535,5)/6000=> this is 8.9% interest rate equivalent for the first year. This is without taking into account the saving made by importing less electricity during the day and using less gas to heat the water.

Should I recommend solar panels. Yes.

I have a very positive experience so far and I am very proud of the installation.

If anyone wants more details please do not hesitate to ask.

Best regards

NacNac

Hello Eric and happy new year.
I think I have forgotten to thank you for your reply. Sorry about that.
Unfortunately, at the time due to the deadline of the FIT change, I did not have enough time to make any further investigations, so I opted for the standard installation (so called 4kW, which I am aware is not really true as you said).

Thanks

Gregory33

Thats a great post Martyn. In relation to the FITs and electricity the one thing I would say is to caution anyone who is getting quotes to be very careful when suppliers use high figures for electricity price RPI. We had some using 15% compounded over the 25 years when that is clearly an unknown and if actually true would mean electricity was 70% of an annual salary if RPI remained under 5% as they also suggested in their calculations. By giving such large numbers it helped make their case for the "financial investment" into solar.

I guess what I'm saying is that for any payback calcs there are elements of estimation but it is better to use more cautious figures and always consider the effect of compounding which some unscrupulous suppliers are trying to use to their advantage.

Martyn1981

Hello Gregory, nice to hear from California, especially as that state is doing so much to promote and develop RE technology.

You are right about the price of leccy, it was never going to be as much as some suggested, and lately the future price has been revised down further by the UK's National Audit Office. They now expect the wholesale price to peak at £70/MWh in 2027, before falling back to £60/MWh by 2035 (all 2016 prices).

As the current wholesale rate is about £40/MWh, then the impact on bills will only be about 2-3p/kWh, taking them from say 12p to 15p (again in 2016 prices), so a total rise of about 20-25%.

Nobody wants an increase, but at least it's pretty small.

Cardew

NacNac wrote: »

Financially, It is nice to receive the tariffs and knowing that the bills on gas and electricity are less but I have 6000 pounds cash less in the bank. Nonetheless, if I take 459+76,5 = 535.5
(6000+535,5)/6000=> this is 8.9% interest rate equivalent for the first year. This is without taking into account the saving made by importing less electricity during the day and using less gas to heat the water.

Should I recommend solar panels. Yes.

Glad that you are happy with your decision.

However for any 'newbies' reading your post it is pertinent to resurrect the point made in discussions years ago.

To talk of an '8.9% interest rate equivalent' is somewhat misleading. With an interest rate comparison you would need to have your £6000 capital remain in the bank(or investment) and if the interest was added to the capital it would be compounded.

You have an 8.9% return on your £6000 investment(plus in house savings) however your investment cannot be 'cashed in'. It is also pertinent to point out that even in these days of rock bottom interest rates it is possible to get over 2% on long term lump sum savings - i.e. £120pa compounded.

So the bottom line is that it will take xx years(10 to 12?) for you to break even; assuming no expensive repairs/replacements. Over the 20 years it should be a very good investment.

However at current rates of FIT, even with today's installation costs lower than £6000, it is difficult to justify domestic solar PV on financial grounds.

NacNac

Hello

I was wondering if a new FAQ could be added.
I have got Solar panels since Jan 2016 and my meter is the standard digital one (no smart meter). My export tariff is based on the "assumed 50%".
So far so good. however, for over 2 months my electricity provider is chasing me to have my meter replaced by a smart metre.

Does anyone know what will happen to my export tariff agreement if a smart metre is installed ? Will I lose the "assumed 50%".

As many of us I have a iboost. As a consequence most day I use mot of the generated electricity and export hardly nothing. Now I assume a smart metre will measure exactly the kWh exported. Can my provide then stop paying 50% of the generated electricity and pay only the actual exported kWh ?

I have contacted my installer who has not replied and could not find any info on the internet. so I thought someone on the forum may be able to help. After all, the smartmetre may screw up all of our nice ROI calculation!!!

Thanks in advance

drefaldwyn

Having a Smart Meter installed will not affect the export situation. However i would suggest you decline the offer of the Smart Meter unless the company can assure you that it will retain its' functionality when you switch supplier.