Solar Power Payback Claims

Passat99Blue

Am I the only person who is highly sceptical about the claims made by Solar Power companies?


I have had 2 visits now from different S/P salesmen (at my request) and they both used the same spreadsheet to demonstrate the Investment returns on a 4KWp system. They both used 10% as the likely annual increase on energy prices (is this an Industry recognised figure?) and both used 3.1% as the likely RPI annual increase (when it is currently running at 2%). They also both claimed that I would save 50% of my electricity bill and 10 - 33% of my gas bill.


My natural scepticism of these numbers and cynicism of the industry generally is stopping me from making the investment. Am I missing an opportunity here? I would welcome the views of people who have recently had panels fitted (at the current rates for power generated and power exported) and what sort of savings you are making. Apologies if this repeats any similar threads posted.


Thanks,


P99B

Smiley_Dan

Yeah, I took their spreadsheet (thankfully they sent it in a writeable format) and edited my own figures in there for energy price rises and RPI. For both I was much more conservative and just plonked in 2%.

Currently I'm saving about 45% of my electricity bill. I'm using just over 87% of generated electricity.

Not sure about my oil bill (there's a much better case to be had for hot water use when you're off the gas grid) but anecdotally we stopped using the oil boiler for DHW in March for a couple of weeks, back on when it went cloudy, now it's off again as we've got some nice sunny weather.

It helps if you have a lifestyle where you can shift demand. For electricity, that means running washing machines etc during the day. For DHW that means allowing time in the morning for the solar to heat up the tank... but that doesn't happen every day.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

If you go to the 'Green and Ethical' section of this forum you will find literally thousands of posts from on all aspects of Solar PV from posters who have had panels for several years.

You are certainly correct to be sceptical about claims for in-house savings as well as predicted energy prices rises and future inflation.

In-house savings depend largely on your life style - out at work or home each day. An Immersun(a device that diverts 'surplus' generated electricity to a hot water tank - if you have one) helps, but savings are at the cost of gas.