ashadegreener

robroy00

Just had a sales rep at the door offering FREE solar panels. Its a Feed In Tariff. Says they use their own fitters and all the installation etc. is free as well. He also says that they only lease the airspace above the property and not the roof. They own the panels for 25 years then the ownership is transferred to the home-owner. Does anybody know if this is too good to be true as it sounds ok.

ed110220

robroy00 wrote: »

Just had a sales rep at the door offering FREE solar panels. Its a Feed In Tariff. Says they use their own fitters and all the installation etc. is free as well. He also says that they only lease the airspace above the property and not the roof. They own the panels for 25 years then the ownership is transferred to the home-owner. Does anybody know if this is too good to be true as it sounds ok.

It is true, though opinions are divided on how good a deal it is. They installed on the house opposite.

On the plus side you won't have to pay for the panels and will be able to use any electricity they produce free of charge.

On the negative side you may not benefit as much as you'd hoped if you're not at home during the day to use the electricity. Most of the benefit from solar is from the feed in tariff which will go to A Shade Greener. 25 years is also a long time and I feel that well before it's up many if not most people will have solar on their suitable roofs, especially as prices drop. If that happens being stuck with someone else's panels on your roof might be unattractive to you or any potential buyer.

joolsleeds

I'm an ASG customer for over three years now.

Everything you've been told is true.....it's all free, the kit, installation, maintenance, even insurance. They will also pay to remove and reinstall the kit for free twice in the 25 year period, if you need any work doing on your roof.

You get the electricity for free, they get the feed in tariff.

I think Ed's summary of the pros and cons is fair.

We get approx 35% of our total electricity used free from the roof now, and we don't have any regrets three years in.

HTH

nigelpm

Certainly if you can't afford to pay for panels outright and/or don't want to fund it through finance and you aren't planning to move it might be worthwhile but for me it is minimal gain for a lot of potential headaches.

If you really want panels and can't afford the cost taking out cheap financing would be my suggestion.

EricMears

nigelpm wrote: »

If you really want panels and can't afford the cost taking out cheap financing would be my suggestion.

I agree. Adding £6k to an existing mortgage would be relatively painless and your FIT payments should easily cover the increased mortgage repayments even if bank rate shoots up another 5%

Martyn1981

EricMears wrote: »

I agree. Adding £6k to an existing mortgage would be relatively painless and your FIT payments should easily cover the increased mortgage repayments even if bank rate shoots up another 5%

Further to what Eric has said, I think we can take an educated guess that you have a good PV roof.

A Shade Greener (and all other RaR's too) have to cherry pick the very best rooves now. They don't get the leccy savings, they do get a lower FiT rate, the do have overheads, and also have to pay tax, so life is getting harder for them.

So if ASG are interested, that would strongly suggest that you have a good roof. But you will need about £6k.

Mart.

Honestlyitsthetruth

WE had our FREE panels installed early last year. If you use your common sense and use your white goods etc.during the recommended times you WILL save money. Just had an email from EDF, who have said that from June our monthly payments are being reduced by £13.
I have absolutely no regrets about allowing A SHADE GREENER to install their panels. GO FOR IT!:beer:

zeupater

Honestlyitsthetruth wrote: »

WE had our FREE panels installed early last year. If you use your common sense and use your white goods etc.during the recommended times you WILL save money. Just had an email from EDF, who have said that from June our monthly payments are being reduced by £13.
I have absolutely no regrets about allowing A SHADE GREENER to install their panels. GO FOR IT!:beer:

Hi

Welcome to the forum ....

Good to see that you're saving, but considering the construction of the above post so resembles a number of testimonials on the ASG website & those of a recent member with connections to the company, I am conflicted to whether, or not, honesty & truth really register as anything other than a profile name ....

Has anyone else noticed how many 'first time posters' extolling the virtues of various suppliers & products that we've had on these boards recently ?? .... perhaps it's just me being an old cynic ....

HTH
Z

tunnel

It does make you wonder Zeup, and with a name "honestly its the truth" i'd guess it'll be their first and last post after the quick endorsement.

Dave_16

For family's that have free panels fitted on the roof as a rent a roof scheme I would think that when the kids have grown up and moved on leaving Mum and Dad at home with their now higher disposable income, Mum and Dad may well wish that they could have their own solar panels on the roof instead of being stuck with someone else's panels for another ten years or so.
Then of course they may well also think about all that free electricity they missed out on because they were at work.

teddysmum

Someone once described the deal as being akin to the offer of a free 28" CRT tv in 2000 on the condition that you don't upgrade until 2025. Rather far fetched , but it does illustrate the possibility of being stuck with old technology.