Free Solar Panels

chuffa

Hello everyone and its the first post on this site so be gentle, what I mean is I have little knowledge on this subject, so I may sound vague.

I've always thought, "if it sounds too good then it is too good". A guy was telling me about free solar panels being fitted to my home. He paid for his and gets a good tariff for the amount he puts back into the grid as he had these fitted years ago. He lives by himself.

He told me that I could get free panels fitted to my house, that would generate enough electricity for daily use in my house with a family of four adults. We are at work most of the day and return early evening to cook and have baths etc. Does free panels mean free or is there a catch somewhere. If so what firms do this for the Anglian region.

I do understand from what my friend said, that I would not get any money back as this would go to the companies involved and I am getting the fitting and panels free. Any help please

tunnel

Hi and welcome,

Take a look here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4975804

Its all true,free panels BUT...if you can afford to put them on yourself, like your mate, then it does make more financial sense

Any questions feel free to ask

EricMears

chuffa wrote: »

Hello everyone and its the first post on this site so be gentle, what I mean is I have little knowledge on this subject, so I may sound vague.

I've always thought, "if it sounds too good then it is too good". A guy was telling me about free solar panels being fitted to my home. He paid for his and gets a good tariff for the amount he puts back into the grid as he had these fitted years ago. He lives by himself.

He told me that I could get free panels fitted to my house, that would generate enough electricity for daily use in my house with a family of four adults. We are at work most of the day and return early evening to cook and have baths etc. Does free panels mean free or is there a catch somewhere. If so what firms do this for the Anglian region.

I do understand from what my friend said, that I would not get any money back as this would go to the companies involved and I am getting the fitting and panels free. Any help please

The 'free' panels are usually limited to a 4kWp installation. That may well be enough for a "daytime usage for family of four" this month but (even for a family who are out all day ) it won't be enough for that during the winter.


And another alarm bell rings in that you will want to use most of your electricity early morning or early evening when generation will be low in summer and non-existent in winter. To make that scheme worthwhile, you need to be an OAP or a night shift worker.


Your friend is getting paid almost 50p per unit generated and probably getting a return of 12 to 15% on his investment. Prices of panels have dropped a lot since then but so have the payment rates so you'd be unlikely to get a ROI of more than 10% (but that still beats what you'd get on your savings or how much you'd have to pay if you extended a mortgage to buy your own.

ed110220

Well I guess it depends what you mean by a 'catch'. There isn't really a catch as such in my opinion, they do what it says on the tin - you get the panels fitted free and get to use any electricity they produce and in return the company that owns them gets the feed-in tariff (FIT) for the electricity.

The real issue (some may say a catch) is that the company that installs the panels will get most of the benefit, especially if you're out during the day when they're producing electricity. You probably won't save as much as you were hoping on your electricity bill as you won't be at home to use the electricity.

Now really this is a bit of a philosophical question - you could say that it's a good deal as you get a share of the benefit without paying anything for it, or you could say it's not as the panel company gets most of the benefit out of using your roof. Depends on how you look at it

Ed

groovyf

I'll also add, that having panels (that you don't actually own) fitted to your roof may affect any resale of your house - if that's on the cards in a 20-year time-frame (I say 20 years as that's the length of time the government will pay the Feed-In Tariff, so presume the company would want them kept on the roof for that amount of time).

If you buy your own panels and have them fitted, prospective purchasers may see it as a plus and actually help a house sale.

teddysmum

In future, much smaller less ugly panels may be developed, so a future buyer may not want a property with the old style ones, which prevent them from fitting their own modern ones, from which they would get the income.


I once saw the setup as similar to offering someone a quality but bulky tv, free of charge in 2000, with the condition that they could not replace it with a slim one until 2015.

EricMears

There may well be 'slim, beautiful panels' available in a few years time. BUT FIT tariffs will have dropped several more times - indeed may have been discontinued altogether- so the new panels will rely only on the actual cost saving of bought in electricity whereas the old style ones will still have several years to run at 50p (plus several inflation-linked rises) per kWh of FIT tariff. Suspect that will continue to help owners overlook what their rooves look like. Incidentally, how many non-SP owners actually bother to go outside and gaze on the beauty of their roof ?

The_Green_Hornet

I have never really understood the argument that clay / concrete roof tiles are so much better to look at than glass / steel solar panels.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

Dave_16

If you put another companies panels on your roof and sign an agreement to keep them there for twenty years, you won't be able to put your own panels there if/when money gets easier as finances improve, i.e. kids move on mortgage gets paid, that sort of thing.

Dave

ed110220

The_Green_Hornet wrote: »

I have never really understood the argument that clay / concrete roof tiles are so much better to look at than glass / steel solar panels.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

Just what people are used to I guess. For many people traditional=good, modern/industrial=bad. If glazed windows were new, I bet many people would say they were ugly as they are shiny,

Ed

lstar337

ed110220 wrote: »

If glazed windows were new, I bet many people would say they were ugly as they are shiny

Yuk!

Give me wooden shutters any day! :rotfl: