Mis-sold solar panels?

carlsm60

Heart and Solar sold us 13 panels and a promise that the £106 per month payments would be covered by FIT and savings at £110 per month (on average).
After 8 months the FIT is around £50 per month. Nowhere near the promised return . Taking in any savings, this means it will take us over 20 years to break even!
Has anyone else been mis-sold in a similar way?

penrhyn

What about the savings you are making on your Electricity Bill, and the return on the electricity exported to the grid?

molerat

The next double glazing / cavity insulation / ppi / packaged accounts scandal ?

System

What size of system do you have? What is the orientation of your roof and are there any factors such as shading? I have a 2.15KWp system that generates about 1900KWhs per year. My wife and I are at home all day and I calculate that we use about 60% of what we generate. We have to work hard to achieve that level of use.

carlsm60

Our system is 3.25kw with excellent exposure getting plenty of sun throughout the day. We were promised a deal that wasn't true.

System

carlsm60 wrote: »

Our system is 3.25kw with excellent exposure getting plenty of sun throughout the day. We were promised a deal that wasn't true.

I am still not sure why you think that you were mis-sold? What output figures were you given? Did you check them against the PVGIS charts that are available? What FIT rate did you expect to receive? You may indeed have a case but some more information would be helpful.

penrhyn

Shirley solar panels are all about that warm green glow you get from doing your bit in saving the planet, not making money out of other consumers through subsidies?:D

Martyn1981

carlsm60 wrote: »

Our system is 3.25kw with excellent exposure getting plenty of sun throughout the day. We were promised a deal that wasn't true.

Difficult to know exactly as you haven't given prices, generation figures (estimates) etc.

But my guess is that you should be generating around 3,000kWh pa (assuming south(ish) orientation), which should earn you around £500 (FiT & export) plus leccy savings (£80 to £160?).

Clearly this is miles short of the £1,320 (£110*12) you mention.

If you have paperwork stating those ludicrous numbers then why not fight. Start by contacting MCS and RECC and any trade bodies mentioned on the companies headed paper.

Out of interest, how much did the install cost (ignoring interest etc), 3.25kWp would hopefully come in at around £5k, perhaps less with haggling.

Mart.

macman

Seems like you failed to do the most basic research to test their claims.

System

As others have suggested, you may have taken too much at face value. The FIT returns are pretty well par for the course given the size of your installation, time of installation (Jan 14?) and the FIT rate. Electricity savings may well have been based on 50% of energy generated which is a hard target to reach unless someone is at home all day. I don't suppose that you were also handed a box of LED bulbs by any chance as it seems that some installers are also using bulb usage savings to inflate the overall savings total. If you are saying that at a rate of £50 per month for 20 years you will be paying back £12000 - then it is unlikely that in real terms you will have saved much from PV Solar. You need to look closely at the information that you were given and then take proper advice to see if you have the right of redress.

captainhindsight_2

The figures they quoted would be estimates based on known factors and standard assumptions.

So your have to take them with a pinch of salt, as you many get more benefit than stated or less benefit than stated as it is just an estimate.

If you genuinely feel you have been missold go to mcs who will be able to help you in regards to making an official complaint.