Break even

insight101

nigelpm wrote: »

On Track for Next Christmas.
2 years 9 months in, should be 1 year 1 month to go..(3 years 10 months to break even)

Really? How have you managed that??

Cost £7700 Feb 2012 full FITS rate

FITS and EXPORT totals so far
01/06/2012 £701.64
01/09/2012 £624.78
01/12/2012 £373.75
01/03/2013 £172.02
01/06/2013 £616.60
01/09/2013 £825.76
01/12/2013 £351.33
01/03/2014 £240.36
01/06/2014 £667.57
01/09/2014 £819.13

Total £ 5392.94 + 5 more cheques = Break even (Exc any electricity used)
Approx 4100 Kwh per year @ this years rate 48.07p + 3.39p export = £2040.36

There will be a few who purchased early in 2012 when prices dropped and the court case which changed the FITS rates, will manage this early Break even.

jimjames

We're 3 years in on 19 November.

I'm expecting break even between year 4 and 5 and am on course to achieve that.

Our generation has substantially exceeded predictions and we are consistently getting over 3000kWh per year from 3kWp panels.

You can see how much month by month here

http://solar-panels-review.321web.co.uk/yearly-solar-panel-stats.php

tunnel

insight101 wrote: »

Cost £7700 Feb 2012 full FITS rate

You jammy so and so, my 2kWp ESE that was installed in Nov11 came in at just over £7K
I did say some early adopters would be within a couple of years from payback but even I'm impressed with that

Hobbo2006

We bought in Feb 2012 too. Payback around the 5 year mark. Not bad for an East/west set up with a little shading late in the day.

nigelpm

insight101 wrote: »

Cost £7700 Feb 2012 full FITS rate

Phenomenal!

yaz2010

I am totally new to this and wondering how much did you guys paid to get solar panels installed?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

yaz2010 wrote: »

I am totally new to this and wondering how much did you guys paid to get solar panels installed?

As well as knowing the price you also need to know the installation date and the size.

My 4kWp system was installed January 2012 and cost £11000-ish. I'd expect to pay about half of that price if I were getting it now.

MFW_ASAP

Out of interest, without FIT payments what would the payback times be on solar?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

MFW_ASAP wrote: »

Out of interest, without FIT payments what would the payback times be on solar?

Using a quick back-of-an-envelope calculation, probably never.

Cardew

MFW_ASAP wrote: »

Out of interest, without FIT payments what would the payback times be on solar?

If you are talking simply about using the electricity in your house - i.e. no FIT/export - then it will never 'payback'.

Take an estimate of, say, £6,000 for a 4kWp system.

If you have the money in savings, you can still get a safe 3% on a long term investment. That is £180 a year compounded if in an ISA or if you are maxed out on the £15,000 ISA limit each year(£30,000 for a couple) it is £144 pa @20% tax. So in an ISA over £8000 after 10 years.

How much you save on in-house use is variable but a reasonable estimate is £100 to £150 pa.(don't forget that solar doesn't generate at night;)) It is worth pointing out that with the introduction of Daily Standing Charges, electricity is actually cheaper per unit than a couple of years ago.


Then you have to consider repairs/replacements.

Obviously you can invest your electricity savings each year, and no doubt electricity prices will rise - but IMO at the end of 20 years or so you will be well out of pocket.