solar novice any advice welcome

Martyn1981

vix2000 wrote: »

Hi Thanks for the replies, the guy said we are 5 degrees off south facing (I thought it was SE) and we are in Sheffield, so northish. and there is no shade on the roof the panels will be on.

The cost is £8500 which I thought wasn't too bad as the panels are Sharp panels and the reviews appear to be good, but really had no idea of the current cost as its a couple of years since I looked into it. At that time a friend had paid over 4000 for 4 panels.

I am anticipating using the pay back payment towards the repayments but made sure the whole repayment is comfortably affordable.

I had originally thought it would be more than that for 16 panels. Also we were made aware of the changes due in January to reduce the payback tariff.

Hi. Assuming you are 5d off south, then my quick check on PVGIS (just stuck a pin in the centre of Sheffield) was 3,630kWh pa (very close to what Eric said, again).

So that's the good news.

But .... £8,500 .... strewth! Is it too late to cancel? Have you read the other threads on this G&E board since the summer, with many quotes below £6k.

I appreciate that the FiT rate drops on the 1st of Jan, but it's only a 3.5% cut, so perhaps approx 2% cut in total income (it doesn't affect export or leccy savings). To match that 2% loss, you'd only have to cut the capital cost by £170.

My original system (ESE) has Sharp panels, nothing wrong with them, but nothing special either. And back to the price, my 2kWp WNW extension cost a smidge over £4k in July 2012, should you really be paying the same (per kWp) for a larger system in 2014? [Quick memory check, I think a 4kWp system was about £7k back then, and falling.]

Mart.

tunnel

Holy smoke vix, did you do your homework first....£8500?....sorry but someone's just had your pants down and stiffed you right. I've just helped my mate get his system installed in Matlock, a 4kWp system facing SE for only £5200.


As Mart says...any chance you can cancel, renegotiate(due to inflated pay back(leccy) and incorrect generation quotes) or even flat refuse to complete the deal?


Where did you find the company from, was it s*lar king or something similar?

vix2000

No I didn't unfortunately!!! Would there be a cooling off period, do you think? It was only a week ago that the salesman came round? Can you explain the inflated payback and incorrect generation so that I can go back to them about this, please?

edit: The contract says 7 days and it is now 11 so appears I'm screwed!!!!

Martyn1981

vix2000 wrote: »

No I didn't unfortunately!!! Would there be a cooling off period, do you think? It was only a week ago that the salesman came round? Can you explain the inflated payback and incorrect generation so that I can go back to them about this, please?

edit: The contract says 7 days and it is now 11 so appears I'm screwed!!!!

Hiya vix. First thing (I'd suggest) is just contacting the company, saying that you've received advice from several PV'ers (doubt you can call us experts) and have read some of the threads on here, and you've seen lots of lower quotes and install prices.

Obviously they can charge you what they like, it's up to you to haggle, but worth stating that the price seems much, much too high, and ask if it was a mistake?

Have you paid a deposit?

The higher generation figure works in your favour (unless the house isn't south facing). But it's still odd and you could argue unprofessional. Bit of background, salesman still (I believe) have to use SAP figures. These used to be based on Sheffield as the university there had a solar research 'thingy'. This meant that those south of Sheffield would get more than the quote, and those north, would get less. I think SAP was revised into multiple regions, but I may be talking rubbish.

However, I seem to recall that even the Sheffield SAP figure was about 850 or 900kWh/kWp so still doesn't explain your quote.

[Edit: Unless you have quite a bit of shading? M.]

Onto the leccy savings. They seem to quote £349pa according to the paperwork you posted. That would mean you using all of the 2,908kWh (they quote) at 12p/kWh. Or 2,181kWh at 16p, which seems to be written on the paperwork.

So taking the lower consumption they are suggesting you'll use 2,181/2,908 = 75% ........ exactly ......... exactly!!!! That's a suspiciously round number, so they seem to be suggesting IN THE SALESPITCH that you'll consume 75% of generation. No chance, unless you are home all day every day, and have very high consumption, possibly a small business?

I don't know if this is enough to break the deal, but hopefully it's a start, but you need to emphasise that the numbers and paperwork given to you were faulty.

Just that leccy savings difference will 'cost' you about £200 to £250pa on what you thought you'd earn.

Hopefully others will give you tips and advice too.

Best of luck.

Mart.

Martyn1981

vix2000 wrote: »

No I didn't unfortunately!!! Would there be a cooling off period, do you think? It was only a week ago that the salesman came round? Can you explain the inflated payback and incorrect generation so that I can go back to them about this, please?

edit: The contract says 7 days and it is now 11 so appears I'm screwed!!!!

Hiya vix, me again. I've pondered posting this, as it may seem 'dodgy', but hopefully folk on MSE will know I'm not like that, so .....

Occasionally over the last few years a company has posted on these threads discussing climate change and other such issues. They have never touted for business. But I used their name to find the company, and found their blog quite interesting.

What's this got to do with you, well, they are based in Leeds, and more importantly have posted their prices on the website (though they haven't been updated/changed for a year).

This isn't a recommendation in any way whatsoever, but just to give you an example of prices so you can be a bit more knowledgeable when speaking with your installers:

Leeds Solar

Again, not a recommendation, just an example for info. If you do manage to cancel your deal, I'd suggest taking your time and getting several more quotes.

Mart.

Arpeggio

One thing to make sure of, is that they put them on your roof well so that it stays water-proof. We have them and a few years later have had some minor water leakage (although easy to fix and the company are happy to help out a bit even though is post warranty) from when the wind is strong and pushes the rain up the roof through some small gaps where the tray under the panels meets the roof tiles.

Apparently there was / is a solar panel craze where some companies were slapping them down on people's roofs not very well.

tunnel

I'm with Mart on this, speak to the installer and express your concern over the quoted figures, ok..the generation should be better but your usage is way off the mark(even 16p). Did they quote the return on leccy savings with an index linked amount by any chance(normally they'll say 8% which is way way too much)


Mention that their price seems around 50% more than other installers(it is, the company that did my mates covers Sheffield). You never know, once confronted they may lower their price(can but hope)