StayBrite Solar quote 3kw system £9K

Slickric21

Hello there, I wonder if any of you guys/gals would like to comment on my new quote for Solar panels. I've been reading the forums for a while and suspect I know what you are all going to say but here goes.

I live in Norwich, South facing roof with 30* pitch with potentially upto 15% shading from some trees.
(PVGIS calculation is 2910, did this myself)

Staybrite Solar, a local company have quoted me the following.

12 panel 3kw system for £9430
Can be financed by Lifestyle Loan which would cost £11,892 over 10 years, apr 4.6%.
£500 cashback.

The unique selling points of this company apparently are:
1) Panels are apparently some super duper British made ones (all black) desigined for this climate.
2) Inverter is a Solar Edge Inverter which the rep claims 25% more efficient than competitors.
3) Guarantees are underwritten by Parent Company ENTU PLC the only PLC involved in Solar in the UK so complete peace of mind. (apparently all other compainies gurantees will be worthless as the rep says they will all shut down next year due to govt cutting feed in tariffs, so no more business for them)

Note: i dont actully know what their gurantee covers and for how long, but they do try to sell you a £90 per year warranty on top of all this

Here are the figures i've been sent across:

Cost of System £9,430 (this includes a £900 discount for free 2 panel upgrade)
Deposit £0.00
Total Cost Including Interest £11,892 (this is obviously only if you let the life style account run for 10 years that nobody would ever do)
Worst Case returns over 20 Years £13,657.17
Real World returns over 20 Years £20,841.47
Worst Case Profit = £1,765,17
Real World Profit = £8,949.47

Minimum Monthly Payment = £99.10
Year One Worst Case Guaranteed Income = £508.06
Year One Worst Case Monthly Income = £42.34
Year One Worst Case Monthly Difference £56.76

Add to that the £500 Cash back that works out to £41.67 per month, the 25% more efficient Solar Edge Inverter and the average £40.75 for the TLS card and you system makes a profit even in year one.

The two incomes are paid whether you are in the house or not as I explained you get paid for every unit of electricity your panels produce which is an exact figure of your meter. The Government also pay you for 50% of that figure so even if you were not there for a year the 2 incomes would be the same. You then also benefit from free electricity during daylight hours.

Everything is Index Linked, Tax Free and Guaranteed by the Government for 20 years.

what do you all think of this offer, will appreciate your honesty !!!

cheers:)

Oneday77

slickric21 wrote: »

Hello there, I wonder if any of you guys/gals would like to comment on my new quote for Solar panels. I've been reading the forums for a while and suspect I know what you are all going to say but here goes.

I live in Norwich, South facing roof with 30* pitch with potentially upto 15% shading from some trees.
(PVGIS calculation is 2910, did this myself)

Staybrite Solar, a local company have quoted me the following.

12 panel 3kw system for £9430
Can be financed by Lifestyle Loan which would cost £11,892 over 10 years, apr 4.6%.
£500 cashback.

The unique selling points of this company apparently are:
1) Panels are apparently some super duper British made ones (all black) desigined for this climate.
2) Inverter is a Solar Edge Inverter which the rep claims 25% more efficient than competitors.
3) Guarantees are underwritten by Parent Company ENTU PLC the only PLC involved in Solar in the UK so complete peace of mind. (apparently all other compainies gurantees will be worthless as the rep says they will all shut down next year due to govt cutting feed in tariffs, so no more business for them)

Note: i dont actully know what their gurantee covers and for how long, but they do try to sell you a £90 per year warranty on top of all this

Here are the figures i've been sent across:

what do you all think of this offer, will appreciate your honesty !!!

cheers:)

Does it come with a free speedboat?

I'm new at looking into deals but they are trying to shaft you. Even the quote I had the other day for £7,400 including 16 panels and micro inverters looks like a bargain.
Offering cashback with a loan is a sure fire way to know they have lots of profit to dangle carrots with.

Mojisola

Previous experience -
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4895538

Slickric21

Thanks for the replies.

I did see that thread linked to above and that is what started to set off some alarm bells in my head after the rep had left.

However I wondered what you make of the unique selling points that this company go through great length to stress.
That there Panels are better quality than "far east" ones that their competitors install, that their inverter is 25% more efficient than those used by competitors, and that all there competitors cannot really offer a long term warranty as the industry will effectively shutdown after the Jan16 (due to govt cutting FIT) and companies will start to disappear. Their warranty is backed by Intu PLC (parent company) so is safe long term.

The rep stressed they were more expensive than the rest because of these things

steveing64

I had a quote of them last thursday came in same price he just called me today if i wanted to go ahaead i just laughed and said no thanks

theboylard

slickric21 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

I did see that thread linked to above and that is what started to set off some alarm bells in my head after the rep had left.

However I wondered what you make of the unique selling points that this company go through great length to stress.
That there Panels are better quality than "far east" ones that their competitors install, that their inverter is 25% more efficient than those used by competitors, and that all there competitors cannot really offer a long term warranty as the industry will effectively shutdown after the Jan16 (due to govt cutting FIT) and companies will start to disappear. Their warranty is backed by Intu PLC (parent company) so is safe long term.

The rep stressed they were more expensive than the rest because of these things

I was just going to reply with... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ... but I'll be a little more grown up and helpful!!

Most of what they said is tosh.
If they do get in touch, and you do feel like being reasonably pleasant (although personally I'd tell them to take a flying f...), then you want the spec sheet for the panels they are offering because I do not know of many UK manufacturers (Romag being one), and I can't see any real performance/cost advantage?

All panels that qualify for FiT have to meet MCS specs and meet performance criteria.

If you go for some of the more popular names in panels/modules, then you will get the benefit without the rampant price flannel you're being sold here.

The only point I can definitely nod at is the inverter - SolarEdge, like microinverters but cheaper, are very good at dealing with shade and with tree lines growing and moving then that is a good recommendation.
However, my guess is that they have sourced a kit from Romag and have just added 70%'ish to the price to cover their profit and install - to quote a fellow pv owner here, they're having yer pants down!

Get more quotes, from more reputable companies.
Post up the rough detail here, you'll get more detailed advice then.

Good luck.

Martyn1981

slickric21 wrote: »

what do you all think of this offer, will appreciate your honesty !!!

Can't be honest, MSE rules forbid that kind of language.

Just say no!

Mart.

Markj1110

Good Lord, that's a cracker!! Tell them to take a hike! 4 - 4.5k more like for that size of system! You did the right thing posting that on here!! Run away fast. Take your time, don't be rushed, ask loads of questions, then you will get what's right for you.:)

Slickric21

I enquired about and they are " Romag SMT (60)P PV " but i dont know what type 235Wp 240Wp or 245Wp and I cant be bothered emailing the bloke back to find out which because Ive pretty much made my mind up not to go ahead with this.

I was just wondering how much value, if any there was in the unique selling points that this guy was claiming, but evidently not that much based on your replies !!!

tunnel

slickric21 wrote: »

what do you all think of this offer, will appreciate your honesty !!!

cheers:)

My opinion, they're trying to rob you

Martyn1981

Slickric21 wrote: »

I was just wondering how much value, if any there was in the unique selling points that this guy was claiming, but evidently not that much based on your replies !!!

Hiya, and welcome.

No value to the points made:

1. Special panels for the UK, nothing new here, this BS has been around for several years, usually spouted by the companies that use boiler room techniques to get a foot in the door for their salesmen. PV panels generate from daylight, they all do, but they earn their money from sunlight. My WNW can generate in the morning with no direct sunlight, just daylight bouncing off the clouds, but 100 or 200W may be welcome, but v's the 2,000W from the ESE it won't pay the rent. And vice versa in the afternoon.

2. SolarEdge is excellent, I've got it on the WNW system which is heavily shaded. I can certainly believe that it could add 25% to a shaded setup. However, for an unshaded system, gains will probably be 10% or less. As the SE kit will add about 10% (£500) to a system cost, then the ROI will be the same, and whilst I suspect the kit is very good and long lasting, I doubt it's worth having 16 (or so) extra pieces of kit on the roof, which could be expensive to access, if one fails.

3. Warranties/guarantees, obviously a warranty gives us value and reassurance. I believe many companies have insurance backed warranties, and if not, I think you can do this yourself (but I may be wrong). Hopefully nothing will go wrong with a PV system for 10 years (tempting luck now) but that may make the warranty of less value ...... but I suppose the same can be said for any warranty, if you don't need it, it has no value, but you'd rather have it.

But I'd be very suspicious of their warranty if they also want to sell you a £90pa warranty/maintenance package/guarantee(?) on top.

Also, I'd be concerned about any company, PLC or not, that uses these tactics to sell their product. Plus, how do you know the PLC will still be around, their share value (assuming they are EPIC code ENTU) has fallen dramatically this Summer - June 140p, July 120p, Aug 105p, Sept 65p. Presumably this is as a result of the suspected, now proposed FiT cuts.

BTW Slickric21, do you happen to know slickric21 ...... do I take it something went wrong?

Mart.