Governmant Solar Scheme

moneysaving_butler

Hi all,

I saw an advert which appeared to be endorsed my Martin about the government solar panel scheme where you can get Solar panels installed at no cost. So I applied.

We had a nice chap in our house yesterday to explain the whole situation. All seemed good. The house was in a good area, the figures all seemed to be in our favour and that it would make money from the go.

We were accepted for the loan to pay for the panels and installment at a rate of £150 a month.

Now, we were told that we will be paid our feed in tariff quarterly and that essentially the system would make us better off by £700 a year.

But I am slightly worried now that I missed something and that we will have £150 coming out of our account, and not enough going back in to cover this on a monthly basis.

I'm still in a position to cancel, but I wondered if anyone ha already taken up this scheme and can shed some light on this. It was all advertised and sold to us that the panels pay for themselves over 8 years, but now I'm not so sure......any knowledgeable people know about this?

The company is Use The Sun.

It all seemed too good to be true so probably is. Essentially I feel we've been sold something with a very poor explanation on the cost to us. So know I am confused......any one else been through this that can shed some light.

Thank you.

lstar337

My initial thoughts are, beware of loans being repaid by FIT because it has recently been reduced.

But there are experts here who will give you the full run-down.

zeupater

moneysaving_butler wrote: »

Hi all,

I saw an advert which appeared to be endorsed my Martin about the government solar panel scheme where you can get Solar panels installed at no cost. So I applied.

We had a nice chap in our house yesterday to explain the whole situation. All seemed good. The house was in a good area, the figures all seemed to be in our favour and that it would make money from the go.

We were accepted for the loan to pay for the panels and installment at a rate of £150 a month.

Now, we were told that we will be paid our feed in tariff quarterly and that essentially the system would make us better off by £700 a year.

But I am slightly worried now that I missed something and that we will have £150 coming out of our account, and not enough going back in to cover this on a monthly basis.

I'm still in a position to cancel, but I wondered if anyone ha already taken up this scheme and can shed some light on this. It was all advertised and sold to us that the panels pay for themselves over 8 years, but now I'm not so sure......any knowledgeable people know about this?

The company is Use The Sun.

It all seemed too good to be true so probably is. Essentially I feel we've been sold something with a very poor explanation on the cost to us. So know I am confused......any one else been through this that can shed some light.

Thank you.

Hi

In order for someone to provide an accurate assessment we'd need more detail on the 'loan' - specifically period, the size and description of the system on offer, the angle and orientation of the roof ... and a rough idea of where you are .... if there's a breakdown of the £700 annual savings then detailing that too would be most useful ! ...

... however, from what you've mentioned so far the initial impression would be to cancel immediately if there is no penalty and then some take time to discuss & reassess what options are available ....

HTH
Z

moneysaving_butler

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

In order for someone to provide an accurate assessment we'd need more detail on the 'loan' - specifically period, the size of the system on offer, the angle and orientation of the roof ... and a rough idea of where you are ....

... however, from what you've mentioned so far the initial impression would be to cancel immediately if there is no penalty and then some take time to discuss & reassess what options are available ....

HTH
Z

Loan £10,500 repaid over 8 years. 4KW system. Roof Angle 38 degrees east and west facing. Located is Basingstoke. RG postcode region 3 according to the chap that came over.

If you need anything else let me know.

ispookie666

10.5 k for a 4 kw system is a lot. Expect to pay half of that.
Have a thought about 0%cards if you are thinking of loans.

Martyn1981

moneysaving_butler wrote: »

Loan £10,500 repaid over 8 years. 4KW system. Roof Angle 38 degrees east and west facing. Located is Basingstoke. RG postcode region 3 according to the chap that came over.

If you need anything else let me know.

That doesn't sound right, and doesn't sound like it'll work.

Run away ... fast.

Proper answer to follow as I'm pondering, but can you confirm, do you mean a split system facing East and West with a roof pitch of 38d?

Mart.

Martyn1981

Some quick thoughts, using PVGIS (see section 5 of the FAQs for a walkthrough), and assuming an E/W split system at 38d pitch, I get 3,070kWh for Basingstoke. That suggests an income of:-

FiT 3,070kWh @ 4.39p/kWh = £135

Export 50% deemed of 3,070 @ 4.85p/kWh = £75

Leccy savings guess in the region of £80-£160 = £120

Total £330.

So really you need to spend about £4k to £4.5k max for a decent return.

Mart.

zeupater

moneysaving_butler wrote: »

Loan £10,500 repaid over 8 years. 4KW system. Roof Angle 38 degrees east and west facing. Located is Basingstoke. RG postcode region 3 according to the chap that came over.

If you need anything else let me know.

Hi

A 4kWp system should currently cost around half of that and at £150/month over 8 years your total repayment will be £14400, so around 3x the currentcost of a system ....

PVGIS (http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php#) suggests that a 4kWp E/W system on a 38Deg roof in/near Basingstoke should generate ~3060kWh/year, so applying the current tariff (https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/02/feed-in_tariff_generation_and_export_tables_08.02.2016_-_31.03.2016.pdf) and assuming deemed export the annual FiT will be in the region of £210 ((4.39p+(4.85p/2))*3060) .. allow for annual savings on self consumed electricity at (say) £120 then you're looking at around £330/year saving, that's around £2600 over the period of the 8year/£14400 loan repayment period, or (on a current cost basis) £6600 over the term of the FiT contract ....

If you follow the arithmatic so far and agree ..... look at your cancellation options and run if you can ....

HTH
Z

tunnel

Are they for real?
£150 x 12 months = £1800
£1800 x 8 years = £14400
And yet my local installer is offering 4kWp systems for £4k
You'd be better getting a 0% card for new purchases like these
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/best-0-credit-cards#postoffice (you can check if your eligible)
It'll only take just under 27 months at £150 to clear the cost of the panels and that doesn't take in to consideration the FiT and leccy savings


As others say, CANCEL....NOW....AND TELL THEM TO DO ONE!!

eyeofthetiger999

You need to cancel and do this quickly!

moneysaving_butler

Hi everybody.

Thank you for your responses. I'm glad I posted as this is exactly what I thought. When the lovely seller was in my house explaining it all and answering a multitude of questions I had, he sold it to me suggesting that they would generate more than enough per month to pay for themselves. This clearly is not the case.

All of the advertising I read before applying was that these are self funded solar panels, they don't a penny. They generate an additional income that is tax free. It seems that these aren't strictly true.......you have to get a loan out to pay for them Now you're also telling me that they are charging over twice the normal rate for a 4kw system.

I asked questions like, "does the system generate enough per month to cover the cost of the loan", the answer I got was a yes. I'm gobsmacked at the audacity.

I'm surprised that this government scheme is endorsed by Martin Lewis........is this also not true and they are pulling a fast one. I have a bad whiff from this scheme now.

I feel a massive regret, I'll definitely be cancelling...........

I hope this is a warning to others that's t no way as simple as it's being advertised. I only saw the advert a few days ago so there may be more people on here popping up with the same questions......

I wonder what Martins take on this is....

Edit. I just found this from 2010. I'd like to see a revised write up with today's offerings 6 years on. https://www.solarguide.co.uk/martin-lewis-promotes-solar-pv-but-warns-off-free-debt-based-panel-offers