Solar panels mis sold??

woppo26

Morning all....
Last year (11 months ago) we were sold Green energy solar panels by a sales rep. He told me that my electric bill would half and that we would be getting around £600 a year FIT payments.

So, it's nearly a year since the panels have been installed and up to yet I've had around £300 in FIT payments and my electric consumption has gone up if anything. I've called green energy a few times to complain about this. One lady at green energy said my panels were fine and she was going to call me back to get a reading of the meter but never rang back.
Last week I spoke to a different lady and she arranged for an engineer to come and have a look, he cancelled at the last minute and rearranged for the next day but never even bothered to cancel, he just never showed up!

So as it stands I'm paying £104 a month for the next 9 years for these panels that do naff all!

Surly I've been mis sold ? AND I've heard that the sales rep that sold them to me has been sacked for "mis leading customers"

So if anyone can help it would be very much appreciated

ToomanyPies

Could you provide some details of your installation? When was it registered for FIT (ie what rate per kWh are you receiving). What size is the system? (I'm guessing 4KWp) And lastly, but quite important, is your main supply meter a digital one and if so what make (ie manufacturer) is it?

Oh and do you know what your typical annual consumption is?

To me paying out £104 per month for 10 years makes no econnomic sense. Sorry.

System

All the above are valid questions but what really matters is what was in the agreement that you signed?

In my experience, the agreement will give a prediction of the PV Solar output based on panel size, siting and location. This estimate is easily checked. How much of the PV Solar that you use is very much down to you - the end user. Fifty Percent of the energy generated used to be quoted by organisations such as the Energy Savings Trust as the typical saving that could be made on your energy bill (in your case about 1800kWhs or £200 per year). (Note: this doesn't mean that your electricity bill will reduce by 50%)

With a FiT rate of 13.88p and an export rate of 4.85p, I calculate that provided you have no shading etc then you should be receiving about £499 in FiTs and £87 per year in export payments - so the £600 per year you were quoted isn't far off the mark. FWiW, the latter part of last year was very poor for solar in some parts of the UK; if the sun doesn't shine then the panels do not produce much in the way of output. That said, even with £200 per year saving on your electricity bill and FiT/Export payments of £600, £800 per year income/savings will not cover your £1248 per year loan repayments.

Cardew

Hengus wrote: »

With a FiT rate of 13.88p and an export rate of 4.85p, I calculate that provided you have no shading etc then you should be receiving about £499 in FiTs and £87 per year in export payments - so the £600 per year you were quoted isn't far off the mark.

Have I missed something? I can see nothing in the above posts that states the size, orientation, location and output of the OP's system.


Your figures are for an output of 3,600kWh, which may well be the case - but??

matelodave

Is there ever a case for borrowing money to install solar panels? IMO they will take for ever and a day before they start to pay back.

It might work if you use your own money and forego any interest but I just can't see that borrowing money and paying interest on it would make economic sense

System

Cardew wrote: »

Have I missed something? I can see nothing in the above posts that states the size, orientation, location and output of the OP's system.


Your figures are for an output of 3,600kWh, which may well be the case - but??

OK - I have latched on to the assumption above that the system is 4kWp and I agree that I should have said as much in my post. I accept that without all the detail, it is impossible to give anything other than general advice: all I am suggesting is that a total return of £600 per year from the roof alone may not be wide of the mark.

macman

How much are you paying in total for this system over the 10 year period? Based on £104pm for 10 years (plus a deposit?), that's £12,480, which for a 4kWp system is grossly overpriced. Did you not obtain any other quotes from rival suppliers? Even the most basic research would have told you that a typical domestic solar PV install is most unlikely to reduce your grid import by 50%.
What's the interest rate on the loan?
What is the capacity of the system?
Over 10 years you will probably need to replace the inverter, so unless that's covered by some kind of warranty (which I very much doubt), that will cost you at least £1,000 on top.
You may well have been missold, but proving it will be another matter, as it's your word against the (ex) salesman, unless you have something in writing.

Cardew

Often the biggest 'rip off' is the interest rate on the loan - even with major firms like Barclays. However they have simply lent you money and I doubt you have any claim against any finance company, any more than you would have done if you spent the loan on a car.


I don't know if the OP's firm is still in business, as many solar firms have moved on to pastures new. However should you manage to get a judgement against them, which would open the floodgates for other claims, I suspect they would simply declare bankruptcy and you would have no chance of collecting any monies awarded. In the 'solar industry' this has been the Modus operandi for years.

woppo26

That's me F#*ked for the next 9 years then��

matelodave

Unfortunately it really is a case of doing all your own sums rather than just listening to the salesman's headline figures.

You've got to take into account stuff like maintenance (breakdowns etc), interest on loans and the vagaries of the British weather to decide whether its a good deal over the life of the project.

It's even hard to trust that the government will keep their promises on stuff like RHI or FIT over the whole duration. However, assuming that they do, you could eventually break even and possibly make a small profit but it's over the whole 25 year., It's not a short term investment and it won't be whilst you are paying back the loan.

footyguy

Cardew wrote: »

Often the biggest 'rip off' is the interest rate on the loan - even with major firms like Barclays. However they have simply lent you money and I doubt you have any claim against any finance company, any more than you would have done if you spent the loan on a car.


I don't know if the OP's firm is still in business, as many solar firms have moved on to pastures new. However should you manage to get a judgement against them, which would open the floodgates for other claims, I suspect they would simply declare bankruptcy and you would have no chance of collecting any monies awarded. In the 'solar industry' this has been the Modus operandi for years.

Section 75, just as any other item or items bought under a consumer credit agreement (between £100 and £30,000, or possibly S.75a for claims up to £62,260)
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

Most people incorrectly assume it only applies to credit cards, but it actually applies to all credit agreements under the consumer credit act.

HP is not covered by Section 75, but by a similar principle (as described in the above link)

If the loan was entirely independent of the purchase (and so could have actually been spent on anything, or indeed nothing at all) then S75 would not apply as it wouldn't have been a loan governed by the consumer credit act.