Selling your Solar Panels - Lightsource

tunnel

SE2, you really should stop making reference to your site as that could be seen as advertising which is not allowed on MSE and could result in your removal.


As for the scheme, surely anyone taking up these kind of deals would have been better approaching a RaR scheme in the first place and keeping their own money for a rainy day if they were unsure about their investment, they are also most probably the ones that were pressure sold an expensive system in the first place and are duly getting shafted again.

zeupater

Hi

Considering that what is being 'sold' is effectively a financial product and that the 'customer' would invariably look into this option to release capital to address current or future debt, then surely the vendor needs to be authorised and regulated by the FCA.

A secondary consideration revolves around the potential effect on the value of the property to which array would be legally tied by contract and the position which any mortgage holder would take if informed. Of course, the contract on offer could conform to both CML & BSA guidance, but then again, if not it could almost certainly lead to serious downstream problems.

Of course, there's also a tertiary consideration which revolves around the administration of transferring what would be a single installation FiT contract to an aggregated multi-holding by a single entity. Hopefully, the entity would be correctly re-registering the beneficial holdings in a fully aggregated way, ensuring that the required levels of taxation (VAT 20%, income & corporation) are correctly accounted for in accordance with existing legislation & HMRC rules ....

To me, this sounds like an offer where the potential for future grief is astounding and red lights of warning should be flashing in everyone's mind .... as such, looking at the product from a consumer's viewpoint, I believe that the concept is seriously flawed and above that, the current level of demand is probably being oversold in order to create a sense that a market already exists in order to attract early sales ... I've long argued that rent-a-roof is risky and that I wouldn't touch it with a barge-pole, however, considering that anyone looking into this offering would have already gone through the initial 'pain' of financing their system, the barge pole would need to be at least twice the length ....

Anyone actively considering this really needs to proceed with caution!

HTH
Z

Cardew

zeupater wrote: »

Before selling a new product a salesman must first sell a concept, followed closely by a sense of demand .....

HTH
Z

Perhaps Lightsource should attempt to buy a few thousand installations from large Rent a Roof firms like A Shade Greener;)

Martyn1981

I'm still not convinced by the argument that the customer has already had a return on their investment. You won't be paying them for that, or anything that relates to that, so it is completely irrelevant.

Past income and expenditure won't form any part of the deal. You are paying a lump sum against future annual returns, and that is all that has any relevance to the deal.


Not great for you, but I can see a good use for your service, and that's to get a written quote when considering the sale of the house.

The house seller can then advise potential buyers that the PV will bring in an annual income of x£'s pa or X£ in a lump sum, should they be so minded or worried about future maintenance.

The house seller then has a 'there and then' value for the PV to help sell the house.

Just a thought.

Mart.

tunnel

I'm more concerned that your "customers" are being given the correct information regarding their roof space. RaR's may not be everyones cup of tea but at least the implications of what people were letting themselves into should have been spelt out beforehand and not in the small print after a nice big juicy carrot has been dangled before them!!

zeupater

Hi

Considering the above, would the senior management team agree that 'best practice' would include a warning that the offer could seriously impact on the value of the property to which the pv system is attached. Moreover, considering that encouraging individuals which could already be debt stricken to enter into a contract which in itself has further financial consequences, has anyone approached the FCA (& other authoritative bodies) to solicit their views and attained any necessary approval ? ... also, can you confirm that any contractual conditions conform to guidance given by both the Building Society Association (BCA) & the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), that both bodies have approved the contracts and that attaining approval is a primary condition of being accepted as one of your own clients ....

If the answer to all of the above is 'yes', then that's a start - but still don't expect an 'easy' ride from many members on these boards.... if there's a single 'no' at all, then expect the ride to become much rougher than most would expect when attempting to promote products on any normal open forum, after-all, this is a money-saving site for consumers, not a money-spinning site for businesses ...

HTH
Z

roger-hatchy

Had some post through the door a couple of weeks ago.

The panels were fitted in June 2014, 12 panels.
FIT reading last night was 6192. not sure how much that equates to.

Filled out the offer / quote form last night and was offered £1,300, not even worth the effort thank you.

Think I'll give it a miss, as to the five figure sum indicated earlier the owner must be running a solar farm for that offer.

Roger

Martyn1981

roger-hatchy wrote: »

The panels were fitted in June 2014, 12 panels.
FIT reading last night was 6192. not sure how much that equates to.

Filled out the offer / quote form last night and was offered £1,300, not even worth the effort thank you.

Hi. I'm only making assumptions here based on the info given, but here goes:

3,000kWh pa @ 17.5p/kWh (FiT+Exp) = £525pa

Over 18 years = £9,450.

So the £1,300 is 1/7th, not even the low 1/3rd that other offers seem to be at. Pretty disgusting offer.

Mart.

Andyw666

A card dropped through the letter box got me curious......a few details submitted online, a phone call received from Lighsourse later and a few more details discussed following which I have an offer of £18000:
Install date 11/2011 - FiT payments alone have fully covered install cost already.
Average annual FiT payments have been £1900
15 years of 20 remaining: 15 x 1900 = 28500

So, £18000 lump sum now

vs

equiv of £475 every 3 months for the next 15 years (not accounting for inflation/index linking or whatever the increases in payment rates are).

Have to say the lump sum now, retaining free use of all generated power and no future repair/replacement costs is quite attractive (the likelihood of not unsubstantial costs for repair and/or replacements to keep the system running seems high to me? [ how long before the inverter needs repairs or fails and/or random panel failures?.....and I believe the panels will become less and less efficient with age anyway?]).
On the other hand........what's the likely impact when it comes to selling the house? - I can't find any reliable (and current!) advice online one way or the other.
Hmmmmmm.

Martyn1981

Your post reads suspiciously like a sales pitch to me.

Does the £18,000 look as good if you compare it to 20 x £1,900?

Have you considered an £18k personal loan, repaid over say 12yrs from the £1,900 income, leaving you with 8yrs of income, as well as the £18k today?