A Shade Greener Solar Panel Maintenance

partypopper

Hi, I used to pay Nationwide solar - NWS , now ASG , £10 a month or £120 a year and they were supposed to pass my quarterly meter readings to my chosen big 6 energy company to release my feed in tariff payments to me. However, I have had to make 2 phone calls every three months, one to NWS and one to the energy company because they didnt. I had to telephone NWS to obtain the reading because they put my generation meter in the loft. I presume they put it in the loft so that I would pay the triple M insurance because they knew I wouldnt want to go into the loft on a regular basis.
I stopped paying the insurance after they replaced my broken inverter over a year ago now, thinking that the triple M isnt really triple M anymore. Do they still offer anyone insurance?

Are others annoyed that they put the meter in the loft?

Are others annoyed that the triple M changed for the worst?

I will now save £120 a year towards a new inverter as I have been told that inverters last only 5 years , but I wonder if the inverter comes with a manufacturers warrenty or if the government funded scheme ( government pay the FITS dont they) gives all consumers any sort of warrenty or protection of our panels and inverters.?

zeupater

partypopper wrote: »

Hi, I used to pay Nationwide solar - NWS , now ASG , £10 a month or £120 a year and they were supposed to pass my quarterly meter readings to my chosen big 6 energy company to release my feed in tariff payments to me. However, I have had to make 2 phone calls every three months, one to NWS and one to the energy company because they didnt. I had to telephone NWS to obtain the reading because they put my generation meter in the loft. I presume they put it in the loft so that I would pay the triple M insurance because they knew I wouldnt want to go into the loft on a regular basis.
I stopped paying the insurance after they replaced my broken inverter over a year ago now, thinking that the triple M isnt really triple M anymore. Do they still offer anyone insurance?

Are others annoyed that they put the meter in the loft?

Are others annoyed that the triple M changed for the worst?

I will now save £120 a year towards a new inverter as I have been told that inverters last only 5 years , but I wonder if the inverter comes with a manufacturers warrenty or if the government funded scheme ( government pay the FITS dont they) gives all consumers any sort of warrenty or protection of our panels and inverters.?

Hi

I really don't follow ... you own solar panels and until recently were paying £120/year to a 'rent-a-roof' company to effectively save you going into the loft 4x a year? ... why?


Anyway, addressing other points ...

- The warranty on the inverter will depend on the manufacturer, some offer 5years as standard with the ability to purchase extensions at comparatively reasonable sums ... for peace-of-mind you really should check what applies to your installation ...

- Inverters should normally have MTBFs of >10 years (average 10+ years) which has been the standard assumption on this forum since we started discussing PV (~2010/11) - assuming 5years is probably either a ploy to sell insurance or a recognition that substandard (/cheap) equipment has been supplied ... there will always be early failures & some inverters will likely last decades, that's what a manufacturer's MTBF takes into account, but it's usually the early (/first couple of months) failures within the guaranty period that pull the average down anyway ...

- Although it's a Government scheme, they don't pay FiTs - there's a levy on all consumer bills that funds a central pot from which the suppliers pay FiTs ... there are scheme rules on what MCS installers can do, say & offer as well as requirements on the energy suppliers regarding payment etc ... Government is only responsible for future policy & tariffs related to the scheme

- If you originally contracted an installer to install, then issues such as TGM meter positions should have been discussed with the installer at the time ... if the positioning is inconvenient & there's a better location available (next to the fuse box ?), then you could always arrange for it to be moved by a competent electrician (probably a £few-hundred) ..

HTH
Z