Latest Project Solar UK quote advice

mohmaz

Hi everyone,
I've asked for Project Solar UK to give me a quote for solar panels.
I had a gentleman coming in, explained how we would benefit from solar panels and then he carried out a survey. He made me and wife watch a video on how they install the solar panels.
I showed him our bill and he noticed we had a very high consumption of electricity (over 9000 KW/yr) and according to him, being in a 3-bed house, we should be consuming 5000 KW/yr (although some were used due to having a friend staying over for a while).

Here are the following things we were offered:
14 x Evolution Ultra UHD solar panels
14 x Tigo Optimized
Hot water controller
Voltage optimiser
Boiler doctor
K2 mounting kit
inc. access equipment (if required)
Installation Fully installed
Fully registered
10 year workmanship warranty
HIES warranty
Lifetime* performance and build warranty on the module
Anti-theft device
48 hour repair response with dedicated customer care
Total cost of goods £8172.00
Total cost of labour £2043.00
Net total £10215
VAT @ 5% £510.75
Gross total £10725.75

* Lifetime warranty is apparently 99 years.

What do you think about this quote?

Martyn1981

Hi, it's Project Solar, so we know it's going to be a rip off before even getting to the price which as usual is around twice what you should be paying.

If you search for Project Solar on this board you will find lots of quotes, and comments.

But, with such high leccy consumption (UK average is around 3,500kWh's pa) you will benefit more from PV than a low user, so well worth investigating further with more quotes.

pinnks

I agree but wonder about your consumption. That is very high unless you are doing something like running your business from home with loads of things running 24/7.

I thought we were pretty energy-aware until my energy provider ran a fun "save 10% in 2010" idea. This caught my eye and I spent what would now be about £20 on an energy-measuring socket - plug it in, then plug anything with a plug on it into the device and see what the read-out shows. Run it like that for a few days to get spot and average daily figures - you will be surprised!

In 2010, just by making sure the standby-guzzlers were switched off at the wall when not in use, especially those that are only used now and then, we cut consumption by about 15%. For you that could be over £200 per year, essentially for free and without any real impact on day-to-day life in your house.

This got me really interested in the whole idea, leading me to invest in LED lighting, which was quite expensive at that time and replacing old TVs with LED ones when they broke and so on. We have now got annual consumption down to about the 3,200kWh level, of which about half comes from PV. So rather than paying about £1,200 to my energy provider for leccy (excluding standing charge), I am down to about £240.

As Mart says, browse the various threads on here and come back and ask all the questions you want. Sad as we may be, we all enjoy feeding in on those questions, even if we do sometimes go off at tangents and rant at each other, which must make new visitors wonder what they have started. But trust me, it is us, not the new poster in 99% of cases.

Good hunting...

mohmaz

Thanks guys for your guidance. I will look for other quotes but after those forums I saw I also thought of submitting my quote and it seems that I've been quoted very high. I will therefore shop around.

Even I cannot understand how I am consuming so much electricity. I don't know whether it is to do with our 40+ year wiring system that is causing the consumption, a computer I have connected that is not in use but its socket is on. I'm not sure what really is taking up so much electricity.

This is another thing I want to discuss so if this is not the right forum, please let me know which one I should submit my question.

Zarch

I'd start off with one of these and start totting up usage from devices.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EnerGenie-Power-Meter-13-Amp-Electrical-Plug-Test-Energy-Saving-Adapter/192494706901?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

9000kWh/year is 24kWh a day..... that is a lot.

I may also be worth getting one of these just to confirm usage and try to spot high consumption devices.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CURRENT-COST-CC128-ENVI-ENERGY-ELECTRICITY-ELECTRIC-MONITOR/282907977853?epid=1805547442&hash=item41dea1287d%3Ag%3A5zgAAOSwRJ1ZpWiF&_sacat=0&_nkw=current+cost&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xcurrent+cost.TRS0

mohmaz

Zarch, thank you for sharing those products, looks like I have to invest in those.

Should I buy both or one of them?

mohmaz

That first device that Zarch shared was I think identical to the one that the advisor from Project Solar (branded as Better Energy) used and saw that we had a usage of over 2400KW/yr.

gabitzul

Do you have a hot water tank by any chance? Does it have an electric heater? Its power switch might have been set to on without realising, and you are heating water using electric as well as gas?

Zarch

The first device just plugs into each individual 3 prong plug appliance and shows consumption just from that device. So you need to go around the house checking each individual device. Time consuming, but can be enlightening.

The second one has a CT clamp which you connect close to your electricity meter. This will show usage of 'everything' in the house at that moment in time. So you should workout your base usage, ie what is consumed when everything is switched off/in standby. (like when you're out or through the night). You will also see the consumption leap up when you switch things on.

So both are good in their own ways.

As pinnks says, also think about your devices, lighting perhaps. Do you have old skool 60w bulbs always on? Instead of 5w LED? Downlights too, again 40w v 4w perhaps? It all adds up if you have them switched on all the time.

mohmaz

gabitzul, I do have a hot water cylinder but is turned off and only use it if the boiler is faulty.

Zarch, we do have keep one of the lights on which is a 60/100w bulb but that's only for the evening and up to the morning. That's the only light in my house that the bulb blows every 2 months. The other lights we seldom have it changed that regularly. A decade ago, I once put an energy bulb (although admittedly a cheaper one) and it tripped our electricity. Since then I never dared to put another energy bulb back.

pinnks

I have the Energiene plug that Zarch links to. If you get one, then test absolutely everything with a plug on the end, including fridges, microwave and even extension leads.

My old fridge-freezers (3 of them) were guzzling £40, £40 and £70 per year. The latter because it had a fault. As part of my new kitchen project I replaced them all and am now at £9, £12 and £12 per year. Not cheap of course but the old ones were up to 30 years old!

I also found some odd things.
Extension lead in the garage with earth-leakage plug was sucking 2W by just being plugged in. OK, not much but 24/7 for 10 years?.
Coffee maker was about 1W on standby, whereas the kettle is 0W.
Older TVs up to 5W on standby; new LED ones virtually 0W.
Microwave just sitting there 4W.
Some older low-voltage lights up to 5W just sitting there.

Add all this up and you could save maybe 30W x 24 x 365, so maybe 250kWh of your 9,000, just by switching things off at the wall.

If you also invest in the second device you should be able to see you average base load, i.e. what you are using when the house is at rest with things turned off. Fridges, clocks, phones and the like will still consume, hence your base load. Mine is now down at about 150W. If you have much more than 200W constant load then something is awry and you will want to do some serious searching.