Ripple Energy wind farm?

Coastalwatch

Screwdriva said:

thevilla said:

Look.  I didn't tell you this but...

Put a sensible estimate into Ripple. They won't and can't check it. Just make it within the realms of believability. They have no reason to knock it back, this is just an exercise to keep the scheme away from legislation required for "investment".  Then just hope for a return without expecting one. Don't put in what you can't afford.

(My opinion: not advice)

Isn't there a ceiling on your return paid back into your utility bill account? For example, if I consume 1500 kWh but "buy" 2500 kWh of ripple, isn't there a limit on the benefit I earn?

From my understanding there is no limit, provided that over a twelve month period the kWh's generated from your share don't amount to more than 120% of your annual consumption. Returns each month will vary upon how strong the wind has blown during that period. Some months will earn more than others just as in some months you consume more than others. If for instance you take a months holiday so consumption is negligible it will not affect the payment due into your account.

An unusual case admittedly but hopefully demonstrates how it works.

NedS

Coastalwatch said:

Screwdriva said:

thevilla said:

Look.  I didn't tell you this but...

Put a sensible estimate into Ripple. They won't and can't check it. Just make it within the realms of believability. They have no reason to knock it back, this is just an exercise to keep the scheme away from legislation required for "investment".  Then just hope for a return without expecting one. Don't put in what you can't afford.

(My opinion: not advice)

Isn't there a ceiling on your return paid back into your utility bill account? For example, if I consume 1500 kWh but "buy" 2500 kWh of ripple, isn't there a limit on the benefit I earn?

From my understanding there is no limit, provided that over a twelve month period the kWh's generated from your share don't amount to more than 120% of your annual consumption. Returns each month will vary upon how strong the wind has blown during that period. Some months will earn more than others just as in some months you consume more than others. If for instance you take a months holiday so consumption is negligible it will not affect the payment due into your account.

An unusual case admittedly but hopefully demonstrates how it works.

and even at 120% of consumption, the amount of cash returned is still only likely to be a fraction of your bill.

Throwing yet more spanners into the conversation - I am currently considering thinking of purchasing 120% of my consumption. I know my consumption this year is going to be less than last year (the last full year I have consumption figures for) as we have made a concerted effort to cut back. Further more, I view it as a 25 year investment (aged ~55-80 for us). We currently live in a large house with high electricity usage (peak was 7000KWh a couple years back), but expect to downsize to a considerably smaller and cheaper property in retirement and may hopefully be using under half that in 10 years time (or even less if we purchase a property with solar). How would that work if we can only have 120% of consumption, and I've purchased 7000KWh now and we are using 3000KWh or less in 10 years time? I cannot possibly predict what my usage is likely to be 10-20 years from now. I think @thevilla is spot on with their assessment above.

Screwdriva

NedS said:
 I cannot possibly predict what my usage is likely to be 10-20 years from now. I think @thevilla is spot on with their assessment above.

Fair point. I expect we will one day purchase an EV and heat pump. Should I add another 20000 kWh to our 1500 kWh of consumption today or later? Or should I just pay for 1800 kWh (120% of our current consumption) ? Or should I just fabricate a number like 2500 kWh and hope we still meet the 120% of consumption criteria?

JKenH

Is the limit 120% of consumption or 120% of import?

Edit: Also, while I recognise Ripple offers a good, (indeed,very good at the moment) return on investment I still am concerned about the tax position. I have seen it said many times that the amount paid over and above the return of capital will effectively be tax free as it falls within the tax free interest allowance for most people. Do people know that for a fact or are they assuming that, because bank and building society interest is treated that way, income from Ripple will be? I am no tax expert but in the past I have had to pay tax on interest received on a loan I made to my son and his business partner so I would be worried that part of the Ripple investment might attract tax.

The actual tax that would be payable is neither here nor there for me; it  is the inconvenience of having to complete a tax return every year that I am seeking to avoid. When you fill in a tax return, it isn’t just declaring what you receive from Ripple, you have to detail all your income including state pension and already taxed income, and tracking down all the paperwork, working out the amounts and filling in the forms used to take me half a day.

Now the returns have gone up it might be worthwhile but if I was only getting a return of £100-200 after capital payback it wouldn’t be worth the time and effort as the rest of my financial affairs are now so arranged that HMRC kindly informed me a couple of years back that I no longer have to fill in a tax return. 

paul991

import. There are forums on the ripple site and the official answers are there .Iasked the question on the site and they said if you expect to get ev heat pump soon account for that. Unless you allow them to share data how will they know?

Exiled_Tyke

JKenH said:

Is the limit 120% of consumption or 120% of import?

Edit: Also, while I recognise Ripple offers a good, (indeed,very good at the moment) return on investment I still am concerned about the tax position. I have seen it said many times that the amount paid over and above the return of capital will effectively be tax free as it falls within the tax free interest allowance for most people. Do people know that for a fact or are they assuming that, because bank and building society interest is treated that way, income from Ripple will be? I am no tax expert but in the past I have had to pay tax on interest received on a loan I made to my son and his business partner so I would be worried that part of the Ripple investment might attract tax.

The actual tax that would be payable is neither here nor there for me; it  is the inconvenience of having to complete a tax return every year that I am seeking to avoid. When you fill in a tax return, it isn’t just declaring what you receive from Ripple, you have to detail all your income including state pension and already taxed income, and tracking down all the paperwork, working out the amounts and filling in the forms used to take me half a day.

Now the returns have gone up it might be worthwhile but if I was only getting a return of £100-200 after capital payback it wouldn’t be worth the time and effort as the rest of my financial affairs are now so arranged that HMRC kindly informed me a couple of years back that I no longer have to fill in a tax return. 

The information in the prospectus for Kirk Farm is quite clear.   HMRC will treats these returns as savings income.  This is the rules of the scheme as agreed with HMRC.  The 120% limit is a requirement of these terms.

So a basic rate tax payer is allowed £1,000 of tax free income and a higher rate tax payer is allowed £500.   Each year a shareholder receives back 5% of their investment and the shares for this are withdrawn. So that element is tax free. As you mention it's only the amount in excess of this that tax is paid on.  So it is quite likely that many investors will have enough personal savings allowance to avoid tax on their Ripple invesment.  And those that do pay, won't be paying much and given their financial situation with other savings income should be well able to afford it!

Oscarmax

Oscarmax said:

Oscarmax said:

Bear with me I have a severe brain injury.

We are with Octopus energy, we drive a PHEV, In March 2022 we had a 4.4 kWh solar array fitted and in October a Solax 5.8 battery, our energy has dropped use has dropped from to 3900 kWh quite significantly, financial is does not make any sense to increase my battery bank, however, we are 66 years old Ripple in theory sound like the next step, my brain is really confused.

Ok I have now made a decision and paid my £25.00 deposit, previously my yearly electric energy consumption 3900 kWh, 1300 kWh used to charge up our PHEV off peak, leaving approximately 2600 kWh for our everyday consumption, however in earlier in March this year we had fitted 4.4 kW solar array ( to date we have recorded nearly 4150 kWh) our energy consumption has dropped dramatically, in October this year installed a Solax 5.8 kWh battery again this has had a change on our energy use the majority this time off year now off peak.

So we have no real idea of our estimated year electric energy use?

Looking through the the data I have collected over the last 12 months, I am realistically looking at around 2000 to 2200 kWh.

ProDave

Can someone who has bought shares in one of the existing wind farm projects, please tell us exactly how long it was between paying your share (I don't mean the £25 deposit I mean the full amount) and you starting to receive payments when the scheme went on line.

I know it will be different for each project but it would give people looking at this some idea what to expect.  Information on this aspect is at beast vague from Ripple.

Exiled_Tyke

ProDave said:

Can someone who has bought shares in one of the existing wind farm projects, please tell us exactly how long it was between paying your share (I don't mean the £25 deposit I mean the full amount) and you starting to receive payments when the scheme went on line.

I know it will be different for each project but it would give people looking at this some idea what to expect.  Information on this aspect is at beast vague from Ripple.

Bear in mind that for Kirk Hill they allowed payment in  12 installments, which I guess they will do again.  I started paying in Feb so this month will be my last one.   The share offer closed in May so I'm guessing the last investors came on board late April.  The turbines are expected to be working in Nov so will start generating income then. However I would expect it to take a month of two for monies to start coming through. 

Others may have more useful information from Craig Fatha.

ProDave

Thanks. So about 2 years from signing up to starting to receive income.  That 2 years needs to be added to any calculated "payback period"