County Group Buy Solar Schemes

Knub

Hi,
I've been investigating the possibility of installing a solar pv system on to my house for quite a while. I've contacted several local companies who, of course, are very busy at the moment but have provided quotes.

I live in Hampshire and I've entered into a local authority lead 'group buy scheme' where tender has been won by a supplier and passed on to interested participants. The quote at a very high level seems more appealing (cost wise at least) that going to an independent company.  I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with these schemes and how it went from install to quality of products used.

I can't seem to find much on the internet about it anywhere which seems odd as given the surges in demand others would have had experiences to share.

Thanks!

uk1

Knub said:

Hi,
I've been investigating the possibility of installing a solar pv system on to my house for quite a while. I've contacted several local companies who, of course, are very busy at the moment but have provided quotes.

I live in Hampshire and I've entered into a local authority lead 'group buy scheme' where tender has been won by a supplier and passed on to interested participants. The quote at a very high level seems more appealing (cost wise at least) that going to an independent company.  I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with these schemes and how it went from install to quality of products used.

I can't seem to find much on the internet about it anywhere which seems odd as given the surges in demand others would have had experiences to share.

Thanks!

I have joined the same scheme but not proceeded and haven’t paid the deposit.  In my quote although there was a general description the specific products were not specified. I find that lack of detail concerning.  I also thought the quote expensive.  I was also concerned that 1,936 have applied.  When I google earthed the office of the winning company, although they are big the office seemed to be a room in a serviced office block.  This was my summary. It may or may not help but is simply my impressions.

Good luck and do update the forum as it will be of use and interest to others.

uk1 said:

For what it’s worth, I decided I was certainly going to buy a system - I had “set my heart on it” - and it was only a matter of learning enough to decide what setup I wanted and needed, the best quality components and who would do it.  In order to reduce issues and stress I was prepared and willing to pay more if I encountered a company that I felt would provide a better stress free experience with premium components.  I learned about solar, from Youtube and reading but then the extraordinary and friendly and helpful resource in this forum who have patiently helped me.  This forum is unique in it’s friendliness.  I’d reconciled myself to not worrying too much about quoted payback and breakeven points but was going to invest (punt?) on an overly rich system to avoid coming back to it later ie as much as I could “future proofing”.  I’m fairly old so wanted it all done and dusted. 

I can’t get a smart meter.  But none of them answered questions about how this might compromise me with honesty. Answers to other “integrity testing” questions” produced more deceptions. 

At the end of all this with a load of initial mostly disinterested contacts and a handful of on site quotes, the key issue I have encountered is a sparseness of integrity and honesty with deceptive and misleading answers to straight forward questions I asked as well as quite ridiculous quotes.  I also used the local authority initiative (Solar Together) but they want £150 for an extremely vague and high initial quote with unspecified products. I looked today, and nearly 2000 households out of nearly 20,000 participants have accepted the quote and have been accepted - (2000 x £150 ie £300,000 collected to qualify for the next stage …. ) so that sounds warning bells to me as to how many will actually get their system and none of the people will be handing over the (in practice) non-refundable £150 without even knowing what components will actually be used. And the successful company - Home Smart Energy - will need to hugely scale up so who will actually install it all? It is a bit like handing over a non-refundable cash  deposit on a car  without knowing what make the car will be.  My quotes have all been for a 14 panel array with less than 6k and a small battery and all been around 14k’ish.  One company has updated the quote 12 times . Solar Together is £14k. 

All of this has sapped the energy out of me and I can’t face it any more.  I’m on a really good fix until mid-2023 and when my energy returns I’ll try again.  But my view is that certainly “down south” it seems like shark infested  waters and there is a big opening for a bit of old fashioned honest services at honest prices.  I’m paying 18.5p for my leccy and my heating is largely oil  and kiln dried logs.  I’d stay warmer if I used the £20 notes as fuel rather than proceed with any of my quotes.  Just poetic licence you understand. 

Knub

Hi UK1,

I'm happy to share where I am at in my journey so far.

The product specification page provided from the tender does provide limited information on the components, I agree with you.

From the best find, it boils down to these:

Panels: https://www.suntech-power.com/wp-content/uploads/download/product-specification/EN_Ultra_V_mini_STP410S_C54_Umhb.pdf

Growatt Battery System: https://www.pvo-int.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Datasheet-Growatt-ARK-LV-2.5L-25.6L-Battery-System-EU%EF%BC%88V1.0.pdf

Growatt 3.0kw Hybrid Inverter:  https://www.alternergy.co.uk/growatt-3-0kw-hybrid-inverter

I decided to go with the survey as the website quote appeared reasonable in price. In the end has quoted me for 11 panels, a 4.6k battery and an iBoost device. The pricing is modular for the main components. There are items that aren't mentioned on the website which are available. You can have bird protection for the panels, for example. I have also been told due to the complexity of my roof there will be additional £500 scaffold charges.

This total price comes in at £13,000 (4kw system).

My understanding is the winning company of the tender has also won other counties installation bids, with perhaps slightly differing hardware due to times moving on, new models, etc.

I've also been quoted privately with no site survey and the cost is around ~£2k more but does include GivEnergy Battery and slightly better looking panels. Also a 4kw system (with some scaling tweaks to make it as like for like as I can).

My usual internet trawl wasn't full of red flags but it didn't seem that there was an abundance of information to trawl through....which is a bit odd?

Trustpilot for the company looks decent enough. Google reviews...3.5/5 with not many actually reviewed overall. Some classic foolish reviews in there though, but a few positive ones from recent installs from other schemes.

Like you, my gut still isn't feeling 100% on it all. I'm fairly sure prices at the moment are bad and worsening with demand. Spending a lot of money without feeling right isn't something I'm comfortable with.

For now I'm mulling it over and looking into other potential installers.

uk1

I really hope it goes well for you. I'm still learning but your quote sounds high to me but others who know more will chip in.

Trustpilot is a double edged thing where you get the self-selection potential defect of seeing an unbalanced negative set of comments but the other side is that one should always have a degree of scepticism when you move from many bad comments to many good ones.  I'm not certain you can really trust Trustpilot!  At least with JustEat you know that someone has actually ordered a meal.

Good luck.

ABrass

Knub said:

Hi UK1,

I'm happy to share where I am at in my journey so far.

The product specification page provided from the tender does provide limited information on the components, I agree with you.

From the best find, it boils down to these:

Panels: https://www.suntech-power.com/wp-content/uploads/download/product-specification/EN_Ultra_V_mini_STP410S_C54_Umhb.pdf

Growatt Battery System: https://www.pvo-int.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Datasheet-Growatt-ARK-LV-2.5L-25.6L-Battery-System-EU%EF%BC%88V1.0.pdf

Growatt 3.0kw Hybrid Inverter:  https://www.alternergy.co.uk/growatt-3-0kw-hybrid-inverter

I decided to go with the survey as the website quote appeared reasonable in price. In the end has quoted me for 11 panels, a 4.6k battery and an iBoost device. The pricing is modular for the main components. There are items that aren't mentioned on the website which are available. You can have bird protection for the panels, for example. I have also been told due to the complexity of my roof there will be additional £500 scaffold charges.

This total price comes in at £13,000 (4kw system).

My understanding is the winning company of the tender has also won other counties installation bids, with perhaps slightly differing hardware due to times moving on, new models, etc.

I've also been quoted privately with no site survey and the cost is around ~£2k more but does include GivEnergy Battery and slightly better looking panels. Also a 4kw system (with some scaling tweaks to make it as like for like as I can).

My usual internet trawl wasn't full of red flags but it didn't seem that there was an abundance of information to trawl through....which is a bit odd?

Trustpilot for the company looks decent enough. Google reviews...3.5/5 with not many actually reviewed overall. Some classic foolish reviews in there though, but a few positive ones from recent installs from other schemes.

Like you, my gut still isn't feeling 100% on it all. I'm fairly sure prices at the moment are bad and worsening with demand. Spending a lot of money without feeling right isn't something I'm comfortable with.

For now I'm mulling it over and looking into other potential installers.

That's very expensive.

If you're in the South East try LR Renewables for a competitive quote. They aren't perfect but they are much better value than that.

Knub

Thanks ABrass, really appreciate your input. I've reached out to several forum members who've already smashed it with useful information and company recommendations which are already providing fruitful.

You are right, both of those quotes are high and it's not as thought the quality of product reflects it either!

I'm starting to draw my own conclusions to my own question now....

uk1

You really should follow your instinct and common sense and intuition. If you now conclude that the quotes from Solar Together, are high, and you need to spend £150 to simply get a detailed quote alongside the other 2000 households in Hampshire potentially spending £150 each for simply getting a detailed quote then this should trigger some sensible alarm bells and concerns. FWIW, if it was a good deal then everything should shout out at you that it is a good deal.  

Good luck … I’d appreciate a message if you find a good company.