A Shade Greener Solar Panels

kayl1jacko

Good morning,

I was wondering if someone could help me please. I'm looking to buy a property with A Shade Greener Panels but have one question in particular to answer and the FAQ on their website isn't great.

After the 25 year lease of your roof space is up the panel's become the home owners. I know currently whatever enegery is generated and not used goes back to the grid and ASG get the profits. When the lease is up how does this work? Would the home owner need to get batteries installed to store the energy or does the owner have to claim the monies back from what goes back to the grid?

Thanks in advance😊

sevenhills

I gather that the panels would be either removed or a new contract could be agreed. Each company will have its own rules.

There is a lot of negativity around ASG, but you should get free electricity, provided nothing fails.

Use the search on here(at the top of the page) for a shade greener, their communication seems poor.

gefnew

You could try posting they quite good with this stuff.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/green-ethical-moneysaving

Petriix

ASG will be receiving payments based on the old Feed In Tariff which is entirely based on the generation of the system and takes no account of what is actually exported to the grid and how much you consume in the house (there is an 'export' element of the payment they receive, but this is 'deemed' as 50% of the total generation and not actually metered). The upshot is that you can do whatever you like with the energy - you could install an AC coupled battery, in the unusual circumstances that your usage pattern would actually financially benefit, and use more of the generated energy. However, you wouldn't be able to sign up for any tariff that benefited from the exports from the panels (such as Octopus Flux).

At the end of the lease, assuming you do gain ownership of the panels, you should be able to then sign up for an export tariff of some kind (depending on what's available then). In order to do this you would likely need various pieces of paperwork relating to the installation which might prove difficult to source. In any case, by 2035 (or whenever the 25 years is up) there are likely to be far better panels available which might make it beneficial to replace the whole system at that point.

matt_drummer

Petriix said:

 The upshot is that you can do whatever you like with the energy - you could install an AC coupled battery, .

I suspect you would need the permission of ASG before doing that, in any case, it would be best to check the lease terms before doing anything.

powerful_Rogue

I'm sure i've read elsewhere that mortgage comapnies don't like these 'rent a roof' schemes and often want the lease purchased before agreeing to lend. Could be wrong but worth checking.

Jonboy_1984

Have seen a few threads on ASG when we where looking at a property inflicted with them last year.

Firstly they normally fitted without pigeon guards and many people suffer noise issues as they roost underneath. ASG offer to fix at a cost of around £1600 (£600 for fix and £1000 for scaffolding). They don’t permit any other contractors to touch them. 

ASG’s lease agrees they will temporarily remove the panels “for free” up to twice in the lease period for roof maintenance, but scaffolding will always be at the homeowners expense.

As mentioned above ASG are receiving FIT payments but it would likely revert to SEG when lease expires. Panels will be towards end of working life then and inverter will almost certainly be so don’t anticipate any residual value or use when considering property value.

Fitting of battery’s would need ASG permission as it is connected around their inverter.

Mortgages are possible if the lease meets the guidelines set out by the Council of Mortgage lenders. The early leases didn’t and need a deed of variation raised, apparently ASG have got better about this but it still adds time to the purchase process.

Finally it appears the ASG that likely installed them went bust and another bought out the assets and renamed similarly so could be on rocky ground if any other issues arise.

pensionpawn

Petriix said:

ASG will be receiving payments based on the old Feed In Tariff which is entirely based on the generation of the system and takes no account of what is actually exported to the grid and how much you consume in the house (there is an 'export' element of the payment they receive, but this is 'deemed' as 50% of the total generation and not actually metered). The upshot is that you can do whatever you like with the energy - you could install an AC coupled battery, in the unusual circumstances that your usage pattern would actually financially benefit, and use more of the generated energy. However, you wouldn't be able to sign up for any tariff that benefited from the exports from the panels (such as Octopus Flux).

At the end of the lease, assuming you do gain ownership of the panels, you should be able to then sign up for an export tariff of some kind (depending on what's available then). In order to do this you would likely need various pieces of paperwork relating to the installation which might prove difficult to source. In any case, by 2035 (or whenever the 25 years is up) there are likely to be far better panels available which might make it beneficial to replace the whole system at that point.

I own my panels however my brother is with ASG, and thinks the sun shines out... However my question is why wouldn't he be able to migrate to Flux, surely it's immaterial what happens to the export (the A/C battery example), it doesn't impact ASGs generation FiT income. Just asking out of interest.

matt_drummer

pensionpawn said:

I own my panels however my brother is with ASG, and thinks the sun shines out... However my question is why wouldn't he be able to migrate to Flux, surely it's immaterial what happens to the export (the A/C battery example), it doesn't impact ASGs generation FiT income. Just asking out of interest.

To go onto any measured export you have to give up the deemed export part of the FIT payments. The panel owners would suffer a loss of income. 

They are almost certainly not going to agree to that.

pensionpawn

matt_drummer said:

pensionpawn said:

I own my panels however my brother is with ASG, and thinks the sun shines out... However my question is why wouldn't he be able to migrate to Flux, surely it's immaterial what happens to the export (the A/C battery example), it doesn't impact ASGs generation FiT income. Just asking out of interest.

To go onto any measured export you have to give up the deemed export part of the FIT payments. The panel owners would suffer a loss of income. 

They are almost certainly not going to agree to that.

Doh, forgot that! Well spotted.

However what would happen, as in my case, where you have a "smart" meter and you are informed by your energy company that you are moving (no choice) to metered exported? Would ASG have any say in that?

QrizB

pensionpawn said:

matt_drummer said:

pensionpawn said:

I own my panels however my brother is with ASG, and thinks the sun shines out... However my question is why wouldn't he be able to migrate to Flux, surely it's immaterial what happens to the export (the A/C battery example), it doesn't impact ASGs generation FiT income. Just asking out of interest.

To go onto any measured export you have to give up the deemed export part of the FIT payments. The panel owners would suffer a loss of income. 

They are almost certainly not going to agree to that.

Doh, forgot that! Well spotted.

However what would happen, as in my case, where you have a "smart" meter and you are informed by your energy company that you are moving (no choice) to metered exported? Would ASG have any say in that?

IIRC the terms of the FIT contract are such that export payments should be based on metered export, where an export meter exists.

ASG would have no choice but to switch to metered export *if* the energy company administering the FIT chose to do so.

This is not necessarily the same energy company that you receive your electricity from. (To illustrate, I'm with Octopus for supply but my FIT is with E.ON Next [previously nPower].)