Solar panel and battery installation by Octopus Energy

MoneySaving_Newbie_2

Octopus is offering £1,000 off a solar installation installed by them; the initial estimation I received is surprisingly low. For £10,000 (0% VAT) they are including:

• 9x JA Solar 435w panels
• A Giv-Energy 5.2kWh Battery (!)
• A Giv-Energy Hybrid Inverter
• Installation on a Single Aspect roof
• Bird-Netting as standard
• All electrical components required to complete the install
• All scaffolding, delivery and labour costs

I have not compared prices yet, but what has been other people's experience been of Octopus's solar installations? Are they good value? Are the type of panels they use unsightly? How much money are you saving, and when do you expect to break-even (do you have a solar battery, an electric car, and/or electric heating)? Is there an app allowing you to schedule when electricity can be imported and exported? For example, can I schedule for the battery to be topped up shortly before the daily off-peak tariff ends, then sell all my unused energy back to the grid towards the end of the park tariff period (i.e. each day, buy and store their cheaper energy then sell it back to them at the higher rate)?

Grateful for all your help.

charles_b_2

They quotes me £11.5k for the same as you just 2 days ago.  Try Heatable. They gave me a more competitive quote 

QrizB

Solar quotes mostly get discussed over on the "green and ethical" subforum:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/green-ethical-moneysaving

A recent thread started with a similar system for £9k:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6493804/critique-my-solar-quote/p1

MuckChucker

Yeah I did a quick quote yesterday. Just shy of £10k before the £1k special offer. Probably 30% than I would have guessed, I'm assuming the battery is the bulk of that. It won't be happening any time soon, not sure we'll be here that long for it to be worth it.

_Sab_

Hiya, I was just wondering if you had any luck in finding people who had had their solar panels installed by Octopus? I'm also looking at them, but like you, struggling to find independent reviews of people who had had it done. Thanks  so much!

Tolstoy67

We have. The installation was done on time and seems to work. Can’t comment on how the tariff works as 5 weeks on they haven’t set it up (or removed the scaffolding!) I only just got the Welcome pack. They say both will be done this week but have been saying that for a month.

wrf12345

Surprised they are still using 400W panels, that is old tech that was used on my "free" installation back in 2010 (old house, alas, not current) and they cost £30-40 ex-factory in China and can be had for around £100 in the UK.

Merlin139

wrf12345 said:

Surprised they are still using 400W panels, that is old tech that was used on my "free" installation back in 2010 (old house, alas, not current) and they cost £30-40 ex-factory in China and can be had for around £100 in the UK.

I very much doubt that you had 400W panels in a free installation back in 2010?

Max size you could get in 2010 was around 230W.

Paul_Naisbitt

Hi 
Thinking of using Octopus to install solar  panels battery etc
Before going ahead has anyone any recent experience of using them , is the system reliable and how good was their service?

EssexHebridean

We tried to go with a solar and battery install with them earlier this year. To be honest, we were a bit disappointed - they kept changing their mind about what we could and couldn't do, went from "we'll come and conduct a survey on your property" (which I was keen that they did as I was a little concerned that our roof - the original from 1952-ish - might realistically be best being replaced before we put panels on it - it is beginning to show a few signs of deterioration) to "actually can you just send us some photos and we'll survey it that way". Initially the battery was fine to go outside, then it wasn't, and then there wasn't space for it at all but we could have two smaller ones in the loft (with no reduction in price for the resulting drop in capacity) and generally were just a bit flaky. In the end we mutually agreed that we were not going ahead with them - and frankly, as much as I still want the set-up, I'm glad we DIDN'T go with them as I think I would have been concerned about how things panned out. 

As an energy supplier, I like Octopus a lot, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend. As a solar/battery installer though, I wouldn't go back to them at this stage, I'm afraid.