Solar Panel Grants -Wales

Helpmemybillsaresohigh

On a previous post I had mentioned how my energy bills are through the roof, mainly as we live in an electric only property with no current 2nd form of energy. We are heavily in fuel poverty and been spending £400+ a month of electricity. 
Mains gas would cost £10,000 plus to connect from the main road into the housing estate we live, and current quotes for oil central heating are coming in around £10,000 for a 2 bedroom bungalow, wanting around 8 rads and an external combi boiler.
We have exhausted all options on the current eco 4 grant scheme, due to a combination of factors, our property is a timber and brick build with ply and brick walls and designed to have a cavity, we've been advised by a few builders and grant assessors that filling the cavity would be against better there better judgement. Secondly the heat pump, my partner and daughter both have Raynaud's disease- a circulation problem affected by cold conditions, plus daughter is autistic with sensory issues. We have also looked into this and spoken to others who have had them installed and not really heard any positivity from them, most needed a secondary heat source i.e.log burner to get a decent heat output, plus an increase in monthly bills due to electricity being so expensive (something we are fully aware of), also the noise output from the pump, due to the configuration of the bungalow our only option is to fit to the rear of the property, placed to the side of my daughters bedroom window. This isn't ideal as her sensory issues would be overloaded by the constant noise coming from this.

To lower our current bills however, the most ideological thing would be gaining a grant for solar panels and a battery, helping us offset our footprint an ultimately lower our monthly bills. At current we don't have the funds to purchase ourselves as all our spare money has gone due to the ongoing electricity bill.

Does anyone know of any grants that either councils could support with or energy companies have open so I can explore them further? British gas did assess our property and put in for solar + ventilation but that was rejected by decision makers as it didn't tick enough boxes on the eco4 scheme, they did try to explain our situation and agreed with the above reasons for not pursuing the pump or wall insulation.

I feel like I've banged my head against the wall each day trying to find a way to lower our outgoings, surely there must be something, my energy company was running a scheme were they fitted 20,000 properties with panels and batteries but this has all been handed out. Will the new financial year possibly bring new schemes? 

I'm sure around Christmas time parliament discussed making it easier for houses to access some parts of the current eco grants without having to take all parts, partly due to the skepticism towards the heat pumps, but as yet haven't chanced upon anything.

So, if anyone can point me in the direction of solar only grants in Wales please post.

Many thanks in advance.

QrizB

Helpmemybillsaresohigh said:

On a previous post I had mentioned how my energy bills are through the roof, mainly as we live in an electric only property with no current 2nd form of energy. We are heavily in fuel poverty and been spending £400+ a month of electricity.

Your previous thread is here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6583432/electric-only-400-monthly-bills

The advice on that thread was that, if you refuse to have a heat pump, you should return to storage heaters.

Helpmemybillsaresohigh said:

To lower our current bills however, the most ideological thing would be gaining a grant for solar panels and a battery, helping us offset our footprint an ultimately lower our monthly bills.

Your problem is expensive heating. Solar panels produce very little electricity in the winter, when you need the heat. They will not make a significant change to your current heating costs.

Helpmemybillsaresohigh said:

I feel like I've banged my head against the wall each day trying to find a way to lower our outgoings, surely there must be something, my energy company was running a scheme were they fitted 20,000 properties with panels and batteries but this has all been handed out. Will the new financial year possibly bring new schemes?

I'm not aware of any grant scheme that will install solar panels and batteries other than as part of a larger scheme like ECO4. The reason being, solar panels pay for themselves in ~7-8 years anyway so the householder can usually fund them via a loan.

But a typical solar panel system might only save you ~£4-500 a year. It's barely going to touch your electricity bill if you're paying £400 a month, £4800 a year. There's much bigger savings to be made by changing away from your current heating system, which is one of the most expensive options on the market.

Helpmemybillsaresohigh

QrizB said:

Helpmemybillsaresohigh said:

On a previous post I had mentioned how my energy bills are through the roof, mainly as we live in an electric only property with no current 2nd form of energy. We are heavily in fuel poverty and been spending £400+ a month of electricity.

Your previous thread is here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6583432/electric-only-400-monthly-bills

The advice on that thread was that, if you refuse to have a heat pump, you should return to storage heaters.

Helpmemybillsaresohigh said:

To lower our current bills however, the most ideological thing would be gaining a grant for solar panels and a battery, helping us offset our footprint an ultimately lower our monthly bills.

Your problem is expensive heating. Solar panels produce very little electricity in the winter, when you need the heat. They will not make a significant change to your current heating costs.

Helpmemybillsaresohigh said:

I feel like I've banged my head against the wall each day trying to find a way to lower our outgoings, surely there must be something, my energy company was running a scheme were they fitted 20,000 properties with panels and batteries but this has all been handed out. Will the new financial year possibly bring new schemes?

I'm not aware of any grant scheme that will install solar panels and batteries other than as part of a larger scheme like ECO4. The reason being, solar panels pay for themselves in ~7-8 years anyway so the householder can usually fund them via a loan.

But a typical solar panel system might only save you ~£4-500 a year. It's barely going to touch your electricity bill if you're paying £400 a month, £4800 a year. There's much bigger savings to be made by changing away from your current heating system, which is one of the most expensive options on the market.

Thank you for your response, just seems like a backwards step to go to storage heaters. My reasoning behind the heat pump is unlikely to change, it doesn't take me away from electric energy which is the most expensive and in a lot of cases I'm reading household bills have increased after putting in a heat pump.

As in previous thread I've took the advice and switched to a single tariff. This should save me a small amount.

At present I think my best options are to either install a log burner or lend more to get oil central heating. Both probably frowned upon but seemingly a saving on my current outgoings.

I'm also trying to research into 1st time central heating grants that I'm seeing, but I do assume this will be pushing me back in the direction of a heat pump again. 

debitcardmayhem

You could have a look at the Heat Pump threads to help you choose https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/heat-pumps 
I believe a well set up heat pump may not cause you to use more energy, but I have no direct experience of them.

FreeBear

Helpmemybillsaresohigh said: At present I think my best options are to either install a log burner or lend more to get oil central heating. Both probably frowned upon but seemingly a saving on my current outgoings.

A log burner is nice, and can be very effective in heating a room. But they only make sense if you have access to free/cheap wood and have somewhere to store large quantities. I have a stove in the lounge, and can often get the temperature up to 25°C in there (way too hot). Logs are stored in a 12x6 foot shed carefully stacked to the roof, and a similar quantity stacked under a tarp - In all, enough to last a couple of winters. If I were to purchase sufficient seasoned & split logs to fill the shed, I'd probably be looking at £2K. Fortunately, I have a source of freshly felled trees, so my cost is in delivery charges and time spent cutting & splitting. Installation cost of the stove was around £2K eight years ago. I dare say prices have increased quite a bit since...

You also need to consider the safety aspect of a stove - It will get very hot with a high risk of serious burns if touched. With a small child around, sturdy guards will be needed.

Oh, and wood stoves are messy. Ash from cleaning out goes everywhere even if you have an ash caddy. And each time you bring logs in from outside, there is a good chance you'll bring spiders and other bugs in at the same time.