Solar Panels

MrSalty · 5 October 2017 at 2:10PM

So ive just had my 1st salesman round about installing Panels on my House and was Quoted £10550 1 of things he kept saying was a "Voltage Optimiser" would save me close to £300 a year, i had never heard of these and when checking online this seems to be very far fetched , He quoted me for 6 panels , Volt Optimiser , and a water heater (so any extra power goes to heating water) and installation. Has the panels and equipment come on that much that these volt optimiser are that good . I live in North Essex and my roof is facing 100 degrees has no shading so gets the sun up too around 3 pm , Im not to worried about selling my extra energy back this is more about saving money by using the solar power lowering my bills as we are an all electric house , i cant help but think that this is a big outlay for not a big saving . HELP please

EricMears · 5 October 2017 at 2:31PM

MrSalty wrote: »

So ive just had my 1st salesman round about installing Panels on my House and was Quoted £10550 1 of things he kept saying was a "Voltage Optimiser" would save me close to £300 a year, i had never heard of these and when checking online this seems to be very far fetched , He quoted me for 6 panels , Volt Optimiser , and a water heater (so any extra power goes to heating water) and installation. Has the panels and equipment come on that much that these volt optimiser are that good . I live in North Essex and my roof is facing 100 degrees has no shading so gets the sun up too around 3 pm , Im not to worried about selling my extra energy back this is more about saving money by using the solar power lowering my bills as we are an all electric house , i cant help but think that this is a big outlay for not a big saving . HELP please

It's a huge outlay for the system you describe ! Look at the FAQ topic for a better idea of current prices and expect several readers to give you their recent experience. Off the top of my head, I would expect a reasonable quote to be less than half of your first one.

Rheumatoid · 5 October 2017 at 4:20PM

Check my sig and would expect things to be probably cheaper now. water heater about £300 fitted.
R.

NineDeuce · 5 October 2017 at 4:28PM

This is a nonsense seller. £10k would get you a 10kw system, which is about 3 times the size necessary for a typical house.

You dont need a boiler to store water. The small amount you could save is just not worth the cost.

Voltage optimisation will not save you £300 per year, unless you are consuming thousands per month in electricity.

Martyn1981 · 5 October 2017 at 6:26PM

Hiya Salty, that's a scary quote. Actually it's terrifying.

6 panels suggests to me it's a 1.5kWp system. You really want to aim for £6k or less for a 4kWp system.

This may sound silly, but I'm actually quite angry reading that, it's disgusting, so good on you for seeking advice. None of us sell PV, we are just PV'ers so are happy to help out anyone looking to dip their toes in too.

Have a read of the FAQ's as Eric suggested (see link in my signature).

Also you may be interested in this recent thread, just because it throws up some similar issues, and saves us repeating some of the info.

Advice on new solar installation

Then ask, ask, ask away.

Martyn1981 · 5 October 2017 at 6:28PM

EricMears wrote: »

It's a huge outlay for the system you describe !

Flippin eck, you can say that again. Is it me or are things getting worse? Were we just lucky 5yrs ago, or ignorant to these scammers?

pinnks · 5 October 2017 at 7:15PM

To put that price in perspective, it's a few hundred more than I paid in total for my two systems which give me 5.25kWp and the more expensive immerSUN diverter and which were installed in June 2013 and March 2014. And doing two separate installs comes at a premium (more scaffolding costs, travel, labour etc).

I would send this firm packing (don't even bother haggling on price) and get quotes from elsewhere.

You might also want to browse yougen.co.uk which I found helpful when I was setting out and before I found this forum, which gives people really sound advice. They do have comments on installers, though how up to date they are is not known.

As others say, ask, ask, ask...

zeupater · 5 October 2017 at 8:06PM

Hi

Give them a bell and ask them to confirm the TIC (total installed capacity) of the 6 panels& what make of battery storage they've quoted for ...

That kind of price looks like a package deal for a 4kWp (12-16 panel) PV system plus a Tesla Powerwall2!

Anyway, as already mentioned elsewhere, if you're on domestic supply & metering then a VO system is pretty useless at saving you money, but pretty handy for the installer to making off with your savings!

HTH
Z

EricMears · 5 October 2017 at 9:49PM

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Were we just lucky 5yrs ago, or ignorant to these scammers?

Not "lucky" - we probably went with installers recommended by trusted friends and compared several quotes before accepting one. I hope MrSalty intends to do just that.

Exiled_Tyke · 5 October 2017 at 11:00PM

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

Give them a bell and ask them to confirm the TIC (total installed capacity) of the 6 panels& what make of battery storage they've quoted for ...

That kind of price looks like a package deal for a 4kWp (12-16 panel) PV system plus a Tesla Powerwall2!

Anyway, as already mentioned elsewhere, if you're on domestic supply & metering then a VO system is pretty useless at saving you money, but pretty handy for the installer to making off with your savings!

HTH
Z

Don't even waste time contacting them. Just block 'em. Permanently !

tunnel · 6 October 2017 at 2:25PM

Here's my take on your quote

MrSalty wrote: »

So ive just had my 1st salesman round about installing Panels on my House and was Quoted £10550(robbing bar steward) 1 of things he kept saying was a "Voltage Optimiser" would save me close to £300 a year(waste of time), i had never heard of these and when checking online this seems to be very far fetched(you're not wrong there) , He quoted me for 6 panels(Is your roof that small?) , Volt Optimiser(forget it) , and a water heater (so any extra power goes to heating water) and installation. Has the panels and equipment come on that much that these volt optimiser are that good(NO) . I live in North Essex and my roof is facing 100 degrees has no shading so gets the sun up too around 3 pm , Im not to worried about selling my extra energy back this is more about saving money by using the solar power lowering my bills as we are an all electric house , i cant help but think that this is a big outlay for not a big saving . HELP please

Now,
Start again by getting several (normal) quotes
Post the details on here...ie, system size, make of inverter and estimated generation and even roof size as then someone on here would be able to estimate how big a system you could get for your bucks.
Don't post any company details so as not to get them picked up by search engines.
There's plenty of good folk on here who'll stear you in the right direction

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