'free' solar panels - things to look out for?

richard plumb

I have a company coming round tomorrow to look at our house to see if it is suitable for 'free' solar panels. You've probably seen the idea in the news, but I wondered if anyone has had these installed and if there is anything to be wary of.

In my case, they would fit and maintain the solar panels free of charge. But somehow I get cheaper electric through the scheme. Obviously they make money by selling the electric back to the electric companies under the new government scheme.

But what do I get out of it? Do I basically get free electric during the day while it is being generated, and they sell the excess? If so, surely most of my usage is at night with lights etc, so what would realistic savings be? Should I stock up on storage heaters?

aVdub

I was interested,  so put that into a search engine and the first (non paid for) result was.

Be wary of 'solar for free' offers, householders told | Environment | The Guardian

niceguy235uk

Yep.

They will certainly rip you a new one.

Avoid.

kwagger

Hi,

I looked into this a bit. the business model is quite simple.

The company gets a guaranteed income FIT (Feed in Tarrif) based on the potential generation potential from the plant, regardless of whether or not the install is connected to the grid. In fact I doubt they would even put in the kit to sell it back - thats expensive and the electric board do not pay well per unit !

So you rent out your roof for 25 years, they install and maintain panels on your roof and get the government grant (up to about £1200 pa depending on size) you get the electric you can use.

Note that the Feed In tarrif changes in april I think. more info here.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Media/FactSheets/Documents1/fitfs_energy prices update FS.pdf

good luck - id be interested in how you get on with it.

K

(by the way i dont sell these!)

BISHI

I looked at this but in the end took out a loan and paid for PV panels myself. Now I get 42p per kw produced, 15p per kw used and 3p per kw exported back to the grid.I'll get between £800 and £1000 back every year for 25 years which works out about between 2 and 3x more than an ISA would return - as well as increasing the value and carvon rating of my house. My advice would be get a loan and pay for it yourself if you can afford it and consider it  long term investment.

IronGiant

It's fine, I'm halfway through the process myself.   They are laughing all the way to the bank as the government pay them a mint for it, you are laughing because you get to use as much of the electricity generated as you want for free.   But it's not just for Christmas, they will be there for 25 years...

PM me if you want me info on who I'm with Richard.

The only scam is, if you can afford to put the panels on the roof yourself you would get all the government kickbacks and the free electricity and the kickbacks will pay for the panels several times over I suspect. Which is fine if you have a spare £10K sitting in a 0.05% interest account doing nothing.

IronGiant

I didn't want to mention Bishi without his consent, but that's the way to go if you are happy to do it

richard plumb

Cheers. The word scam is often used a little too easily. They are a business and I don't mind them making money. I also understand it'd be better if I could afford to install them myself. But I can't and also am a little concerned about longer term returns - is it fixed for the lifetime if you take it out now, or could the government ramp down payments in a few years?

IronGiant

If the government reneges on the scheme they will go bust. You will still have the panels.  Will they remove them, I doubt it...

So long as the panels are on your house you will get the electricity.

djcla

hi , i been considering getting a loan to put panels on my roof my main concern is that i will run out of electric on those dark winter nights .  Anyone got these panels installed and able to generate 100% of there electric ?