Solar panel offer, anyone considering it?

[Mr and Mrs luvpie]

We got our weekly e news letter from money saving expert and in it is an offer for free solar panels. The catch is that it's a new company and that for free installation and maintaince over the 25 yr period you get the power needed through day light hours therefore reducing your bill but the company gets the grant from the government.

now we are considering it, we are in a sun trap, and have often considered it but there is no way we could afford the initial cost.

after the 25 yrs the panels are yours to keep and obviously then you have to upkeep them yourselves as the grant is no longer paid, and long term you miss out on a lot of money that you could make from the grant.

but is there anything we should consider, it seems one of those too good too be true ones but apart from missing out on the cash are we missing anything else?
how easy are they to care for?
how much of a saving would we actually make as obviously they only work during day light hours?
part of me wants to jump at this offer, anything to reduce a bill with no initial outlay has to be good surely, as well as the environmental aspect of course.
lets have your thoughts

[kit-e-kate]

Hiya, It looks like a good scheme. I guess they are just effiectively using your roof as a solar power farm, presumably they'll also make money from the excess electricity sold back to the grid (given that the won't let you store any).

The only downside i can see is that the only benefit you will reap for the next 25 years will be the savings you make on your bill, and if solar panels come down in price and become more common within that time (which i personally think is likely) you won't be able to use your sunny roof to generate extra income for the household. And that might get really frustrating!
I'd be tempted to reseach the possibility of (very quietly and secretly) integrating storage cells into the Isis system (perhaps a couple of years after the install- thereby allowing your to use your homegrown electricity after dark....

Also, there is a possibility that Isis will go under within the next 25 years, in which case you'd likely end up with a free set of panels to do with as you like...

Just my half-baked opinion! I'm off to read up on what the scottish goverment are offering us!!!

[snapdragon]

Sigh!

I have a south facing, not overshadowed, pitched roof
But as the house is fifteen feet wide I doubt if there's the required 30sqM, they want big roofs so they can do big installations,
, .. now if they'd consider joint ventures I'm sure my neighbour would be interested

[Big Al]

As a VERY QUICK reply if you look at the intstilation costs for say a 3kw panel array it will be around £4000 ish. Over 25 years you will get around £35,000.

You will save on your daytime electric so as my useage for example it is around £400 per year which is roughly £10 - £12000.

They are virtually maintainance free so you need to ask is it worth waiting for a few years till the price comes down even further or give them all the money now.

My basic thoughts are that they are not going to give you free panels without making money for themselves. I'm destitute so £400 of free electric per year would appeal to me but that's only if i stay in this house.....
Also think about selling the house you live in. Will a prospective buyer want to buy a house with a tied in contract such as this?

I'll be waiting until I can buy my own.

[Big Al]

I've just been down to the Tall Ships race that is in Hartlepool at the moment and EDF had a stand there with all sorts of eco products on display including a solar PV panel.

I asked the rep about this and cheekily said " what i want is for you ( EDF) to install panels on my roof and let me have the feed in tarrifs and pay the cost back over 25 years."

His reply was that in about 2 months EDF will be offering to do the survey, install panels to your house, tie it into the Grid and give you the feed in tarifs. Yhey will give you a 5 year interest free loan or a 10 year loan at 5.9% APR.....

Being a smart arse I said " Ah yes but you will take the feed in tarrifs and let me have the free electric" to which he replied" no, it's all yours......."
I nearly fell over backwards..

[battybird]

wow, did you get his name and card..?? What do they make out of it? Or am I being obtuse??

[Big Al]

No I didn't get his card but I did get a leaflet about it. I'll dig it out and report back. They will be getting the cudos out of it and also I think they have to produce so much green electric per year so if they are putting in the solar panels then they will probably be getting the credit for the KWhs produced.

They could be just doing it for altruistic reasons but being french I doubt it......

[Big Al]

Reading the brochure It is partly altruistic because they go on about reducing the amount of carbon they emit, and all that but I think there is government targets to meet also. Anyway I rang the number on the brochure and they said that you have to make a deposit before instalation and then the full ballance after the install. I asked about the credit plans and they went quiet and then asked how I knew about them...... They went quiet again and then told me to ring bacl in 2 months.....

[Green Aura]

Keep us posted BA.

Or post the phone number and we can all bombard them with phone calls

[terry33]

Edf were expensive. I used a company called PV Solar UK. Not the cheapest, Quoted me £10500 for a 2.1KW system fully guaranteed for 10 years. Others only offered 5 year guarantees and the inverters are the weak links!!
They fit Yingli panels which are fitted to the World Cup stadium in South Africa.
if you are interested website is:-
http://freeelectricity4u.co.uk/

But don't put your details in the 'view your house' page unless you want someone to call.
Mine has only been in for 3 weeks so I don't know how much I am saving yet but it has made me more careful about what I switch on and of!!

[Odsox]

Switching into picky pedantic mode would you trust a company that can't get it's website correct ?
Just looked at PV Solar UK and their animated diagram of a house has the inverter and battery round the wrong way, unless they have invented a 240v AC battery.

[Big Al]

I got bored by the time the space satallite was showing at about 40 second,

Edf cost a 2.5 kw system at £10k with a 2 year manufacturers warrenty and a 25 yr /80% electric warently.

I will keep you up to date on this specific offer.

[StripyPixieSocks]

Here's an article in the guardian about these companies that might interest you: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/au ... lar-panels

[Big Al]

As I said back in Aug, last year, [ was it really that long ago?] EDF are still not offering this payment scheme which was to be launched last September, then it was put back to this september and still no confirmed date.

As it happens I've had 5 quotes / quotes pending as you read this and prices look to be in the region of £9500 to £12000 for a 4kw panel system. That includes a P1 duel string inverter for 2 or three roofs and all the labour, parts and scaffolding etc.

I have narrowed it down to three so far but hope to get the go ahead of the mortgage co soon. If not all of the companies I've spoke to have their own credit method, either a referal broker or in house and they will cater even for those who have a bad credit record because the FITs are a garunteed income.

Again I'll update as I progress.

BA