Solar Panels - Any Experience

[Johnh]

I Have had mine for 18 months and a great investment as the money comes into my bank account every quarter, only 1.7Kw possible on my roof but I am up to £1k on an 8K investment. I had quite a bit of trouble with the inverter and 2 were replaced before all was satisfactory. Make sure you have a good installer and watch it closely for the first few weeks to see that it is generating what you expect. Then forget about it other than to send in the meter readings for the cash.

Good luck, JohnH

[mjheathcote]

I Have had mine for 18 months and a great investment as the money comes into my bank account every quarter, only 1.7Kw possible on my roof but I am up to £1k on an 8K investment. I had quite a bit of trouble with the inverter and 2 were replaced before all was satisfactory. Make sure you have a good installer and watch it closely for the first few weeks to see that it is generating what you expect. Then forget about it other than to send in the meter readings for the cash.

Good luck, JohnH

I'm sorry but how can that be a good investment?
Using your own figures, to pay for the £8k install will take 12 years. The lost interest on the £8k over 12 years will be around £3k, which will take another 4 years or more, and then lost interest over that 4 years...by the time you have broken even the install will be 18 years old! Then you can start earning some 'free money'....but wait at 18 years old the system may be poor on efficiency or broken down requiring new components.
I think too many people are looking at the return from the feed in tariff but forgetting about the money they have spent on the install, that is lost, can't be cashed in, gone!!

[Goldstar]

I'm sorry but how can that be a good investment?
Using your own figures, to pay for the £8k install will take 12 years. The lost interest on the £8k over 12 years will be around £3k, which will take another 4 years or more, and then lost interest over that 4 years...by the time you have broken even the install will be 18 years old! Then you can start earning some 'free money'....but wait at 18 years old the system may be poor on efficiency or broken down requiring new components.
I think too many people are looking at the return from the feed in tariff but forgetting about the money they have spent on the install, that is lost, can't be cashed in, gone!!

Not if you also factor in that you are not 'paying' for electricity in that period either (as i understand it). In an average house that could be another £4-500pa (a house with teenagers possibly more) so a simple payback model should factor that in as well. Now if you want to do it on a Discounted Cash Flow basis which adds in the time value of money and inflation I think the investment could start to look even better value - maybe..... Still in the realms of 'sounds too goofd to be true' to me. My business partner shelled out £10k in October and is still waiting for the leccy co. to sort out his paperwork

Still you could get a lot of Stag for £8k? and that should definitely be an appreciating investment.............

[mjheathcote]

I think you do pay for the electricity, but not the electricity that is covered by the solar panels at the time they are working. But in most circumstances the electricity that you use is when it is dark, or in winter when the solar panels are at their poorest performance...I still think if you compare the investment of solar panels vs a straight forward interest payments, that can only go up in the next 15 years or so, I am sure the solar panels will come second. Plus the solar panels are only any good if you stay in your house for the whole period, and if you sell your house, potential buyers might not want the hassle or appearance of them.We had the opportunity to fit solar panels to our house, but I decided not to go ahead, or invest the money, bought a Maserati instead to compliment the Stag, life is too short!CheersMike

[Mark S]

Not if you also factor in that you are not 'paying' for electricity in that period either (as i understand it). In an average house that could be another £4-500pa (a house with teenagers possibly more) so a simple payback model should factor that in as well. Now if you want to do it on a Discounted Cash Flow basis which adds in the time value of money and inflation I think the investment could start to look even better value - maybe..... Still in the realms of 'sounds too goofd to be true' to me. My business partner shelled out £10k in October and is still waiting for the leccy co. to sort out his paperwork

Still you could get a lot of Stag for £8k? and that should definitely be an appreciating investment.............

Since "free electric" is only usable during daylight hours, savings can be made for washing/drying, running an immersion heater etc. which takes planning and a little inconvenience. You would be very lucky to see a £4-500pa saving. It is "too good to be true", the money has to come from somewhere so if 20% of households had one of these systems everyone else's electric bills would have to more than double just to fund it!

The real winners at the moment are the installation companies that are selling cheap systems at a greatly inflated price on the promise of high returns for customers.

[jbuckl]

These schemes are necessary when there is no 'real' economy left & the infrastructure / utility companies have been privatised!

Can an individual really benefit from such a scheme?

I'm with MJH for now.

[jbuckl]

We did a 'we buy any car' check on a collegues maserati.... it lost £36k in the first 6months (which says a bit about buying a new italian sports car, but also about 'we buy any car') still its engine sounds ok ... not as good as the mustang 500 mothballed in the workshop.

I think you do pay for the electricity, but not the electricity that is covered by the solar panels at the time they are working. But in most circumstances the electricity that you use is when it is dark, or in winter when the solar panels are at their poorest performance...I still think if you compare the investment of solar panels vs a straight forward interest payments, that can only go up in the next 15 years or so, I am sure the solar panels will come second. Plus the solar panels are only any good if you stay in your house for the whole period, and if you sell your house, potential buyers might not want the hassle or appearance of them.We had the opportunity to fit solar panels to our house, but I decided not to go ahead, or invest the money, bought a Maserati instead to compliment the Stag, life is too short!CheersMike

[DJT]

Many thanks for all the input. As usual, hot topics can be guaranteed to elicit many different opinions, some based on fact, others on conjecture

All accredited companies have, by law, to provide estimates based on the government's own Standard Assessment Procedure. These, from what others have experienced are rather conservative (small 'c') in practice. I have attached the quote I have got which includes a forecast of Return on Investment to compare with more conventional investments.

As for eligibility, despite it being 'mates rates' as described above, this would be a fully registered installation and eligible for whatever FIT is finally settled by the court.

There is NO annual maintenance other than to ensure that the panels do not become obscured by tree debris, bird mess, etc. which is not expected to be an issue.

Guarantees on materials and installation are quite comprehensive and encouraging.

All considered, I have decided to go ahead and installation is booked for next Thursday/Friday.

Predicted System Performance.pdf

Thanks again, Dave

[Arbman Al]

Many thanks for all the input. As usual, hot topics can be guaranteed to elicit many different opinions, some based on fact, others on conjecture

All accredited companies have, by law, to provide estimates based on the government's own Standard Assessment Procedure. These, from what others have experienced are rather conservative (small 'c') in practice. I have attached the quote I have got which includes a forecast of Return on Investment to compare with more conventional investments.

As for eligibility, despite it being 'mates rates' as described above, this would be a fully registered installation and eligible for whatever FIT is finally settled by the court.

There is NO annual maintenance other than to ensure that the panels do not become obscured by tree debris, bird mess, etc. which is not expected to be an issue.

Guarantees on materials and installation are quite comprehensive and encouraging.

All considered, I have decided to go ahead and installation is booked for next Thursday/Friday.

[ATTACH]13989[/ATTACH]

Thanks again, Dave

You know who to call if they do.....

[Dave M]

You know who to call if they do.....

Yea and then you could call all the people on the log burner thread who would buy the logs for their burners, everyones happy

[mjheathcote]

We did a 'we buy any car' check on a collegues maserati.... it lost £36k in the first 6months (which says a bit about buying a new italian sports car, but also about 'we buy any car') still its engine sounds ok ... not as good as the mustang 500 mothballed in the workshop.

Certainly didn't buy a new one, but the price I paid it has lost £54k in 9 years, and only done 11.5k miles with 2 owners!

[wilf]

If it is a Granturismo, or even better a Grancabrio, then congratulations on your fine taste in cars!

That one is on my "before I die" list.

[mjheathcote]

If it is a Granturismo, or even better a Grancabrio, then congratulations on your fine taste in cars!

That one is on my "before I die" list.

I'm afraid not, the GranTurismo and Grancabrio are far too young, the earliest GranTurismo's are down at around £35k, far too much for a poor Stag owner! No, I've bought a 4200 Cambiocorsa coupe, the follow on from the 3200 (boomerang tail lights) but loosing the boomerang lights but gaining the 4.2 V8 Ferrari developed engine with paddle shift gearbox...basically a detuned (still 390BHP) Ferrari 430, in a nice suit!
Cheers
Mike

[wilf]

No matter, all Mazzers are good, and the goodness restarted with the 3200 onwards. I dream of a Quattroporte for a Company car! I mean, it fits the rules, fixed roof, 4 doors...............

[rogerk]

Hi Dave
had ours fitted in November last year - Martin Lewis on money saving expert dot com has some interesting reading
We cashed in our ISA to pay for the 20 panels (3.85Kw) which was only paying 3% BUT at the rate of return with the panels we should get upto 10% PA over the 25 year expected life. and if I'm still around in 25 years then I'll be quids in
If you get the best panels and inverter with a good company and a guarantee then you should be OK
we researche dfor about 3 months before we went ahead butt now with a time limitt to get the full feed in tariff youu have to make your mind up soon and get them fitted before the 3rd March to qualify
Our company has guarenteed the panels Underwriten for 25years and the inverter for 10years Since November we already have made £280 pounds in the winter sun. Just waiting now for the summer
good luck with your decision
PS My wife now does the washing in the machine during the daytime for no cost instead over on economy seven over night