Colin
Member
Registered: 4th Apr 02
User status: Offline
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Has anyone got them? Im thinking about having some fitted to my new house as its got a straight south facing garden so will get a fair amount of them on the rear of the roof with sun whenever its available. The wife down the road from my current place says she gets 4x cheques totalling over a grand a year and shes got about half the number I'm thinking about having! Since this is going to be my forever home it may pose a worthy investment especially the way energy bills are going.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Been discussed on here a few times. Waste of money for the most part imo.
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AndyKent
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Registered: 3rd Sep 05
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Actually not a waste of money in most cases. Not sure about Scotland but even with the reduced feed in tariffs down here it's a big money maker over the life of the panels.
Energy costs are only going one way so better to be on the bandwagon if you can afford it imo.
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smcGSI16V
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Registered: 26th May 03
Location: Farnborough Drives: Thurlby 888 CDTi No.98
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You also have to live in the property quite some considerable time before recouping the initial costs.
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Colin
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Registered: 4th Apr 02
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This will be my house until i'm wheeled into my nursing home!
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AndyKent
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Registered: 3rd Sep 05
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Think payback is currently at about 6/7 years.
You'd need someone out to do proper quotes to confirm that, but generally they're a good return on investment providing you stick with the property.
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Marc
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Registered: 11th Aug 02
Location: York
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quote:
Originally posted by Colin
This will be my house until i'm wheeled into my nursing home!
Sounds like your portfolio is complete then!
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gazza808
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Registered: 30th Jun 08
Location: Peterborough
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Had a company knock at my house the other day,
They fit them for free, at zero cost, and take a percentage of the energy/money a month till they are paid off,
Tbh I didn't think it was a bad deal.
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A2H GO
Member
Registered: 14th Sep 04
Location: Stoke
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If they fit for free and only took a % until they were paid off they wouldn't make any money 
You didn't ask the right questions.
[Edited on 25-05-2013 by A2H GO]
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gazza808
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Registered: 30th Jun 08
Location: Peterborough
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Read it completely wrong, your post that is.
They must make money or why would they be doing it?
It was zero cost to me and I get free electic.
[Edited on 25-05-2013 by gazza808]
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Haimsey
Premium Member
Registered: 8th May 05
Location: Nottingham Drives: Corsa B
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Some mortgage lenders aren't fans.
Just FYI.
Marcy Marc 
White Sport Progress Thread
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Ben G
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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Everyone seems to be getting them in my area. Must be getting something in return, surely?
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eckers90
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Registered: 22nd Apr 12
Location: birmingham
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the companies that offer for free are rip offs, my friend loooked into this and another fitted the 3 way meters, if you front the money theyre worth it, but the small print in the companies offering to do them for free are a joke apparently, end up taking most of it off you.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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In 7 years time when all these people who got them for free try to sell their house, or still have to pay massive bills, or whatever downside, the internet will be full of people saying they were conned when really they couldn't count.
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Dave
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Registered: 26th Feb 01
Location: Lancs
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Surprised there hasn't already been a raft of horror stories regarding fitting. Seems to be a lot of potential for things to go wrong structurally.
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Dom
Member
Registered: 13th Sep 03
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Make sure you do the sums (plenty of solar calculators about that'll help you) but if you aren't planning to move any time soon then it's worth doing. From the few people i know that have it installed, the only real issue appears to be if you go for the 'Free' installation as it essentially means your tied to the house (puts a lot of people off buying) until it's paid off.
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Jay
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Registered: 26th Sep 04
Location: Liverpool
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Surprised there hasn't already been a raft of horror stories regarding fitting. Seems to be a lot of potential for things to go wrong structurally.
Like what? We fit solar panels and its a piece of piss. The external insulation we fit to houses without a cavity wall pose the biggest problems structurally.
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A2H GO
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Registered: 14th Sep 04
Location: Stoke
User status: Offline
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Probably BS but someone told me that payback (when bought outright) is about 8+ years, by which time they've degraded so much they'll need replacing, anyone know about this?
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Toby
Premium Member
Registered: 29th Nov 05
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My folks were looking into it a few moths ago and had a couple of people round.
If you have 10k (ish) then buying them is the way forward. Expected date for a return on investment is 8-11 years. The government are backing the scheme for another 22 years.
Even if you sell the property you can even hold onto the rights for the solar panels, though not sure that would help you sell too much.
If you can't afford to buy then I can't see why going for the 'rented' option is so bad? They provide all the equipment, fitting and maintainence and in return you get all the electricity you can use while its generating it. I reckon if the average family adjusted their way of living a little bit I.e. domestic appliances on in the day etc it would half your electricity bill across the course of the year. Can't see how that's a bad thing.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Jay
quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Surprised there hasn't already been a raft of horror stories regarding fitting. Seems to be a lot of potential for things to go wrong structurally.
Like what? We fit solar panels and its a piece of piss. The external insulation we fit to houses without a cavity wall pose the biggest problems structurally.
Like the monkeys fitting them don't know what they are doing and don't even screw them into anything, just through the tiles. Non-one has ever done any structural calcs for the new loading on the roof or how they will react to wind. Water gets in.
Normally fitted by a company who will paint your roof or wall for 'insulation'.
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Carl
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Registered: 9th May 04
Location: Jimmy Bennett's la la land.
User status: Offline
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What about the potential for the technology to change/evolve say in 3 years time they got rendered all but useless? Or potential maintainance costs if you bought outright and something went wrong? Some thiughts ive had, I was going to look into them but that feed in tariff got slashed so felt like i'd missed the boat as it were.
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VrsTurbo
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jun 10
User status: Offline
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Gf dad has just spent irrc 20k on a 10kw system
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VrsTurbo
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jun 10
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10kw system.
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ChazSXi
Member
Registered: 26th Jan 03
Location: Waterlooville, Hampshire
User status: Offline
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We bought a house with some.
They are not owned by us and caused no problems with the halifax. We use whatever elec we can but there is no storage a this is how the company make their money. If you are not using the panels when the sun is out then you are making no use of them!
Tbh I'm not gonna complain. We never had the hassle of them being fitted and during the summer months our elec bill is £10 a month
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ash_corsa
Member
Registered: 15th Apr 04
Location: Shrewsbury
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by VrsTurbo
10kw system.
What a lovely view!
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