Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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Have been looking more into this; Ecovision are now offering free panels, installation and maintenance.
Im guessing they would claim the money back directly and offer a small fee paid back to yourself.
http://www.ecovisionenergy.com/content/why_solar
Has anyone had any dealings with this company?
Im very tempted to enquire further / sign up, but as its still a new technology, I think alot more companies will be doing the same which will open up for competition and better rates etc.
[Edited on 26-05-2011 by Bart]
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AndyKent
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Registered: 3rd Sep 05
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Kingspan do a similar scheme (albeit for massive warehouses).
They let you use the electricity for nothing (so you don't have to buy as much electricity from the grid) but take all the profit. 10-15 years later they've double their money whereas you've saved a grand or so.
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Cavey
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Registered: 11th Nov 02
Location: Derby
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My gf's mum suggested this idea to us, and it sound like a good one, costs us nothing, and as Andy said, they claim all the profit.
We get the sun on our garden from dawn to dusk, so they'd probably make a fortune off us eventually, but if it means saving £6-700 a year ourselves then it seems something to look into
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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I see.
I guess they take all the profit (for up to 25 years), but you get the free electricity during the day as its running from the panels.
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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This is a very good read infact.
With the above option, your only saving a % of your electricity bill.
When buying outright, (im not sure of exact costs, i'd guess £12k), they say you'll earn approx £23k over the 25 years, which equtes to just under £1k per year / £74 per month JUST from the electricity your selling back.
On top of that, you'll likely to save a good % on your electricity bill, i'd guess around £20 per month?
To re-mortgage for £12k would cost around £70 a month extra, so it would make a good saving.
I guess if you wanted to be really clever, you could take out a long term loan (approx 10 years). having the money coming out of a new bank account, with the feedback pay going into the new bank account. You could possibly balance the loan term to be paid by the feed back money.
You'll also save money on the electricity bills and have the panels paid off in a quicker time.
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Dan
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Registered: 22nd Apr 02
Location: Gorleston on Sea, Norfolk
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That sounds like a bad deal in my eyes.
Spend 70 a month to earn 90 ish? Doesn't seem worth it. Or am I missing something.
Adult GiftsClick here to vist us
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AndyKent
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Registered: 3rd Sep 05
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Basically if you can afford to buy the panels outright, you'll earn massively more long term. However, thats assuming you live in the house for enough time to recoup what you've spent. Payback is usually around 12 years, so you'll have to stay put for that long minimum.
If you go for the free option, you'll immediately be saving money, albeit much less long term.
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Rob_Quads
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
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When I worked it out the payback for us was going to be around 12-13 years.
The key to making savings is to change the way you do things i.e. you need to make sure you do all your washing during the day. "Most" people only use a small percentage of thier daily power use during the day but this is when you will be making the most from the electric grid.. Some people also look at getting water heaters installed so that during the day if you are using less than you are generating then you use the power to heat all the water so that when you need to heat the water its already fairly warm etc.
Remember work working out your break even point to include interest you would make on the savings (or savings in putting it into your morgage) 12K onto a mortgage can reduce it by years.
For those thinking about the going for the free system and just taking the cheap electricity from what I have heard a lot of morgage companies will not allow it as it means another company has an interest in the house.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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In 12 years time when you break even it'll be old hat.
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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quote:
Originally posted by Dan
That sounds like a bad deal in my eyes.
Spend 70 a month to earn 90 ish? Doesn't seem worth it. Or am I missing something.
For 10~ years. Once panels are paid off, earn £90~ a month.
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AndyKent
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Registered: 3rd Sep 05
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quote:
Originally posted by John
In 12 years time when you break even it'll be old hat.
Course it will. Why would you care if you've got an absolutely guaranteed income though?
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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quote:
Originally posted by AndyKent
quote:
Originally posted by John
In 12 years time when you break even it'll be old hat.
Course it will. Why would you care if you've got an absolutely guaranteed income though?
That is the risk, in 10 years I think any of the following could happen;
-The Market could be saturated and electricity companies will not pay anywhere near what they are now (is the feed-in price fixed or variable?),
-New solar panels/system could be 10x more efficient and your left with an old system.
-New energy harvesting (necleur etc) could take over the need for customer feed-in
-The kits are likely to be mass produced and therefore could be substancially cheaper (what are the average prices for kit+installation? Ive guessed around 10k outright).
Just read most of the feed in tarrifs are fixed, and are likely to decrease each year due to popularity of installations.
Its very temping, but having the balls/money to do it.
Of course you never know how long you'll ever be at a house etc
[Edited on 27-05-2011 by Bart]
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AndyKent
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Registered: 3rd Sep 05
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Feed in tariffs are fixed by the government at a certain pence per unit, plus inflation.
Personally I'd be seriously tempted by the 'saving money now' approach and forget the long term profit.
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Rob_Quads
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
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quote:
Originally posted by Bart.
Of course you never know how long you'll ever be at a house etc
[Edited on 27-05-2011 by Bart]
This is one of the keys IMO. They say that putting Solar panels on your house increases its value but until people start selling with them no-one really knows.
If you spend lets say 12K on a system now, in 5 years it will only be 'worth' 2k IMO because the speed the area is developing means the system will cost a fraction and be much more efficient.Every 6 months the efficiency and power of the panels are jumping up. Thus your only half way down to the 'break' even point yet you only get 1-2k extra your actually out of pocket.
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Cavey
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Registered: 11th Nov 02
Location: Derby
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I think it's as Andy says tbh, depends what you want from it, do you want to save money immediately, or do you want to profit from it?
The free option, obviously you'll be saving immediately, you might not gain much in the long term, but for now you'll be quite a lot better off.
Buy it yourself option, you will eventually make money from it, but you've obviously got a fairly big output now.
Not sure how feasable it is, but i'd imagine the next step would be to have solar technology in windows, so it's not as invassive as having massive ugly panels on the roof. (not sure how it'd work, but that's what i'd be trying to do if I was a developer of something like that)
For me, this thread has confused me even more, and put a few things in my head that I wasn't really thinking about before, so god knows what i'll be up to
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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quote:
Originally posted by AndyKent
Personally I'd be seriously tempted by the 'saving money now' approach and forget the long term profit.
The same above really applies, its not just the long term profit to ignore, its the long term commitment.
You have to sign up to 25 years commitment, but again, what if the power output is increased 10x in 5 years time, you've got 20 years left of crap 
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AndyKent
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Registered: 3rd Sep 05
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Its not going to shoot up that quick. Germany have been running a similar feed-in-tariff for 10 years without any massive increase in output. Don't see why us starting the same scheme should make any big difference.
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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quote:
Originally posted by a_j_mair
We have just ordered a 3.8kw unit for back of the office. Need to dig out paper work for exact figures. Only worthwhile due to FIT payments.
Will try and update wth some figures and info once we get it installed
Would love to see your figures, what it cost to install (who installed as well), along with what your being paid.
Would be interesting to know exactly how long it takes to pay for itself.
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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Am thinking of going for the free installation job by, just to save short term on day to day uses. It's minimal risk really, just need to read the small print if we move house etc
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AndyKent
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Can't see there would be a problem to you, the ownership will just transfer over.
I'd be doing the same as you if I owned the building my flat is in.
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Cavey
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Registered: 11th Nov 02
Location: Derby
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I had a look at the eon offer, as they're doing similar at the moment, £99 installation, save a third on bills etc...
Looks like my property wouldn't be viable as it's 2.5 storey, and therefore doesn't have much loft space, I assume they have to put a fair bit of equipment in there to get it all working
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AndyKent
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Registered: 3rd Sep 05
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The equipment I've seen isn't that big - small storage cup'd should be enough. You only have an inverter and a couple of meters.
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Rob_Quads
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
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quote:
Originally posted by Cavey
I had a look at the eon offer, as they're doing similar at the moment, £99 installation, save a third on bills etc...
Looks like my property wouldn't be viable as it's 2.5 storey, and therefore doesn't have much loft space, I assume they have to put a fair bit of equipment in there to get it all working
Is your property mortgaged or do you own it out right?
Think the inverter is the biggest item which can be a bit chunky but nothing too big. Also you can get a system where you get an inverter per solar panel which sits underneath the panel meaning you can fit them to roofs which have no loft space
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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What if you want to move and the new owner doesn't want them?
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Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
Location: Midsomer Norton, Bristol Avon
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quote:
Originally posted by John
What if you want to move and the new owner doesn't want them?
I kinda guess that would be tuff shut, or they'd have to buy out of the contract
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