dr_feelgood wrote:
Current system is householder pays for the panels and fitting to solar panel sompany. They get a paid from the electricity company e.g. british gas approx 15p/kwh generated. The householder uses whatever energy they wish and the remainder goes back to the grid and the householder gets approx 5p/kwh for the excess energy they generate. All payments to the householder from the electricity companies are tax free. For my 3 bed semi it would cost approx £7k to install and pay back in 7-10 years via payments from electricity company and the fact that I would have no electricity bills. The lifetime of the panels is guaranteed for 20 yrs. In theory the excess power my house could produce could power next door as well.
All very well and good and I would jump at it had I got the £7k to pay for it.
Well I am getting Solar Panels fitted next week. For free.
The company supplying them takes the feed in tarrif and I just get to use the electricity generated to reduce my bills. I basically rent my roof to them. They maintain them and even agree if I need the panels removed for roof maintenance they do it for free.
A while back this option would have been a poor one if you had the funds to buy them yourself but now its debatable if you did have the money if you couldn't get a similar return by simply investing it.
I also probably won't be in this house long enough to reach break even anyway so it seemed a no-brainier to me.
By getting the generators to pay for the fitting and allowing them to keep all profits from sales of excess power generated it would benefit both the electricity company and the householder. A very sensible arrangement for all concerned so it definitely won't happen!!!
Some energy companies did used to offer free solar panels but withdrew from the market as the feed-in tariff reduced. So it wasn't simply selling the excess that had them offering free panels but the fact the feed-in tariff you signed over to them was large enough for them to make it worthwhile.
As it stands my supplier reckons due to the fact the panels cost them less than the typical £7K you would pay and even at the reduced level of feed in tarrif they still make a profit long term. This is despite covering all maintenance of the whole system (not just the panels).
I could in theory use the generated leccy to run a ground or air sourced heat pump to further reduce my bills.
What was also interesting when discussing all this with them was the next big thing will he storing the excess daytime leccy generated for use after dark. Theoretically you ought to be able to store enough to meet you entire needs for the "average" household. I'd love to be able to put the leccy generators out of business from my point of view by doing that!
I think they reckon there will be suitable incentives to install this technology but if they do, they need to remove on David Cameron who today I see panicked in PMQ's and threatened to remove the "green subsidy" from the cost of our bills as his solution to the problem of rising prices (a Labour policy of the last government "opposed" by a grand total of 5 MP's in the entire House)
