Free solar panels / Green Energy power solutions

[dutch 68]

I still don't understand why anyone needs to pay for their own scaffold.

 

Investigate, call the program in charge to see if it should be included or not.

It sounds like a scam to me.

[truman 10]

Anyone know the life expectancy of the panels and who pays for maintenance? How often do they need cleaning to maintain full efficiency?

 

How efficient are the panels in mid winter with two to three inches of snow on them?

 

Are you talking about the "free" ones or ones you buy yourself?

[supersonic 11]

Any charges should be clearly laid out. I imagine there is something in microscopic writing in clause 124637b.

[5star 10]

To be honest the FREE ones are only good if you're in all day to use the electricity. Self funded panels are what we have. We own them, yet don't have to pay for them, AND we get to keep the feed in tariff....win win.

[alf1956 10]

5 star can i ask you to clarify what you mean by" the free ones are only good if you're in all day to use the electricity " I thought that whatever electricity you didn't use was sold back into the grid on the FIT ?

[5star 10]

5 star can i ask you to clarify what you mean by" the free ones are only good if you're in all day to use the electricity " I thought that whatever electricity you didn't use was sold back into the grid on the FIT ?

 

The free ones, or rent a roof schemes keep the tariff. That's why they only choose large south facing roofs. They keep the full FIT. That's how they pay for the panels and get profit. We actually had to sign a loan agreement, but the way it was shown, means the government pays for the panels, and we get the thousands back instead of the company

[alf1956 10]

Thats the scheme we have & not the rent a roof scheme which is stupid! We got ours through a loan&we keep all the excess electricity that we generate. We only had ours installed on 17th December 2014 so we have yet to see if the claims that the excess electricity that we will sell back into the grid will pay for the monthly loan payments & make some extra as well.

[5star 10]

Thats the scheme we have & not the rent a roof scheme which is stupid! We got ours through a loan&we keep all the excess electricity that we generate. We only had ours installed on 17th December 2014 so we have yet to see if the claims that the excess electricity that we will sell back into the grid will pay for the monthly loan payments & make some extra as well.

 

You should get paid for what you generate, as well as the export tariff for what is not used. They can't tell how much you don't use, so assume it's 50% of what you've generated

[ShefStealth 10]

You should get paid for what you generate, as well as the export tariff for what is not used. They can't tell how much you don't use, so assume it's 50% of what you've generated

 

Of course it's possible to tell how much you don't use, it's simple maths, and with smart metering then they'll be able to tell too. You've still got a meter and your connection to the grid runs both ways, so that on days that you may use more energy than your panels generate then you're pulling from the grid and this needs metering in the classical sense as it's always been. You've also got means of telling how much you've generated and can deduct manually each way as to if you're generating more or less than you're using per billing cycle. If you're generating more than you're using then you should be compensated by the feed in tariff (FIT). If not, you're still paying for the remainder of the supply that you're using, the panels will just be reducing your grid draw and hence your electricity bill generally. You're not "paid for what you generate" as you're using a good chunk of that supply anyway i.e you're not being paid to use energy, you're being paid to generate energy that's fed into the grid that other people then use.

[bears9h 10]

I believe you get paid for all what is generated regardless of how much you use! We got the free ones from ASG they monitor them for problems and insure them. As for only being any good if you are in all day that's rubbish, I have a pond,fishtank, vivarium 1 fridge and 2 freezers which are all running regardless of someone being in the house. So on a good day they are all running for free. If you only got what is fed back in then they would never get much back from me whether sunny or not.

[5star 10]

Of course it's possible to tell how much you don't use, it's simple maths, and with smart metering then they'll be able to tell too. You've still got a meter and your connection to the grid runs both ways, so that on days that you may use more energy than your panels generate then you're pulling from the grid and this needs metering in the classical sense as it's always been. You've also got means of telling how much you've generated and can deduct manually each way as to if you're generating more or less than you're using per billing cycle. If you're generating more than you're using then you should be compensated by the feed in tariff (FIT). If not, you're still paying for the remainder of the supply that you're using, the panels will just be reducing your grid draw and hence your electricity bill generally. You're not "paid for what you generate" as you're using a good chunk of that supply anyway i.e you're not being paid to use energy, you're being paid to generate energy that's fed into the grid that other people then use.

 

We get paid for what we generate, whether we use it or not. Then 50% of the generation is paid at the lower rate of 4.77pkwh. Obviously if we use more than we generate, we are charged as normal.

 

---------- Post added 16-01-2015 at 18:55 ----------

 

I believe you get paid for all what is generated regardless of how much you use! We got the free ones from ASG they monitor them for problems and insure them. As for only being any good if you are in all day that's rubbish, I have a pond,fishtank, vivarium 1 fridge and 2 freezers which are all running regardless of someone being in the house. So on a good day they are all running for free. If you only got what is fed back in then they would never get much back from me whether sunny or not.

 

You're right, because A Shade Greener wouldn't do it for just the export tariff. Though I must say that we could have had the free panels, but chose the self funded option as I get the money instead of the company.

[bears9h 10]

Thats the scheme we have & not the rent a roof scheme which is stupid! We got ours through a loan&we keep all the excess electricity that we generate. We only had ours installed on 17th December 2014 so we have yet to see if the claims that the excess electricity that we will sell back into the grid will pay for the monthly loan payments & make some extra as well.

 

Not sure how you can say the "rent a roof scheme is stupid" as FREE is FREE.

 

And as you have only had yours since Dec 2014 you have no idea until the 1st year is up how much you will get.

 

Out of interest we have a "rent a roof " set up 4kW set up and save around £300.00 a year after 2 years of having them. Not sure how much it its to buy a system nowadays and insure/maintain it?

 

---------- Post added 16-01-2015 at 19:10 ----------

 

You're right, because A Shade Greener wouldn't do it for just the export tariff. Though I must say that we could have had the free panels, but chose the self funded option as I get the money instead of the company.

 

Not sure what the feed in tariff is now, just tried logging into my ASG account(forgot details) to see exactly how much we have produced, to give an idea of what could have been earnt against buying them. If anyone can tell me how much a 4Kw system is fitted and what the FIT is.

 

---------- Post added 16-01-2015 at 19:23 ----------

 

Heres another question that I asked at the time but didn't get an answer to, as time is going by the cost and effeciency of panels is getting cheaper and better. I asked the question would they possibly be replaced in the future as an upgrade not sure if they would or not but surely it would/could benefit them to put better panels on in maybe 5- 10 years time and produce more electricity in the same roof area?