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Post by Alex on Aug 20, 2017 17:21:11 GMT
I've just ditched EDF following the end of my fixed electrical installation inspection deal with them and their final bill came with a £60 refund. That's also following a £120 refund and a reduced monthly DD on my last quarterly bill. I'm quite enjoying having solar panels on my house!
I've moved over to Solarplicity so I'll let you know if they're any good. They don't charge a daily standing charge just a per unit cost for what you use. In theory that should work out quite well given how much of our power comes from the panels.
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Post by Roadsterstu on Sept 21, 2017 8:34:18 GMT
I've just ditched EDF following the end of my fixed electrical installation inspection deal with them and their final bill came with a £60 refund. That's also following a £120 refund and a reduced monthly DD on my last quarterly bill. I'm quite enjoying having solar panels on my house! I've moved over to Solarplicity so I'll let you know if they're any good. They don't charge a daily standing charge just a per unit cost for what you use. In theory that should work out quite well given how much of our power comes from the panels. How much were the panels to install and how long to recoup that? |
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Post by Alex on Sept 21, 2017 11:11:52 GMT
Panels were fitted to the house by the developers, our entire house estate (sorry, development) has them.
Interestingly I've heard Ikea are now offering solar panels and battery storage systems at quite a competitive rate. Storage is the next addition I'd like to make but it costs around £5k and up at the moment so the saving wouldn't be worth it right now.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Sept 21, 2017 11:33:50 GMT
Panels were fitted to the house by the developers, our entire house estate (sorry, development) has them. Interestingly I've heard Ikea are now offering solar panels and battery storage systems at quite a competitive rate. Storage is the next addition I'd like to make but it costs around £5k and up at the moment so the saving wouldn't be worth it right now. Are the panels owned by you or has the developer rented your rooftop to a company that installs them and gets the feed in tariff? |
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Post by michael on Sept 21, 2017 12:01:26 GMT
I'd like solar panels and the storage. Would probably save a fair chunk of oil if I heated the water on the electric immersion heater instead.
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Post by ChrisM on Sept 21, 2017 12:32:07 GMT
Solar panels... don't talk to me about solar panels... the Electrical contractors who fitted the panels to my parents' new house as part of the new-build process went bang before a final receipt was issued showing that they had been paid for in full. My late father, bless him, arranged for the panels to be fitted and commissioned separaterly from paying the builder for the house build so the builder has no contact or info regarding the installation.
Without this proof that they have been paid for in full (I have found a receipt for the deposit required prior to the work going ahead), you cannot get paid the "feed-in tarrif". No idea what happens when the legal ownership of the house changes, will any new owner also be denied being paid the FIT as original proof of ownership does not exist?
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Post by Alex on Sept 21, 2017 19:16:46 GMT
Panels were fitted to the house by the developers, our entire house estate (sorry, development) has them. Interestingly I've heard Ikea are now offering solar panels and battery storage systems at quite a competitive rate. Storage is the next addition I'd like to make but it costs around £5k and up at the moment so the saving wouldn't be worth it right now. Are the panels owned by you or has the developer rented your rooftop to a company that installs them and gets the feed in tariff? They are mine but the FIT isn't that much these days, I'll be lucky to get £70/year. But it's free money in a way because I would have bought the house regardless. It just means that the payback for those buying panels is a lot longer. A lot of installation companies have gone bust because the generous FIT provided a quick payback to the customer, which made it an easy sell. The government have reduced the rate from 43p/KWh down to around 4p, which has had a dramatic effect on demand. |
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Post by michael on Sept 21, 2017 20:43:18 GMT
How much of an effect do you notice on your electricity bill?
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Post by Alex on Sept 21, 2017 21:04:32 GMT
Quite an effect over the summer months especially as you'd expect. We have a three bed semi and I'm currently paying just over £20/m compared to around £40 in our previous house. That's probably the best way I can describe the effect as you live in a completely different part of the country so the rates you're offered by the utility companies may differ, but I definitely think it's at least halved our bill, but of course we're out all day so over the coming months most of the electricity we use will be whilst the panels are doing f* all. So you can see how the reductions in the FIT rates have made it less attractive but it depends when you use most your power. If you work from home a lot you'll see more savings.
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Post by michael on Sept 22, 2017 8:26:21 GMT
I'm home based so at home all the time. Louisa largely works from home, too. I suppose the trick is to get things like the washing machine working when the suns out.
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Post by Alex on Sept 22, 2017 15:58:25 GMT
I'm home based so at home all the time. Louisa largely works from home, too. I suppose the trick is to get things like the washing machine working when the suns out. Oh absolutely. The dishwasher goes on after breakfast instead of dinner as most people would do it. On the basis that you're using a lot of electricity during the day, the numbers will start to add up a bit more but it'll still be quite an investment now that the FIT rates don't give you so much payback, which is a shame as I do think more homes should have them fitted to help meet our growing energy demands. The cost is coming down, however, and so you could look at the combined panel and storage solutions that are coming out. I believe the Ikea ones are combined systems (they do install them for you thankfully and don't require home assembly!) and will be competitively priced. |
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Post by PG on Sept 26, 2017 8:31:21 GMT
I think michael had started a thread earlier about heating systems, so maybe this should be there, but we recently visited some friends of ours who have just had a total heating and power upgrade at home. Apparently, the efficiency of ground source heat pumps is now good enough to be able to use them with radiator systems rather than only with underfloor heating (rates of 7-8 to 1 rather then the old 3-4 to 1 were talked about). These friends have spent £22k on ground source heating and 4kva of solar panels. So the panels provide the power for the hot water and ground source system to heat the water in the day.
He reckons that the grant and FIT will give him£3k per year, so in 8 years has has payback, plus the energy savings in the meantime.
I may need to do some man maths on this.... especially if you could add storage to the solar, that would bring even bigger savings on power usage.
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Post by michael on Sept 26, 2017 15:32:08 GMT
That's very interesting. We are planning to overhaul the heating system when we build an extension next year (goodbye Cayman dreams) so it might be worth giving a ground source heat pump further consideration. I understand they can be installed as a borehole these days which would be much more suitable for us as our land is crossed with various utilities that would make a large bed of cable problematic. I do think I'll need to get external insulation as well which I'm guessing is going to be at least a similar amount of money.
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