If you have solar panels can I ask you a question?

[solarquestion]

I’ve name changed for this.

Just trying to gauge whether this is a good idea or not.

The idea is that we’re going to start offering solar PV and battery maintenance's packages, and one of the included items would be access to a members only forum where you could ask questions to an engineer, discuss things with other members and share industry information.

Some examples below -

Advice on system upgrades/additions.
Troubleshooting advice.
System performance tips.
Discuss peer to peer likes/dislikes about the technologies and different manufacturer options.
Information of new electricity tariffs for solar/batteries/EV chargers.
Group buying schemes - for example if 5 members were thinking of getting EV chargers we’d be able to provide a discount for group orders.
Manufacturer recall notifications.
New products.

The idea is to build a community - would this be something you or someone you know would use?
I appreciate this is quite niche but would really value some feedback.

Yes. I literally was thinking this week how I would have been so grateful for someone to help us optimise our set up...we have an EV too so between Octopus, the EV, the EV charging port, the solar battery/inverter, there are 5 apps to contend with and not all of them communicate as part of Octopuses intelligent tariff so we're left with manual settings. Octopus don't really know the ins and outs of our devices, and the solar and ev dealers can't easily advise on optimising energy use. We've struggled to get to grips with it so I have no idea how those less techy would.

@Renderingthanks so much for your comments, really helpful.

truthfully, no - if my system doesn't work (has happened a couple of times in the three years since it was installed) I call the installer. My battery stopped charging earlier this year, and it was replaced under warranty. I can't imagine what I'd get from a group, there are lots of Facebook groups covering the sort of issues you describe. The only thing I can see that might be useful would be a discount on EV chargers but you'd need to get quite a few members wanting one.

Sorry to sound negative, this is just me and maybe others would feel differently.

@MerelyPlaying that’s absolutely fine, thank you.

No - we don’t give the panels much thought.

Would people be paying for this pleasure? if so I can’t see that many people would be that invested tbh

Agree, once they are in and working I just leave them alone. I use agile electric prices and tweak the charging bit each day. Not sure I’d pay for a maint service - mine are 12 years old and only had one issue in the 12 years

Possibly - would depend on whether this was a subscription service or how it worked. Our installer went bust soon after ours were fitted and there don't seem to be many others in the area if we have a problem.

The annual maintenance package would include forum access so there wouldn’t be a direct cost but you would be paying for the maintenance package on your system which would include — an annual service (insurance companies are starting to insist on these) - emergency call out -forum access - discount on panel cleaning - discount on system upgrades

Out target market are people who’s installation companies have gone bust or are not interested in carrying out any repairs or maintenance.

Thanks for your comments everyone.

Hi, I wouldn't use this personally but my DH is on Facebook groups for this kind of thing - solar, electric cars, heat pump, pizza making... all his hobbies basically and there are often specialists in these communities. It's not something he would pay extra for as it's freely available on social media. Just a thought to investigate the free options before you invest.

I think there are unscrupulous solar panels companies and it can be difficult to see what is a selling pitch and what is real and there are trust issues. The salesman that came around ours just said people glare at him like he's a magician waiting to drop a trick! I think people do get screwed over though with dodgy components that ultimately need replacing and therefore people think they're saving for years only to have to fork out what they saved on a replacement inverter. We went independently from octopus but realised the solar battery isn't compatible with their intelligent system. I think it's important to understand what's going on with the devices and be in control of your set up. I would also look to Vehicle to Grid as yet another dimension. I think the trust issues with solar companies in general and complexity of the set up means people are reluctant to get involved, people are looking for impartial advice. I think there was a MNr on here a few weeks back trying to compare like for like on solar companies, and it's hard work.

This.
We've had ours years and never needed a 'service' and sorry certainly wouldn't pay.

There’s plenty of forums online to discuss these topics so im not sure what thou would be offering that’s different? Also if it’s exclusive to your client base i can’t imagine it would be large enough to maintain itself. I envisage the 3 people having an endless convo unless im missing something.

No, since Reddit is already great for that sort of thing.