Anyone got solar panels?

[ImogenBrocklehurst]

Posting for traffic.

Salesman was insisting that we’ll be raking in thousands from power we sell back to the grid; all we really want is to see a drop in our utilities bills. What are others’ experiences?

Our house was previously very expensive to run according to the previous owner - about £300 a month. We’ve upped insulation, mended the roof and replaced ancient windows/doors as well. So you could say that our payback on the cost of panels and battery alone is going to be shorter (about 8 years) though of course we benefit from that other spending as well.

We charge 2 cars as well and even so, our utilities costs are down to £150 a month, and of course we’re not spending on liquid fuels either. We earn about £10 a month selling excess back, but the system will fill the battery and trickle charge the cars from excess before it sells back, which is better anyway.

It was a lot of money to pay but it’s worked out brilliantly, we were lucky to have the cash.

Thanks everyone-Spark home are offering no upfront costs: essentially we are buying the panels as you would a mobile phone, on the basis that the outlay will be covered by the saving on fuel. Anyone done it this way? And does anyone have experience is Spark Home?

No, I've never heard of thdm. How is it different to getting a loan from a bank? Also, if you have a mortgage with Barclays (which we don't - I'm not selling it) you can get a Greener Home Reward of up to £2k and I don't think you have to get a loan with then to apply for that.

Just check your inverter capacity. We did very thorough research but missed that and wished it was a little higher as that’s the maximum you can pull.

eg I might be generating 8kw, the shower is on and I’m consuming 9kw, but my inverter is 2.7kw so instead of importing the 1kw shortfall, I import 6.3kw.

But apart from that - I bloody love them.

Sorry, I'm typing from my tablet and it has a life of its own and sabotages words for sport.

@ImogenBrocklehurst does that mean they own the panels? Could you sell the house with that contract in place? How much in total would you pay?

No, they’re leased. Includes full servicing, repairs, replacement. At the end of the term they are ours.
But I hadn’t heard of them, which is why I’m hesitant.

😆😆

How did you come by Spark Solar OP?
flyer through the door?
personal recommendation?

Edited to add, leasing… when you lease a car you pay monthly but never own it

Hi, they’re a proper company just a-bit smaller than the national brands you may be familiar with

The only downside is that DH is quite happily obsessed with them and feels I would absolutely love to hear about the minutiae of the panels' performance at any moment he chooses. It's quite sweet, but sometimes gets a little wearing

We have the same, constantly checking the app!

😁 It is quite addictive. Looking at the weather and guessing the generation became aggressively competitive household past time.

Online advertising. That’s what I thought about leasing to, but I checked specifically. There is an HP option, which are higher monthly repayments over a shorter period.