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Original poster

Solar panels - anyone got them that actually dislikes them??

97 replies

WhyCantPeopleBeNice · 14/02/2023 13:12

Solar panels are ugly, period, they don't look good.
They've got massively expensive in the last 12 months.
Most claim you need to be in your home 10 years before they pay for themselves.
Mixed messages on value added to homes, some say 4% others just £1800

Yet everyone who has them is absolutely crazy about them, no-one has said they regret them, they aren't what they were expecting etc so....
Anyone got them and willing to admit they aren't all that?!

Updated by MNHQ
Landed on this page in search of solar panel advice? Find our guide to installing solar panels in your home in the UK. HTH!

OP posts:
WednesdaysPlaits · 14/02/2023 13:57

thebellagio · 14/02/2023 13:55

I genuinely think if the government wanted to try and solve the energy crisis, one of the best things they could do would be to invest in a scheme that promises 0% finance on solar panels. The biggest barrier to solar panels is cost - you have to have all of the money up front, because any interest payments would negate the savings on the property.

eons are all on interest free credit

thebellagio · 14/02/2023 13:58

I think thats a great comparison @banivani - remember back in the early 90s, satellite dishes were seriously ugly but now you don't even notice them?

I think solar panels will be the same.

A few years ago I thought they were hideous, at the moment, i'm more curious when I see them (I naturally count them for some weird reason) and I think within 5 years they will be so mainstream you wouldn't even notice them

thebellagio · 14/02/2023 14:00

@WednesdaysPlaits we were told by three different solar panel installers that they didn't offer any financing solutions at all because the cost of running a financing scheme and the interest rates wouldn't be worth them doing it.

It was only because I had an inheritance that I decided to go for it.

Calmdown14 · 14/02/2023 14:00

Are you considering a battery as well?

We are on a split tariff and since they were turned on on Friday I've used one unit of expensive electric. The rest is running on 5.5p a kWh. I am utterly obsessed with the app!

Bits it can't do, the shower is too big a draw even with panels and battery so it uses about 0.5kwh.

I need to use more electric on sunny days as we are currently over generating and I don't have a rate set up yet (not that it's much but better than giving it away!)

If you have gas then battery may take longer to pay for itself but it is somehow the principle of keeping what you generate!

prettyLittlefool · 14/02/2023 14:01

Ours pays for about 35-50%% of our power bill depending on time of year.
We have 2KW of panels and 7KwH battery storage. It's great to carry on as normal whilst the rest of the street is having one our overly frequent power cuts.

WednesdaysPlaits · 14/02/2023 14:03

thebellagio · 14/02/2023 14:00

@WednesdaysPlaits we were told by three different solar panel installers that they didn't offer any financing solutions at all because the cost of running a financing scheme and the interest rates wouldn't be worth them doing it.

It was only because I had an inheritance that I decided to go for it.

The big suppliers do it though. I know this for a fact since I havent paid a penny towards ours yet

Original poster
WhyCantPeopleBeNice · 14/02/2023 14:07

We are looking at a battery, 5kw

Our electric bill is currently £240 a month, our tariff ends in April, frustrating when that's when the cap ends as well. Were on Octopus go, and based on their rate today for that tariff our bill will go up £80 a month, add in the 20% increase and my suspicion is our bill will be in the region of £380 a month
We're on oil as no gas to the village
My understanding is we'll generate enough to lower our bill by 1/3rd. So assuming that's correct....it should keep our bill around the £250 mark
I will be using a loan to pay - over 4 years it'll cost me £270 a month.
So....we save £126 ish a month on the bill, so deduct that from the £270 and I'll have an overall increase of £150 by installing solar as opposed to doing nothing for 4 years whilst repaying.
This is the other part husband can't understand, that it'll cost more (whilst repaying) but longer term will benefit...
Does anyone else get my maths?!

OP posts:
GiltEdges · 14/02/2023 14:11

We had them installed recently. DH’s idea, I think they’re horrible ugly things personally. I also argued that we don’t plan to stay in our house more than another 4-5 years so we won’t even break even on our investment. So we agreed that if he still wanted them, DH would pay out of his own money. I choose not to look at them and generally pretend they’re not there. I think our electricity bill reduced by around half the first full month, though apparently at the peak of summer we’ll need very little (if any) electricity from the grid at all. So I accept the environmental benefits etc but if the choice was left to me I still wouldn’t have them again.

GiltEdges · 14/02/2023 14:12

GiltEdges · 14/02/2023 14:11

We had them installed recently. DH’s idea, I think they’re horrible ugly things personally. I also argued that we don’t plan to stay in our house more than another 4-5 years so we won’t even break even on our investment. So we agreed that if he still wanted them, DH would pay out of his own money. I choose not to look at them and generally pretend they’re not there. I think our electricity bill reduced by around half the first full month, though apparently at the peak of summer we’ll need very little (if any) electricity from the grid at all. So I accept the environmental benefits etc but if the choice was left to me I still wouldn’t have them again.

Should have added, we have a battery. I definitely wouldn’t bother otherwise.

senua · 14/02/2023 14:13

banivani · 14/02/2023 13:54

Lots of things are ugly but we still accept them - like satellite dishes or even old-fashioned tv aerials, car parks, wheelie bins, those concrete lumps to stop cars from driving into pedestrian areas... It's funny that solar panels become the line in the sand. I once heard a professor of environmental law say that the reasoning seems to be that when weighing the pros and cons on different forms of energy people seem to (unwittingly) put a much heavier emphasis on the aesthetic part of the green energy source, because that's the only way to even the scale.

Solar panels are ugly, there's no denying it. It's one of the things that has put me off them.

I'm interested in this thread because our Council is organising a group-buying scheme and I might, finally, be considering solar.

isthismylifenow · 14/02/2023 14:14

It's not about how they look!

Good grief.

I cannot see any negatives about solar. I'm on a waitlist for installation atm. We are living through a dire electricity crisis in my country, and this is the only way to go.

It's expensive yes, but we have many companies doing rent to own schemes now, which makes it more affordable.

For us it's not just reducing the cost of supplied electricity , it's the fact that we will have full time electricity each day. Which we currently don't.

Original poster
WhyCantPeopleBeNice · 14/02/2023 14:14

@GiltEdges this is definitely a concern
We've no idea how long we'll be here due to our neighbors - which is where the adding to the house value kicks in.
Some Google results suggest it's as little as £1800, Other results suggest 4%.
If it's 4% we'd break even on sale, if it's £1,800 we wouldn't

OP posts:
thebellagio · 14/02/2023 14:17

@WhyCantPeopleBeNice is that just your DD or is that your actual usage?

I have a 4bed detached home, I'm working from home so I literally never leave the bloody house. We've been paying £85pm for electricity only and we're always in credit. Our recent bill showed that for the same period last year, our electricity usage dropped by 30%.

British Gas tells me that our estimated usage is accurate so our direct debit will remain the same, but I suspect in the coming months we'll be ramping up our credit so may need to reduce the payments to a lower amount.

banivani · 14/02/2023 14:18

@thebellagio exactly! I think the theme of the lecture was wind turbines vs nuclear power - the researchers had noted that the fact that wind turbines spoil the view was given a disproportionate amount of weight in the comparisons. I don't think solar panels make an attractive roof prettier but otoh most roofs aren't covered in beautiful traditional slates or tiles so not very attractive to begin with, and considering all the other ugly things people do to houses, like astro-turfing the gardens... 🙃

Original poster
WhyCantPeopleBeNice · 14/02/2023 14:19

@thebellagio apparently usage.
We've a smart meter that doesn't work properly so Octopus connect manually to download our data each month.
We have an electric car, hot tub and I work from home so I suspect that's actual usage. Decembers bill was 953kwh

OP posts:
FeebasAquarium · 14/02/2023 14:20

We bought the house with them already installed (had to make sure there were no outstanding debts on them etc or we wouldn’t have got the mortgage) we have had to put to have them pigeon proofed 🙄 but other than that they’ve been great.

Our electric is about 120 a month at the moment and that’s on five people in a five bed. We both work from home so the place is rarely empty as well.

Harrietsgirl · 14/02/2023 14:22

Pigeons....... no one warns you about the pigeons!! In the process of having mesh installed around ours as apparently it's not cool to shoot the dirty little bastards.

Original poster
WhyCantPeopleBeNice · 14/02/2023 14:23

What's the issue with pigeons?

OP posts:
Roselilly36 · 14/02/2023 14:24

I agree they aren’t pretty, but they have saved us a lot of money, we had panels and battery backup installed in March last year, would recommend.

bigbluebus · 14/02/2023 14:33

We're having them fitted this week. I don't spend a lot of time looking up at my roof tbh so not sure what the issue with appearance is.

The only people I've known to be unhappy with them are the people who live behind us. They signed up for one of those deals where you're basically renting your roof out to another company (this was a few years back). When they came to sell their house they really struggled due to the solar panel contract. It sold at way below market value in the end.

We are working on the basis that we have the cash to do it and our money is currently devaluing sitting in a bank account even with the best interest rate deals. Our fixed rate energy deal ends shortly so the panels will hopefully negate the price increases. We'll also have a battery which will be useful if the power goes off.

WednesdaysPlaits · 14/02/2023 14:58

I wouldn't ever do it unless you plan to stay in your house for the 10ish years it takes to reach pay back stage. Otherwise you're just gifting panels to your new owners.

Winter reward is minimal. In January we generated 56 kwH. That isn't much of a saving. However we are only half way through February and have generated that already.

WednesdaysPlaits · 14/02/2023 15:03

You need to factor in that even if you save a third, that is disproportionate throughout the year. You'll generate very little in the winter and loads in the summer. Unfortunately, unless you're running air con, summer is when we use the least electricity.

thebellagio · 14/02/2023 15:06

Definitely pigeon proof the panels.

If you don't, birds will nest underneath the panels. There will be endless bird crap around your home, and your roof will be covered in birds.

Its funny, there's 2 houses down the street, both with panels. One with the pigeon mesh, and one without. The one without looks like the bird lady from Mary Poppins lives there. the roof is COVERED in birds!

FeebasAquarium · 14/02/2023 15:07

They move in under the panels, or they do the style with the gap underneath anyway! Mesh had to be put all the way around. Apparently their droppings can damage the wires but to be honest it was the noise that was our first consideration - it’s a converted bungalow so dds bedroom is right under the roof - no loft. And they coo all. the. time.

Took the pest controller a couple of hours to put the mesh in place but a few days after it was done we spotted two hatchlings trapped underneath, they were still being fed and visited by the parents so physically fine but the pest people had to come back and get them out (took ages as they kept hiding) then i had two weeks of mild anxiety as they couldn’t fly yet and were still huddling on the roof. I know they’re pests, I do honest. But I already felt bad for evicting them and didn’t want the added guilt. However happily (for us) they were fine and they’ve all moved to the next set of panels a few doors up…

occasionally we still spot the odd bird casing the mesh for weaknesses…

JustAWeirdoWithNoName · 14/02/2023 15:11

I like ours, but the one thing I don't like is thinking a bit more about when I use electricity (e.g. we run our dishwasher after lunch instead of after dinner so that we don't have to pay for it!)

However, I absolutely do not think it's worth it unless you have the cash in the bank - unless the advice has changed in the last few months, Martin Lewis was saying you absolutely should not get a loan to pay for them as the interest/loan repayments will take more from you than you'll save until it's paid off.

IMO at the current time, solar panels are for people who have a chunk of cash not earmarked for anything else and want it to save them a bit of cash and help towards their green credentials. Whether that's right is another thread.