AIBU to want solar panels

[pokemoan]

Just thinking to the future & how costs are never going back down.
If you have solar panels how long before they paid for themselves & do they provide enough for your energy needs?

We’ve had ours for about three years and expect to be overall better off within 8 to 9 years of getting them, including the battery cost. Our roof is pretty ideal for solar panels in terms of direction and available space.

They don’t provide all of our energy. During the summer, we produce more than we use and the excess is sold to the grid. In the winter we are still buying electricity. Also, even in the summer you have to buy a very small amount to allow for fluctuations to be balanced - the system works it all out for you, it’s not something you have to do manually.

We still have gas for our hob, heating and hot water.

Also, remember there is still a standing charge, so even if you did manage to produce 100% of your electricity needs, the standing charge is still there.

Thanks @newN4me thats very helpful. Can I ask what the standing charge is? Are you pleased you did it?

We’ve had ours 3 years, I’m not sure about the cost/payback, but I’m sure my DH has a spreadsheet! But they’ve been great. We had 2 batteries installed too, so in the Summer the solar fills the batteries and any excess goes back to the grid. In Winter we obviously don’t get much sun, but top the batteries up overnight on a cheap rate and use them in the day. Our energy bills have plummeted and that’s even with having AC installed at the same time. We certainly don’t regret it, but it was expensive to install

You're standing charge is set by your electricity company, 50-60p a day. You're already paying it.

Mine paid back in 6 years, though that's not why I did it. I've optimised the heat pump to run more efficiently with them. I don't charge my car directly but people who do find it's fabulous value for money very quickly.

Really glad we did it, have had ours around 5 years and we've almost broke even on them, but was helped by that year when energy prices skyrocketed and we were selling excess to the grid for about 30p per KWH.
If you get solar, make sure you get a battery aswell so you can store excess when the sun shines.
In the past year our panels have generated just over 5,000 kwh of usable electricity. Of that, we've used 2,800 kwh, and sold 2,200kwh to the grid at 15p. On our current tarrif, thats about £1k per year if you add the savings from our electricity bill to the income from selling to the grid. It would be more if I actively managed timing our exports, or downloaded an app, but I've not bothered this year.
We also got an emergency power supply added on, which means if there's a power cut, we can disconnect from the grid and run for a few hours off our battery instead.