solar panels?

[movingonup2015]

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice for an elderly friend.

he has left me a message to say some solar panel company have contacted him with regards to having some panels on his roof and would like me to pop over and talk it through with him before he decides whether to go ahead with it or not.

He's been susceptible to various cold callers and scams lately so have told him to run by things through me first before going ahead with anything and it seems people have cottoned on to him being elderly and have tried to take advantage of him including the scam whereby BT are going to cut off his phone supply if he doesn't supply them with X amount immediately....

now obviously I will be googling and checking out this company once I find out who they are, but in the meantime what sort of things should he expect if he does go ahead and have them fitted? I imagine he would have been offered some form of cash incentive for this or promised free electric etc but I know nothing about them at all.

I have heard various things about them for example I have heard then they own the rights to your roof and therefore can have access to your property at any given time but not sure if this is right.

Any ideas on pros and cons before I see him this evening?

if there's a cash incentive, tell them to walk. This means they will own the panels and makes the property very difficult to sell. These people also tend to damage the roof and won't bother with calculating safe roof loadings.

currently it is only just worth having solar panels, as they are expensive and the feed-in tariff has dropped. (the government non-scientists give all the bribes to onshore wind, which is useless). Panel prices will drop and it will be worthwhile again in a few years; but never give up ownership of the roof.

you are an extremely good friend.

thanks - well he isn't planning on selling - the house will just be handed down to his son eventually as hes in his 80's now so definitely won't be moving but I've just had a quick google on this and it seems like a minefield to me, and only seems that you will start actually seeing any returns after 20 or so years and as horrible as this is to say he's 80 odd now so unless he lives to over 100 he's not going to see much money being made if its one of those pay 7 grand to have it installed and then earn it back schemes....

We have some solar panels and the electricity they produce cover what we use in a year. So on that pov, I think it's worth it.

However, I do agree about the fact the new 'system' whereby you don't pay anything means that the company owns the solar panels and has some rights to your roof. Nowhere near as good.

We were really interested in having panels, but had been too lazy to find out about them so I said yes to one of these cold callers as a fact finding mission. He was a real double glazing style salesman, who took about 2 hours to show us lots of persuasive dvds on his laptop and go through all of his charts to reassure us of how brilliant it all was.

In the end we were almost persuaded, but then found out that there was a very complicated financial arrangement which involved us taking out a loan, that we then had to repay, using the income from the panels - it was us that had to sign the loan forms, not their company - and we weren't allowed any time to think on it, it was an offer for today only, couldn't be done any other time. That guaranteed us saying no - I don't do instant decisions. And when he had gone and I googled the company there were lots of negative reviews about them.

If your friend is genuinely interested in solar panels, there should be reputable local companies who install them, who can give him a good quote. I'd advise him to be very wary of any company using hard sell tactics.

(Did the company tell him that they 'had a salesman in the area that day' by the way? They did for us, then on the day, he made it clear that he had driven 3 hours to get to us. Shame when the first thing they tell you is untrue!)

it will indeed be one of those 'earn it back' schemes, and it is obviously unreasonable for an 80 year old.

what if he does need to move? Care home? unsuitable property? Son wants to sell?

tell him to cancel the appointment and see what can be done to get him off the 'sucker' lists which I fear he may be on.

ok thanks all - the earn it back will obviously be no good for him at all - although how to put this tactfully to someone who thinks hes going to live forever im not sure! he's currently putting off his hip operation for as long as he can because the surgeon told him it will last for 15 years and he still thinks he will be working in 15 years bless him! (when I say working I mean he is self employed odd job man and he's still going!)

Maybe he's of the generation that doesn't really like being in debt. Perhaps you could explain that it involves entering into a big debt and paying that back and that that is stress he doesn't need now . . . .

The salesman will tell him that if he wants to move the debt won't matter, because solar panels add value to your house and you get the money back on the sale of your house (or not!) If you don't, you have spent the money/taken out the loan, and someone else gets the free electricity/benefits from the solar panels.

(If I remember rightly, you had to send in a monthly reading from your electricity meter to get the money back from excess energy produced - so that could be very complicated if he wanted to move house.)

There was a big thread about this a couple of weeks ago. We were also cold called but we did want to know whether we could have them as our roof is south facing but full of weird angles. Short answer is it would cost us £10k and look a mess.

Long answer is, would you invest in a technology now and expect it to last 20 years? So a computer or a smart phone? The very trusted PigletJohn came up with that argument.

The rates for feed in tariffs have just dropped again as of 1st April, so an even worse deal. I believe I was quoted 13.39 pence on a 3.6kw system (you can have a maximum of 4kw on a domestic property)

It would take us so long to earn back the investment that we would rather spend the money inside the house.

I would cancel the appointment. Our chap was very good, to the point, when we said no, he left fairly promptly. But he was still here for a good 2 hours!!! That included roof measuring which to be fair ours was an arse. I would say that it would be at least 1hr 30 mins. That is before they go into the options of the panels they recommend.

ok so I spoke to him yesterday, turns out he was offered free panels and an income of £20 - 30,000 per year!!! and that all his neighbours were going to sign up and there was no catch whatsoever... yes well they would say that wouldn't they!

told him to leave well alone!

wow. Please also find out the name of the company and report to trading standards for blatant fraud. £20k a year????