Solar panels payback time.

[oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends]

I live in bungalow land, mostly south-facing, but none of the neighbours have them so I can't ask - & obs I don't trust sales reps.

If you've got solar panels, what is your estimated payback time ?
Or if you haven't, did the sales rep give you an estimate 😀.

I know it's a "how long is a piece of string" question, but I'd like some idea before I ask for quotes.

Thank you.

I wonder why it is schools affected in particular.

I haven't heard of domestic fires starting from solar panels in any great number?

Reading a few articles about the schools issue, the installations described were all part of a county-wide programme in Suffolk, and the issue has been speculated to be due to poor electrical installation. Given that those sorts of things are often commissioned quickly to get a voted or allocated budget spent within a financial year, I wonder if corners were cut in bidding to get the contract, with limited knowledge on the part of the people who were holding the purse strings, or perhaps inadequate funding for checks or maintenance? Shades of Grenfell there.

The government is committed to net zero. If that’s the case why wouldn’t every house in the UK be offered free solar panels where possible?
Most people can’t afford 10k to purchase themselves. If you get on finance, there’s interest to consider. So the pay pack time would be extended.

Surely if this would help us get to net zero they would have done by now ? I’m sure lots of companies have made lots of money from solar installations?

@Paul2023 previously the single biggest emitter in the UK was in power generation on the macro scale and huge resources have gone into changing that, successfully. When we show we vote for it, successive governments have done a hell of a lot. I still see so many houses that grabbed the opportunity to put panels up when the feed-in tariff was made so attractive that payback times dropped to only a few years, but I believe at that time supply issues with solar panels plus grid issues (plus the cost) made a national programme unrealistic . When we stop voting for it or start protesting against it or when organised campaigns use Net Zero as an ‘anti establishment’ trope, they do less. L’etat, c’est nous.

Do companies really work out your realistic pay back and how much you’ll likely save in electricity bills ?
Considering they are the ones who do the survey and recommend what system you have.

Being cynical, I’d be worried that companies will just say anything to get your custom.

Here's the evidence, in Australia all household battery storage must be on an outside brick wall with an emergency shut off switch:

https://gwentenergycic.org/solar-panel-safety/

It is not solely an economic decision, the environment issue etc is important.

You've answered a different question to the one I asked.

I directly asked my insurance company and they applied no additional charge.

3.5 years but we're in ireland where there are grants towards them so don't know if it's different in uk.
we have 20 panels and 18w battery and it cost 13k after grant