Solar panels and battery for house

[Tobes]

Making the decision to have PV panels installed is not easy. Figures will vary but as one example a 4Kw system will be about £6k to install. The estimated savings each year where I live is about £500 so that's going to take 12 years before I would break even.

Now its a sad fact of life and not a pleasant thought but when you get to be over 70 years old your not sure how long you've got left. Average life expectancy for men is about 79 years and women 83. So just as your about to start seeing the benefit you might just shuffle off this mortal coil. (I'm hopeful I'll have longer because my father was just 7 days short of his 100th birthday)

Of course as fuel prices rise then the payback period would be shorter provided other things don't detract from that such as reductions in the Smart Export Guarantee, increased maintenance costs, replacement cost in case ,of failures

Currently you can easily get savings rates of 4.75% which on the £6k out lay you would have paid will yield £285 per year and you still have your capital to play with if you need it.

Maybe it would be better to use the money if you have it and your at that certain age to tick of the items on your bucket list.

Totally agree Sam. You have to do some serious calculations to determine what the payback may be and if you are happy with that. Adding solar will also add value to your home, so if it's a case of spending the kids inheritance vs not ticking of bucket list items, it may be worth it. There are a set of folks who will do this for other reasons too (like reducing your reliance on fossil fuel), but that is another story.

The Ripple thing is something that you can leave to the beneficiaries of your will. My parents bought into the scheme at the age of 78. Of course they hope to see the payback of their investment, but are actually more motivate by the fact they are helping to fund and build a wind farm that will offset all of their electricity use.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Adding solar will also add value to your home

I would say that's a may not a will. There are factors that could make them a liability. For instance age of the system.

We missed out when we built in 2010 because one of the Scottish Energy companies was offering free PV panels and we had a south facing roof on the large shed. I can't remember the t&c's but by the time we got around to considering it the scheme had stopped.

Building your own home usually means going over budget so we couldn't fund the PV panels ourselves but we did put in a Hot Water Solar Panel which, although difficult to calculate, probably paid for itself in 4 to 5 years - even in Scotland. On average we get the Solar Panel running for 627 hours per year but the temperature it raises the water will vary from just a few degrees in the winter months to over 50 in the summer. We've had the collector at over 100degC at times and a whole tank full of water at over 60degC. Even a few degrees rise means less electicity to heat the remainder.

FWIW. The collector is on the south facing gable end and is a flat panel. It's angled and so far has survived gale force winds - (he said touching an appropriate piece of timber)

Unless you have much disposable income then while a lot of people, including ourselves, are environmentally conscience, cost becomes more important than principles.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Octopus Energy have a set of smart tariffs that give access to live pricing, or reduced pricing at cheap times. It's who I use for my low cost overnight rate. For customers with a smart meter, Octopus will be offering incentives to reduce stress on generation (probably during peak times) this winter. I participated in the the trial for that program early this year, and have signed up for this winter, though I am not expecting to benefit from the rebates as I don't use electricity at peak times anyway.

Interesting. This was one of the reasons I wanted a smart meter, having had no need for one before.

We're due to get a smart meter next week if I can trust the supplier to keep to their word. Of course having it installed is one thing. Having it being able to communicate on the DCC network is another.

I'm also considering switching to Octopus - not to save money, although that would be good - but to get better customer service.

 

[Beachball]

As someone that died this year and is only 54, I totally agree.
I'd love to invest in solar and battery store, but this won't be our last house and will be downsizing in 2 or three years when kids go to Uni or whatever, and I plan do do some fun stuff before I die for the last time

We downsized from a 4 bedroom ensuite house in 2016 to a bungalow to be on one level to suit my mobility needs ,and this is our last move after 12 times , like i said i am interested in this thread but it will depend on how much it is .