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Just got a solar quote
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Talking rubbish, your consumption in July / August may be over what you can use, but when the sun goes down you pull from the grid, in December I had days with 1kwh all day and 0kwh on a few days 4.6kw inverter, so you definitely pull from the grid in winter, system is only operating 9am to 4pm.
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I had 12 panels, a 5Kw hybrid inverter, 9.5Kw battery with birdproofing for £8200 …
I would run a mile from the daft sales patter stating that you do not need a battery ! My system was fitted in May 2024 – when prices were slightly higher than they are now.
IMHO your price quoted is far too high – there will be other reputable companies, that will supply and fit similar to that quote, with a battery as well.
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Bear in mind those panels are excellent .. but under £60 each so there only actually about£2k worth of kit … maybe less, SolarSparky had the 5kW GroWatt inverters on for £320 this month ..
Why have they “assumed” 2,500 kWh consumption? You surely have an electricity meter and bills, you should KNOW what your annual consumption is .. 2500 kWh seems very, very low … we are at home all day and get through 3 times that! 10 panels is not huge, you probably want double that of you have space … remember, they are under £60 a panel
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The payback period on a battery can be (often is) shorter than the payback on solar generation.
Especially if a ev is in the mix somewhere
So – from that installer, I’d run a mile whatever the quote said.
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I used to work for Eco-Energy in Glasgow maybe 2 or 3 years ago and if it’s the same one then I would avoid at all costs. It’s the most pure form of hardcore sales imagineable. Phone calls to the boss for a discount – Oh we happen to have extra stock that we need cleared – we had a job cancel so now need to shift equipment – sign on the day discounts- 2 HR surveys until you either kick them out or sign up. It’s all fake the £7000 price was the actual price the sales team just add the fake discount to make you feel special. The sales guy will hammer you because if he doesn’t get the sale then 5-7 days later someone from their wholesale department will call you and offer you an even lower price because they can cut out the 10% commission the sales person gets paid (was 10% when I was there) and cut out the commission the sales manager will get paid. Hated every second of my very short stint there.
This was all because the pricing was so horrible if the customer went and got a quote from literally any other supplier there’s no chance of them getting the business.
Find a reputable company who doesn’t pressure you and takes the time to do things correctly
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You should get several quotes and not be pressured into making quick decisions. You need to be confident that whoever you choose will be there for the long-term, as ongoing support and maintenance will be important, if you don’t want to understand the subject matter, as it is not simple. A good installer should be interested in understanding what you want to achieve, the constraints and limitations they will need to work to and be able to design a system tailored for your needs. Although price is important, you need to see it as a long-term investment, which if done correctly, will pay for itself and cut your bills (maybe even make you some money), so be prepared to pay a little more to get what you need. As for what you should go for, you need to (if you haven’t already) think about what it is you want to do. I can only tell you about my experience, which started over a decade ago, when we installed our PV system. We saw that as a way to reduce our leccy bill. We broke even a few years back so we now enjoy free energy when the sun shines. A few years after the PV install, we decided to install a home battery, primarily to save the excess being generated. Being on a FIT feed-in tariff, we get paid for generation regardless, so it really made sense to keep everything we generated. A few years ago (remember when gas prices really spiked), we decided to go completely electric. It was a good time for us, as our Gas boiler was problematic and we went for an ASHP. We even changed to an EV to charge at home. Now, we cover our single leccy bill with the money we earn from FIT (including charging the EV). We choose a local firm to install our PV. They ceased trading about 6 years later, which I only found out when our inverter broke in year 8 and I had to find someone prepared to work on someone elses’ installation. The Company that installed our 2 batteries (Powervault) went into receivership last December and I’m hoping they will relaunch the business this year. As for the ASHP, we went with Octopus, and I’m happy to recommend them.
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Thank you so much everyone for your replies. I’m so glad I posted on here, and I’m definitely going to search around for more quotes.
The sales pitch really was putting me off, but as I had no other quotes yet I wasn’t sure whether that was clouding my judgement on what could have been a good deal. Will look out some local installers too and see if I can get recommendations from others that have them in the village (still getting to know neighbours here, so don’t know everyone yet to ask)
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