Soldato
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Agree….my quote for 4k array and 5.4kwh battery storage was £8495
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
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Soldato
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I think you will be lucky to see sub 10k with the quotes people have posted for some time
People forget we have 10% inflation and a tumbling pound.
Many of us even struggled to get quotes let alone haggle too hard on the price. Demand is huge right now as both the installers I managed to get to visit confirmed.
FWIW my quote was just shy of 13k, 5.6kw panels, 11.6kw battery, solar diverted, anti bird stuff. The other quote I got was £15k, couple more panels, 2kw less battery.
Saying they are overpriced right now is like saying second hand cars are, you would be right but you have two choices, wait it out, hope prices don't go up even more, or buy in and enjoy your product.
People forget we have 10% inflation and a tumbling pound.
Many of us even struggled to get quotes let alone haggle too hard on the price. Demand is huge right now as both the installers I managed to get to visit confirmed.
FWIW my quote was just shy of 13k, 5.6kw panels, 11.6kw battery, solar diverted, anti bird stuff. The other quote I got was £15k, couple more panels, 2kw less battery.
Saying they are overpriced right now is like saying second hand cars are, you would be right but you have two choices, wait it out, hope prices don't go up even more, or buy in and enjoy your product.
Soldato
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You missed my post above your for a sub 10k quote then???
£4.8k for a 4KW system installed, and then you can add 6.5kW AC coupled battery and inverter fully installed for another £4.6k (inc 20% VAT).
These are prices easily found with a few minutes of research, there are plenty of 'good' prices just as there are plenty of opportunists. Take time do your research, and ask for the best price, after all if you spent an entire week searching and saved £1,500 that is more than most people are paid in a week.
These are prices easily found with a few minutes of research, there are plenty of 'good' prices just as there are plenty of opportunists. Take time do your research, and ask for the best price, after all if you spent an entire week searching and saved £1,500 that is more than most people are paid in a week.
Soldato
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Well no but I don't think its enough battery for starters for someone using 10-15kwh per day
There are other things to consider as well, warranties (length) is it insurance backed, are they members of a scheme that provides arbitration etc
Did they do a roof survey a direct visit or a google maps survey etc
Its all relative.
Your £8.5k isnt so great when you look back 3 months to what another forum person got for £8500 as well. (14 panels (5.3kw iirc), 8.2kw battery, bird netting).
Man of Honour
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We paid £12.5k in the end with a 1.5month lead time with Eddi diverter.
Getting under 10k with decent battery storage may be tough but depends on where you live I guess and availability.
Soldato
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Those new Giv 9.5 gen 2 batteries were £800 more than my 8.2 gen 1 according to installer.
Anyone getting quotes for the new 9.5 will definitely be paying a good bit extra, but gen 2 may have some longer term benefits.
Anyone getting quotes for the new 9.5 will definitely be paying a good bit extra, but gen 2 may have some longer term benefits.
Whilst the eddi is expensive how long it takes to pay back will be determined by how much spare solar you generate. I've not got a battery so all my excess solar goes into heating my hot water.
My reduction in gas usage on my last 3 bills since I had solar PV installed has been 492 kWh, 391 kWh and 633 kWh compared to the same period last year, there are five of us in the house, that's at least 5 showers a day, we use a lot of hot water. That works out to £111 saved in 3 months, so it will pay for itself in 3 years or less I reckon. Quicker again if the increases coming don't get offset or capped by the goverment.
I'm looking at batteries now as well which will mean less going to the eddi but if you don't have batteries and do have a hot water cylinder it's better value than SEG.
Soldato
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I wasn't aware how popular they are so likely in short supply now the stampede has ordered/ordering installs. It has a three year warranty and the installer I went with said they have a low failure rate (operating for long number of years compared to some other regional companies), so whilst they are not 'cheap' I want it to last and work effectively.
Soldato
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I added the Solcast forecast thing to my Givenergy page today, be interested to see how wrong or right it's forecasts are.
It thinks:
05/09 -14.24
06/09 - 16.01
07/09 - 18.84
It thinks:
05/09 -14.24
06/09 - 16.01
07/09 - 18.84
Associate
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Heheh, did exactly the same last night - it looks pretty accurate, so looking forward to see how it performs!I added the Solcast forecast thing to my Givenergy page today, be interested to see how wrong or right it's forecasts are.
It thinks:
05/09 -14.24
06/09 - 16.01
07/09 - 18.84
Well let’s do the maths for me. We’re a household of 3 for now.
So I buy electricity for the immersion at 7.5p kwh and export at 4.1 kwh. So the lost “free” energy costs me 3.4p kwh. (FWIW gas costs about the same until October, albeit with higher losses in the process).
£400 / £0.034 = 11,767 kwh of energy needing diverted to break even.
My HW takes about 4kwh to heat each morning.
So 2,941 cycles / 365 = 8 years assuming I could fully solar charge it every day which I won’t be able to.
Let’s assume excess solar generation for 2/3rds of the year and we’re now up to 12 years.
If my maths is right it won’t pay for itself before the end of its likely life.
I added the Solcast forecast thing to my Givenergy page today, be interested to see how wrong or right it's forecasts are.
It thinks:
05/09 -14.24
06/09 - 16.01
07/09 - 18.84
This is super interesting. Looks like there is a third party way to do the same with LuxPower inverters. Going to give it a try. https://community.openenergymonitor.org/t/demandshaper-v2/15443
There are a lot of variables such as amount used and boiler efficiency, unit prices, etc, there's also the possibility if seg prices don't go up but unit prices go up then the time to break even comes down quicker as well. I also liked the fact it gave me a bit of extra self reliance in the even these prices hikes go through for me.
Soldato
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Your maths is right, but as ever with solar it requires certain criteria and we never know if they will remain. Plus like everything right now, supply issues currently exist. If they suddenly become a total no brainer they will become hard to get.
Heating water with the 7.5p tariff requires that tariff and its a one off pretty much as far as pricing is going.
Also its got a barrier to entry (as discussed over and over assuming that barrier is tested correctly).
For me its £335. I would also need a time controller for the immersion so its £35ish for that if I wanted to use 7.5p energy.
Also your usage would seem low for a tank of hot water 24/7. I have a modern decent tank (megaflow) its listed as losing (I forget exact number) 1-2kwh per day.
It takes just under 4kwh to heat 75 litres from 15-60 and thats ignoring the tanks losses.
We use about 8kw (via gas) for a couple and this time of year its only HW its doing. We aren't heavy users either (its only for bathing basically, no washing up etc), although other half will probably average 1 bath a week plus 7 showers where as I only shower never bath really.
My plan right now, although it has to evolve is to do similar, heat my tank via the 7.5p units (assuming I get that deal, don't switch until tomorrow) then iboost once its installed any excess units over the top of my battery storage and usage. Should top up the tank a bit more before it fully heats in the evening on higher generation days, and hopefully mean very low export to grid. If you dont have battery storage the units they can consume will likely be a lot higher. I was talking to someone the other week or was exporting a lot this time of year, they check out and bought a diverter within a few days now they just need to wait for delivery and get it installed.
Availability of tariff, usage, incoming water temp, actual generation from panels, battery storage, plenty of variables that affect individual payback
Yep agree with both of you, as ever comes down to circumstance. But not a "slam dunk" for a lot of people I'd suggest, not many solar installers seem to advise their customers of this.
Btw @Mercenary Keyboard Warrior how are you getting on with moving to Octopus? Are you presently with them this sounds like a supplier swtich, in which case how did you do it?
I switched to GO very recently as a current Octopus customer and beyond ticking the various check boxes on their web form there was no check of my EV, unlike EDF who wanted the registration or order number (which is what I have, Audi Q4 taking forever to arrive) before they would even quote.
Btw @Mercenary Keyboard Warrior how are you getting on with moving to Octopus? Are you presently with them this sounds like a supplier swtich, in which case how did you do it?
I switched to GO very recently as a current Octopus customer and beyond ticking the various check boxes on their web form there was no check of my EV, unlike EDF who wanted the registration or order number (which is what I have, Audi Q4 taking forever to arrive) before they would even quote.
Soldato
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I used to be a customer so rang up and said I wanted to move back as have a hybrid (true) and wanted to get onto Go, lady said sure no problem.
Account was reactivated whilst I was on the call, switch triggered and scheduled for tomorrow (I was on the phone last Thursday just before they closed!) She said had I of rung earlier in the week I would have switched last week!
I just need to send some meter readings for the agreement on end readings, even though I have a smart meter. Sounds like one last wrinkle that needs to be ironed out in the supplier switch process.
Its odd you didn't need to complete any details since when I was looking they wanted details, if not owned now order details to be completed so they could switch you at the right point in time. Might be they are clamping down to some extent and its not fully rippled through to the actual CS advisors yet.
Thanks for the info re switch, nice work.
Not odd I don't think, I just filled in the standard exisiting customer application web form for GO on their website (after I'd asked someone in their call centre to switch me from Agile Outgoing to their standard SEG as before that the GO web form would deny me access). The switch was instant.
Soldato
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How quickly was the Go activated was it same day or did you need to wait for some action to take place?