Free solar panels offers
I am considering an offer of free PV (photovoltaic) solar panels on my house.
The offer seems very generous. There is no charge, a 25-year guarantee, and all installation work is carried out by accredited installers. Is there any drawback to this type of free solar panel offer? Yes, there are several drawbacks.
The feed-in tariff is paid by energy companies for every unit of power fed into the National Grid.
It’s this scheme that makes photovoltaic solar panels worthwhile. The average solar panel owner achieves an average of 7% return-on-investment as opposed to 0% by leaving it in a bank. The promotional literature from these types of solar companies suggests that the average homeowner signing up for a Rent-Your-Roof Scheme and may reduce your electricity bill.
The biggest problem is you won’t see much benefit from the free power being generated if you’re not working from home. Self-ownership will benefit far more by claiming the generation tariff yourself.
Don’t allow the Free Solar Panels companies to be claiming your PV solar export tariffs for themselves. You’ll sign a contract leasing your roof for 20 years.
The lease will be registered with the Land Registry, and, therefore, legally binding. You won’t be able to change your mind or remove the panels during this period and should you wish to sell your house, the new owners will be bound by the terms of such a lease. This vastly reduces your ability to sell your property.
My grandparents taught me that something that’s too good to be true – generally is!
The ‘free solar company’ will be benefiting from your home. Simply, Why wouldn’t you want to earn that money for yourself?
Power My Home doesn’t offer free solar panels, however, we do help homeowners to benefit from the feed-in tariff themselves.
moved to this property in jan 2015 panels already fitted how can I find out who holds the lease
Can either of you guys let me know whether the solution offered by these guys http://www.savingenergyuk.co.uk/free-solar/ is within the RHI?
This article was written in 2010 when (at the time of writing) free solar panels were an unintentional consequence of a very new and generous feed-in tariff scheme.
At that time, nobody knew how to handle the new ‘free solar panels’ industry that was just emerging – including mortgage suppliers.
Even as late as 2012, I was hearing stories of mortgage lenders refusing to lend based upon the issue of homeowners not owning the panels attached to the roof. Maybe this issue has been resolved industry wide, i’m not sure, but even today I still hear of lenders refusing to issue mortgages because of incomplete or missing paper work and even the original panel installers going bust.
Historically, the information is correct.
Also, I would always recommend homeowners to take full benefit from the solar panels. There is a reason they give them away for free and it aint to be charitable, so as the cost of an installation as halved since 2010, most people could afford to install and receive the FULL benefit themselves.
At last, a sensible post about these panels. I can’t agree more with what you say. You get people come on here saying things like ” you’ll never be able to sell your house” or ” you don’t own your roof anymore” utter rubbish. Before we had the installation I checked with my mortgage provider who stated that the panels would not be a consideration because your not taking out a second charge on your property, in fact, they actually said its a Good selling point should we ever wish to sell. I would advise anyone to speak to their mortgage provider thinking about panels just to put their mind at rest and not take all the negativity about having a system installed as fact.
I realy don’t know here some of the information comes from on here. We have just had our panels fitted through a government funded scheme, having these fitted to our roof makes no difference to selling our property if we decided too. The 25 year lease simply is transferred to the new owners. We’re with the Natwest and were told that the panels would not be a consideration should a new mortgage be applied for from any new potential purchaser. The company that fitted our system makes money from the surplus power generated, that’s how they get paid for supplying the system. We generate just over 4kW, the washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher etc are now on timers so we don’t miss out on this power when at work. I have absolutely no regrets with having these panels fitted and if used correctly will save us a huge amount.
Not true.
I’ll answer that for you Kai, seeing as “Heat my Home” can’t be bothered. The RHI relates to heat producing technology and the FiT (Feed in Tariff) relates to electricity producing technology. You’re perfectly entitled to both.
Have been looking at the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme launched by the government earlier this year – as far as I can make out it doesn’t include photovoltaic solar panels, only water heating panels. Is this true? Yet the company who are offering me near-free solar panel installation seem to use photovoltaic panels. Does it matter?
I think the issue is companies who cant do solar panels for free rubbish them because they want to sell you them. But beware they will sell them to anybody even if your roof is facing east/west. Solar panels are best suited toSouth facing roofs. Do your research yourself and get informed.
I’ve been told the government pay you £1000 per year for 20 years on top of being paid for any extra electricity you generate. I have a 2 week cooling off period before any work is carried out. Is this true or just a selling pitch
This article is very negative. Sure, they get the benefit of the feed-in-tariff and not you, but why shouldn’t they? After all, they paid up-front for the solar panels! Sure, it’s not a charity venture, they’re doing it for profit… but you profit too at the end of it because at the end of it you own the solar panels. The investors make an investment, reap a fair profit from it, and then give you an asset at the end. What’s unfair about that? If you can afford to buy the solar panels yourself then you should, but if you can’t, this seems like a perfectly fair solution for everybody involved… and the environment.
What I want to know is what happens after 25 years, are the panels yours or do the company come and remove them, or worse, expect you to do so. Who pays if any maintenance or repair is required? What happens if the tariffs the company receive are reduced (as appears to be happening) and they go bankrupt. I am looking to buy a property, and thought I had found the perfect one, but have just read it is subject to a 25 year solar panel lease. All the potential hassle for the sake of 3 or 4 hundred a year and peace of mind. Now the words “….barge pole” come to mind.
I’ve just been to see my bank about a mortgage on a home which has “free” solar panels fitted ie roof leased for 25 years.
Niether Natwest, Nationwide or Yorkshire bank would offer a mortgage on a property with A leased roof system as in they would be unable to repossess the property.
So be warned!!
Hi,
I can clearly see that the writer of above data have used a complete negative approach whereas there are lot of benefits installing free panels under rent a roof scheme like the main purpose of panels is to generate electricity which the home owner will benefit for the rest of the life of panels by spending £0 in total, although ppl are working during the day time but most of the houses with children consume most of electricity during day which can be used by panels, secondly i believe its a myth that free solar panels put the buyers off buying your property… Why some one do not want to buy a house which creates its own electricity? A survey done by a company based in yorkshire results that houses sells 30% more faster than normal houses.
They look after the panels for 20-25 years. They make sure they are up and runing because if the panels are not working they will not get paid. And free solar panels are the best quality you can get for panels as they will be the main source for incomeAtlast i would like to say that not many ppl want to invest £1000’s on PV
Hi worried wind
Solar panels have been tested and tested with approval from BRE institute (building regs) and these types of systems are installed most in Yorkshire and Scotland since the 1960’s, so wind has never been an issue in the UK or else were in the world.
What worries me is sticking £10k on the roof. It’s very windy sometimes I’ve seen fence panels lifted up and tossed around and they weigh much more than these solar panels. Who takes the risk of wind damage?
Hi
I am currently working with a company offering the free solar panel option, I believe they are offering the best deal for both free and bought panels, with 1-12 panels at only £6500 each, they also offer the package of having the panels free (maintenance and installation included) but after having the panels for 1 year you can buy them for only £4700. Which the company don’t want you to really do, but they have to offer a buy back plan, also they are doing a loan scheme soon in which you buy the panels back via the F.I.T tariff (estimated buy back time is only 11 years) which then gives you another 14 years of free electric/money.
I have been offered 16 panels by Isis due to the size of my property – 3.8/3.9 kw system which I have been told is the one highest available on the market. I am no expert in this area and would appreciate your views before I sign on the dotted line. Initially this seemed like a no brainer as I was getting a free system with savings of 40% on my bills.
Uponreviewing the Isis Solar’s Lease Agreement, and found this to be very oneroous which offers very little flexibility to the customer, where as ISIS have the option to cancel the agreement if the system is “uneconomically viable”. Termination costs are also extortionate. I am very keen to have to Solar Panels mainly for the costs benefits but there are no details of how much saving I am likely to make. Can anyone who has the free system installed share their experience!
I agree that buying such system yourself is likely to be the more sensible option however I dont have £10k and unable to take out a loan at present. Look forward to your views
most people dont work 7 days a week and during the summer surely get home in time to benefit from a few hours sun at least?
who cares if the airspace on the roof is leased? It might interfere with the helipad i was planning to have built up there but doubt i would get planning permission to do that anyway.
I recently been told I can pay myself to have them done for £7000 and make about £2000 a year off the electric company so would pay for itself in 4 years and continue to pay for another 21 years. some of that power trickling into your daily (daytime) used energy also thus redusing the electricity bill.
Obviously if you have a spare wad of cash then its a good investment, otherwise various companies will invest in your airspace and benefit from the 25 years of payment… still unsure why 25 is the magic number?
The viewing conversation will go:
“Oh great, it’s got solar panels”
“Well the solar panels are not ours, we leased our roof out to a solar company”
“oh dear!”
“But if you stay at home all day, you can use the power they generate”
“We go to work in the day because we have a mortgage to pay for”
“You probably won’t benefit from them then”
“That’s a shame, I don’t think this house is for us then”
The only issue if you call it an issue is the leasing of the roof.If you are selling a house that will consume significantly less energy than other house in your street the house will sell believe me.
Hi Mr Woods
Each of these ‘free solar panels’ companies work in differing ways. I’m afraid its look at the terms and conditions with a fine tooth comb. Many issues I hear about, come about from commission driven sales people who do what sales people do.
The reason the feed in tariffs have recently been reduced recently, is to prevent such companies from operating and draining the funding pot which was intended only for home owners, not investment companies, so ‘free solar panels’ will soon be a thing of the past.
is it true that some companys offering free pannels, take any money you get from the grid ,this is to pay for pannels .BUT if you do not get a sertain amount of money from the grid they come to you to pay the shortfull to the company, we have had a salesman call today singing my nabours up and when i ask this question he could not give me a replay
answer please
I had an offer from EON to install for £99. I filled in questionnaire online an used Google map to identify the bungalow and it was approved online. I was told a survey would be booked within 14 days.
7 days later we had a phone call frrom EON saying we were not eligible as we were 9 degrees off course.
Having had 3 companies to survey already who stated we were ideally situated, and had solar panels for water heating already which gives us plenty of hot water we need from April to October I find this hard to accept. I have asked them for a more detailed explanation but they have not replied.
I thought the PV solar panels ran on daylight and not necessarily direct sunlight, and we get as much daylight as anyone else in the South East. So perhaps ‘free solar panels’ offers are not free unless they suit the installer.
Regards Ian.
Hi to all,
Some companies offer free solar panels (contract 25 years), but every year will offer you to purchase the pv panels . The offer price will decrease every year as the pv panels get older. I think this is the way to go if you dont have £12,000 spare.
Hi Mark
The point of this is to get people to read between the lines. People get excited because they think they are getting thousands of pounds worth of solar panel equipment for nothing and think their energy bills will evaporate, were in most cases they will not.
Like everything in life, if something is too good to be true, it probably is.
This article is pointing out the negative sides of such an arrangement, so people can make an informed choice, rather than a one sided view point from companies who’s interests are only to make money from your roof space.
I appreciate not everyone can afford this type of technology, but those who can will receive more benefits doing it themselves.
This is an extremely biased one sided view. Yes it is true that paying for the install would be better in order to gain the FITs but if you don’t have the capital then at least you can still benefit from free electricity and help the environment. Personally I would buy any house with solar panels over one without.
Adrian,
You are right about the need to have a spare
above comments are fine if you have a spare 12,000 pound. for people who do not then it is an option to save some money. all you have to due is ajust your life and make sure you use the majority of your electricity during sunny periods. eg washing clothes etc.