We had solar panels installed in April of this year. We paid £5995. It was a local firm. We had the maximum kilowatts allowed under the feed in tariff-which is 4 kilowatts. My understanding is that anything more than 4 kilowatts does not qualify for the feed in tariff. We have just had our first payment under the feed in tariff. This was incredibly easy. An email prompted us to send a reading and within two weeks we had a payment directly into the bank. Our payment was £205 for the period from mid April to beginning of July. Our usage of electricity has reduced but has not been recalculated so far. we estimate a significant drop in monthly direct debit.
I believe that solar panels are more advantageous if you use various appliances in the hours of daylight, preferably not a cloudy day.
our panels came with a small meter to see what the input is at any time. we tend to stagger the use of appliances unless its a really bright day
So, payback time. We estimate a further payment around £200-250 for the next quarter. Winter is likely to show reduced input, so say around £600-700 per year. So probably around 9 years. But meanwhile, reduced electricity bills. Hope that’s helpful.
We found the whole process quite simple and we get pleasure from using the washing machine or dishwasher when the sun is out knowing it’s not costing a penny. lol
