What a summer it’s been for solar!! 

Ray, our Senior Energy Adviser at Marches Energy Agency, is delighted with his new solar array. Here he explains what choices he made and why, and how the figures stack up.

‘We had been considering a new solar PV system with batteries for some time, and recently decided to bite the bullet given that the technology has massively improved over the past couple of years. The abundance of sunshine this year also gave us that feelgood factor encouraging us into that final push to help save the planet and save some money. 

We have a small two bed detached home. The main roof has eight panels fitted, with two more on the garage, giving us a solar array of 4.6 kWp in total (10 x 460W panels). The battery is 9.5 kWh. The cost for this set up was £10,400, but we get to pay this interest free over 3 years with no deposit. 

We had four quotes but went with E-on. Our solar journey has been a breeze due to the quality service and support throughout. Truly first class. The overall price, quality of panels and battery, E-on’s customer first approach, interest free credit and 12-year warranty made it a simple choice for us. 

As we had the system installed via E-on, they will also pay us an amazing 21p for every kWh we export for the next two years (SEG or smart export guarantee payments). They also completed all the paperwork to make our life simpler.

Our electricity consumption prior to installation was 4100 kWh per year, so the anticipated payback period is 9 years – but we think it’ll be less than this. With our lower consumption of grid electricity plus the SEG payments, we have seen a reduction in our electricity bills from £103 to £3 per month. We will still be paying the standing charge on top of this. In our first week, it amused us to see that we have used an average of 6p per day in consumption from the grid, but a standing charge of 53p per day. Additionally, during the first week we exported 33 kWh, so our total payments including standing charge is £4.17 but our SEG has accrued £6.93. 

From my GivEnergy App you can see that the panels are currently generating over 4.6kW, the battery is virtually full and 4.93kW is being exported.  It’s a sunny day in every sense.  Free cooking, washing, kettle boiling!  What’s not to love.’

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You can find out more about solar financing options here https://futurereadyhomes.org.uk/financing-solar/

To find local installers recommended by other householders visit www.futurereadyhomes-directory.org.uk

For expert impartial retrofit advice from local charity Marches Energy Agency email tony.baker@mea.org.uk or visit www.futurereadyhomes.org.uk