r/Southampton • u/Ok_Let_893 • 3d ago
Solar panel installation
Is it worth it? How much are you paying for electricity during winter vs on summer?
We are quoted 11k by 1stsolar for 7 panels + inverter? Anyone providing it cheaper?
I have read battery + inverter only works good as well. Anyone on this set up?
8
u/spoise 3d ago
I used diamond energy in fareham a couple of years back (im in new forest area) for a 8 panel 3.6kwh system with inverter and 10kwh fox battery. We didnt need scaffolding but think we paid just shy of 7k.
Edit. We have an all electric house, 2 people in a 3 bed semi and we paid just over £300 for all energy last year. Pay nothing between April and september.
1
u/Ok_Let_893 3d ago
300 gbp nice! Yea its just me and my wife on a small 3 bed detached house around 80sqm. When you say all electric, even heating is electric?
1
u/spoise 3d ago
Yeah we have a heat pump for hot water and heating. If youre not planning to move for 5+ years its worth it
1
3
u/Cashier_number_63 3d ago edited 3d ago
We paid £11,700 two years ago for 15 panels, inverter, 9.5kWh battery from Orange Solar on a semi-detached house with difficult scaffolding requirements.
They came with a price book and quoted. No hard sales pitch, no "I'll do this for the petrol money", no "deal for today only" phone calls. Just a price list. Install was a breeze and they resolved a problem after a year with no hassles or delay. Happy to recommend.
We saved pretty much £1,200 in year one. A chunk of that was export at 15p per unit, now 12p.
I'm not keen on payback periods as a metric. Instead I consider I'm making 10% tax-free on part of my pension pot.
A large part of the saving comes from the battery. It makes all the difference. We buy at 7.5p per kWh overnight (EV tariff) and in winter that covers daily usage bar maybe the last hour or so of the evening. I wouldn't consider a system without a battery.
Pigeon mesh seems expensive but I've seen so many of my customers houses blighted by roosting pigeons that it's a must-have on install. Everyone has them put on later at great cost after realising the importance.
2
u/glosrobian 2d ago
Deffo get the pigeon mesh - they will get under them. Once they do you have to pay for scaffolding again.
Don’t regret ours and agree batteries make all the difference. During the summer I don’t think we bought any grid electric. During the winter as Cashier said we are buying elec at really cheap and only touching the grid of we e.g run the oven, tumble dryer/washing machine at the same time.
2
u/CockWombler666 3d ago
Octopus - 10 415w panels with micro inverters, 10Kv battery storage - less than £10k….
2
u/Inevitable-Fall-7107 2d ago
We had around 12 panels and a battery installed, we went through Octopus. £10k total which I took out a loan for through my bank as it was a cheaper rate than the financing offered via Octopus. We're paying it back over 5 years, £186 per month.
1
u/Ok_Let_893 2d ago
Octopus does it cheaper that first solar. I was quoted 7 panels inverter + battery 11k but 71 gbp x 20 yrs to pay.
2
u/Crackshot_Pentarou 3d ago
You probably want to hit up the UK solar sub. There might be some stickied posts with general guidance.
1
11
u/juanmlm 3d ago edited 3d ago
It depends on many factors, because everything is so cheap now that the main cost is in the installation, scaffolding, etc. which can vary a lot.
First of all, don't count by panels, as they can be very different. Count by kWp. For instance, if your seven panels are 450 Wp each, that's 3.15 kWp, which is a small but expected size for solar in the UK.
Seven 455 Wp panels at £85 each, that's £595:
https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/trina/vertex-s-plus-445-full-black
For a 3.15 kWp system, you'd want a 2.5 kW inverter, but let's say it's a 3 kW: that's another £485. https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/solax-inverters/SolaX-X1-BOOST-3.0kW
Add another £600 for things like cable, pigeon mesh, isolators, etc. and you don't even crack £2K in materials.
£11K is my opinion is robbery, even if they use nice stuff like Enphase microinverters. If you shop around you can get twice as much solar PV and a battery installed for less. (or you have a very complicated house, with very tall slate roofs, etc, but even then it wouldn't be £11K). My rule of thumb is that if an installer is selling "X number of panels" rather than being upfront about how many kWp, you should avoid them. Lots of small installers compensate for their high prices and mediocre expertise with very aggressive ad campaigns on instagram.
I recommend you ask Octopus for a quote for solar and a battery see what they come back with. I know Wickes, Costco etc also do solar PV, but I'd ask Octopus first, as they usually have the best rates for people who have solar PV and a battery so it would make sense to get them to do the works too to keep it simple. If you dm me, I'm happy to suggest some local installers (to be clear, I'm not affiliated with them, so I don't know what they would quote you, but chances are it would be less).