ElephantBanjoGnome wrote:
The problem with solar panels (and living in a flat) is that I think the government subsidies for them have now ended?
With that being the case, the savings vs. cost is quite a long-term proposition, is that not right?
I do really like the idea though, being practically self-sustaining for power would be great.
Nope, you still get FIT payments, though it's now only for 20 years instead of 25, and the amount has reduced a fair bit. On the up side, the cost to get a typical 4KW system installed has dropped markedly from close to £20k down to about £6k.
At one point it was paying about 45p per unit generated but I'm on 17.5p - rates are fixed at the point you get the system commissioned and then increase with inflation each year.
It was always a long term investment, and I should break even between 6 and 7 years, and assuming I'm here for the full 20 then I should have had about £30k in a mixture of payments and savings. It's obviously only worth it if you are in a house with a decent roof that you have no plans to move from, though it will add value if you sell up.
At this time of year I'm generating far more than I'll use but in winter it's the opposite - on a really dull day you get almost nothing, but it keeps the broadband router powered up. Over the full year it won't end up costing me much at all for gas and electricity once I've offset the payments against bills.