Welcome to our first Newsletter
Autumn 2013
Autumn is a good time to take stock. For many, it is the start of a new year – schools, colleges, universities all beginning again. So, we’ve taken a moment to reflect on our year so far and to share a few happy, interesting facts and findings.
Our year so far? Compared with 2011 and even 2012 uptake has dropped considerably. This is unsurprising given the political and economical backdrop to this relatively young industry’s development.
So, how, when so many solar companies folded over the last year, have we survived? Firstly, we don’t just do solar – Stephen and Paul each run their own independent businesses: electrical and carpentry/building, which are both essential skills for a successful solar pv business. This has really helped us to be resilient so that over the last year we have continued to regularly install solar pv systems for many homes across Brighton, Hove the surrounding areas.
Secondly, given the consistent positive feedback we receive for our work, we know that we are doing our job well, that our customers trust us, and recommend us to others.
“I would not hesitate to recommend Solar-rise to anyone wanting solar panels installed, indeed, I would actively encourage anyone to consider an installation. As Stephen and Paul predicted, our day-time consumption of electricity cannot match the amount we produce and hopefully it won’t be too many years before we see a good return for this investment! Thank you again for the best investment we have ever made!” W.T., Richmond Road, Brighton, BN1
The bare facts?… A Case Study:
To illustrate the current costs and return (via savings on energy bills, and mandatory payment of Feed-in Tariff via your energy company) for a typical solar pv installation, here are some bare facts from a recent case study:
- Location: BN1
- System size: 3.5 kW
- Total cost: £6527.00
- Feed-in Tariff rate (payment guaranteed at this rate for 20 years): 14.9p (current rate, due to change in 2014)
- Predicted number of years to pay back initial investment (£6527): 6 years
- Predicted accumulative total (from savings on bills and FiT payments) at 10 years: £12,592
- Predicted accumulative total at 20 years (when FiTs stop): £34,290.
AND these figures are really useful if you’ve already got solar pv on your home and you’re thinking of selling – they clearly show the added value of a solar pv array, as the ownership is passed to the new homeowner.
Good news for Brighton & Hove residents…
Changes to the way that payback is calculated mean that we can now give a much more accurate prediction of payback over the years of a client’s system. This is great news especially for customers here in Brighton & Hove, where we have the highest level of solar potential in the UK (see image). Potentially, a system here will earn its money back twice as fast as a system in the north of England.
A few things worth sharing…
There a 1000s of products on the market to enhance existing renewables in homes, and even if you haven’t (yet!) got a solar pv or thermal system there’s a lot out there that can help you reduce energy bills AND carbon footprint. BUT, not all are tried and tested and some that are prove to make no difference at all. So, here are couple that we think are interesting and are already recommending to our existing customers –
- Solic 200 – The SOLiC 200 is an intelligent immersion heater controller that automatically converts energy generated by existing PV panels into hot water by diverting excess solar power to the immersion heater before it’s exported to the national grid. https://www.earthwiseproducts.co.uk/info/solic-200/solic-200-features+97.html
- Led lighting…..running at 10% of halogens, manufacturers suggest that you can save on average £140 per year changing 8 halogens to 8 led’s on an average use of 4 hrs a day; AND they are dimmable. Stephen (also an electrician) is installing these all the time in his clients’ homes.
- Our energy provider is Ecotricity – and we’ve just had an email from them that we thought worth sharing (and, no, we don’t have shares in Ecotricity! – our incentive is purely about more green energy and lower costs, for everyone!). Here’s what Ecotricity says:
We’re ending our Big Six price match – under which we matched each Big Six standard tariff in their home regions. This delivered green energy for the price of brown and meant that for most people in Britain, it cost no more to be with us. Our new pricing promise is that we will cost less than each of these Big Six standard tariffs. Delivering green energy for less than the price of brown. Although the price reductions will initially be modest, this is a really significant step in our evolution as a green energy company… more
And finally…
Get in touch, to know more about solar pv, or to discuss options for your own home, or if you just need a good electrician (Stephen) or carpenter-builder (Paul). See our Check-a-trade page for client references: https://www.checkatrade.com/Solarrise/.
