Broad Shoulders

Need some help.

I am about to start a new job next week working in Marketing for a solar energy company. My job will be to tailor the company's message and appeal to customers (residential and commercial).

So far, everyone I have spoken to on the residential front (ie: friends and ex-colleagues) have all been very interested in taking up the technology however they all seem to have one or two reservations about it.

I am really interested in getting feedback from the forum on people who have considered it or even thought about adopting solar energy on their homes.

asprilla

I think there isn't enough freely available info out there to show whether or not solar power is a good investment.... I suspect that the reason for this, might be because it isn't (but I hope I'm wrong!!).

I'd want to know:
1) total installation cost? before and after rebates.
2) how long do these solar panels last? What is the useful life? Will they continue to generate the same amount of power, or will they slowly die over time?
3) do I have to spend any $$ on maintaining these things ? if so, how much and how often?

then in terms of benefits:
4) how much power will they generate?
5) what do the electricity companies pay me, if I send power back into the grid? is it the same $ that I pay them for electricity usage, or is it a lower number?

Broad Shoulders

Thanks for that, very valuable feedback!

So, if a consultant were able to answer all of those questions via a phone, email or house call would that sway you?

moneypenny20

I would love to have it and we have thought about it in the past. However the reasons we haven't done it so far are:

1. Cost. No idea what the rebate is at the moment but we simply don't have the money to pay for it even if we got a large rebate back and we don't do 'borrowing'.

2. We have solar water heating and to be honest in winter it's not enough, this winter especially we've had to use the electric pump far more than we should. The panels are on the North East facing roof but even in summer we've had to use the electric pump so I'm not convinced (not checked properly to be honest) how much it would save us.

3. I think we'd need to chop a fair few trees down to get full potential but I still don't think it would give what we need.

I don't tend to think of things like that in terms of how long before I get my money back, I know it's about 10 years or so but provided it started saving me on the electric bill immediately then the initial outlay is done and dusted.

I could be wrong on most of that but at the end of the day, it comes down to having the money in the bank to pay for it and we don't. I do think it's madness that it's not required as part of a new build but then it's only recently been law that new builds have to have a tank and even then they only need to put in the smallest, daftest one in which does bugger all.

asprilla

well if it was a good investment - yes.

Lets say it cost me $2,500 all up and I spend $300 x 4 = $1,200 on elec per year... and if the solar panels would reduce my usage to $0....then yep, I wouldn't hesitate.

But if it cost say $5,000 and my $1,200 expenditure only drops down to $700 per year ($500 saving per year).... I'd probably start questioning if it was a good move.

This kind of thing is a little tricky to convey over the phone !

Broad Shoulders

Sure, would you be happy to invite a consultant into the house to talk through all the steps? I ask this as I know some people can feel wary of having a salesy person come around

asprilla

hmm, personally, no. I'd rather have the info on a piece of paper that I can look over, at my leisure... I'd rather not have a consultant visit me in the home, because that means I have to dedicate my time to a visit. Then if I had some queries I'd phone you up.

But that's just me - I'm sure there are lots of people out there who would actually prefer someone talking them through the details.

Zambia

I actually am looking into this at present.

In Victoria the rebate are not nearly as good as further North.

I really like the idea of the house paying its way. Heres the thing I dont know if I am going to be in the house 10 years from now. The initial outlay I am looking at could be 10,000 after recs. So if I sell the house will I see that cash again??

For this amount of money I want to be almost eliminating my electricity bill. Which at present runs at 1200 a year roughly. 3K system.

Do I want someone to call around no. I want a place I can go and they will talk me through the process.

moneypenny20

No it's me as well. I never understand why these people cannot publish figures that relate to most instances. They always say they have to come round and discuss it in person. No they don't. They can ask the size of the house, the number and age of the occupants and then send the paperwork out. If I'm interested and have all the costs etc in front of me I'm more likely to buy than if some 'consultant' is sitting in my living room preventing me from watching NCIS.

spartacus

We had a consultant around, probably a year ago, quoting us on installing a photovoltaic system. According to him, this system was the absolute bees knees . . . German technology, long life cells, highest yeild per panel yadda yadda . . . but he was after $16000, so pay back was something like fifteen years.

It's all way too murky. Prices are hidden, and costs seem to vary enormously with system type, as does longevity and power generated. The rebate system is convoluted and difficult to understand. There doesn't seem to be any long term guarantee that, when you sell electricity back to the grid, you'll continue to do so at whatever the price multiple is now (might be x2 can't remember). For the amount we spend on electricity (about $1200 a year) its currently just not worth the expenditure.

Broad Shoulders

But then people are also just as likely to hold a company accountable for a non-customised quote. I really don't think installing thousands of dollars worth of electrical equipment should be done by a "one-size fits all" online calculator. What happens if they rock up on the day to carry out the installation to find that you have some odd set up on your roof or the way your house is wired and they need to wait another few weeks for parts or will cost more than what was quoted? You wouldn't be happy with their service is my bet, nor would you be likely to recommend them to anyone.

I do believe that there is a certain amount that you could do online to pre-qualify the job but to fully quote I don't see any other option than a visit. Would you get a builder to quote on a renovation site unseen?

Broad Shoulders

what about a display home, one that was a normal home running everyday appliances with bills and reports on the running of the household's electricity usage over the previous year?

asprilla

I think if you could provide a potential customer with an example scenario, that might be useful... for example.


a) total current electricity usage in the house.
b) space available for solar panels, and max potential m2 solar panels that could be fitted on roof.
c) amount of energy that the solar panels would be generating on a sunny day, and on a cloudy day.
d) estimate of total energy being generated per year.... subtract this from (a) to work out potential savings.

Then I guess you could give the full costs of the product, and it would be up to the individual to determine whether or not it is a good investment.

Something like that anyway. good luck !

moneypenny20

No I wouldn't and I wouldn't expect that published info to be all I got. If I liked the look of the information and it made sense then I would have someone round and 'size up the job'.

I want more up front info than most companies are prepared to offer. If I see a leaflet for Solar Energy, I would like to see more detail on that leaflet. Why can't they say that as of this date, a solar energy panel x by x costs $x. That in general a 4 x 2 house with four occupants would require x panels. It would give me enough information to research further without having a pointless sales pitch.

Am I going off tangent here? I've had a really crap morning and am not in the best of moods but I've always felt advertising leaflets to be totally barren in giving actual information and it's always bugged me.

spartacus

How easy would that be to do? Very.

Why hasn't anyone done it before? Possibly because the outlay versus savings don't add up? . . .

I know a fair few people who spend more than $1000 a quarter on electricity. They are thinking about getting solar installed, when they may be better off just switching off two of their three fridge freezers.