First of all, a warm welcome to our BRAND NEW TVR Electrical blog! With so much going on within the energy market right now, and so many advances in renewable energy and associated technology like Solar Panels, Home Batteries, Electric Vehicles and EV Chargers … we thought it might help to share all we know, to help you navigate the latest developments within the market. We’ll be posting blogs from time-to-time covering various Electrical Services issues, so if you have any questions you’d like us to cover in future blogs please let us know, by leaving a comment below, or by email.
Now back to the main topic of this blog … Are you ready to Switch to Solar?
With the double whammy of geo-political instability around energy supply AND climate change, solar energy has never been more newsworthy or desirable. For those of our customers who have already successfully switched to solar, they already know the ream of benefits from cost-savings to the assurance that they have a safe and secure supply of power, let alone the environmental benefits. For those just embarking on their move to solar, we understand there are lots of questions you will have. In this blog I’ll answer (by far) the 2 most asked questions….
How much does solar cost?
How long does it take to pay for itself?
Well … it’s never ideal to answer a question with a question, but there are multiple things which will affect how much your solar installation will cost. How many panels will we be installing? How many stories is the building? Roof type (slate/ tile, pitched/ flat), What is your household energy usage? etc, etc.
A standard (4kW) system consists of 10-12 panels. Some homes are larger, with larger energy bills to match, and we are more than happy to help you with those too. But for the purpose of this blog, let’s assume it’s an average household installation. I’ve looked back over the last few 4kW systems we’ve priced-up for customers and the range is from £4800 to £5300. The equipment you choose (like inverter and optimiser) impact the installation costs of your system, but like most things, a higher investment increases performance, for example inverters and optimisers from SolarEdge will uplift the cost but increase performance.
The main benefit of solar comes from savings on your energy supply cost (I’ll cover the environmental benefits of solar in another blog). As our bills continue to spiral, these savings and the investment in solar are becoming more and more attractive to us all!
Payback times prior to energy cost increases were generally around 10 years. However, with the recent increase in electricity cost, and removal of VAT on solar PV installations payback times are usually 7-9 years. This will be sooner if energy costs increase further in Autumn 2022, which is looking likely (at the time of writing).
There are other benefits too, the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) allows you to receive payments for power sent back to the grid. Currently, I believe Octopus Energy have the best rate for this, with Octopus Outgoing Fixed customers receiving 7.5p for every unit exported! But with high electricity cost, reducing how much you buy in is key.
Do I need Solar Panels and a Home Battery?
We install very few systems without Home Batteries these days, like the Tesla Powerwall system (above). Batteries charge up during the day and allow you to run on solar long after the sun goes down. Personally, I had several days last year with no grid import at all (with a small battery and 4 of us in the house!). Looking again to recent quotes, battery systems range from £7500 to £ 8500. These quotes have all been GivEnergy hybrid systems which are great value for money.
We will always give you a price tailored to your own property, and power requirements and we offer bespoke expert advice on things like battery storage and which products are best for your household and budget. Please bear in mind that costs discussed here are accurate today (June 2022) but depending on when you’re reading this may have changed, for the most accurate costings please drop us a line.
We hope you have found this useful. Please do get in touch for a chat about your household energy requirements and a bespoke quote for your property. Thanks for reading and once again, if you have any questions you’d like us to cover in future blogs, please let us know by leaving a comment below, or ping us an email and we’ll do our best to answer your questions related to the services we offer at TVR Electrical.
Our website has much more info on various services reated to this blog, so you can read more about the following here >> Solar Panels >> Home Batteries >> EV Chargers or drop us a line on 01243 372319 or email at info@tvrelectrical.co.uk.
Thanks for reading!
Trevor and the TVR Team