Changes to FIT coming sooner that we thought!

[PowerFlexEnergy]

So on top of the design, suitability checks, making sure that the customer has no other systems working, providing drawings, schematics, providing quotes in the right format, providing a maths model of payback, you will have to have a look at the boiler, the cavity wall insulation, the loft, the windows, the freezer, draughts excluder and the windows.

Or we pay a consultant £750 to come and and tell the customer he has to spend £4000 getting the house up to band C before we can offer an install.

Plus of course you will be competing on price with 25,000 installers all chasing 10% of the volume that is available now.

All to be able to offer a 5% return on capital tied up on his roof.

At least with a bank you can get your money back. Or maybe not if they go skint as well.

 

[ACEELEC]

please find attached document released this afternoon outlining timescale and paymentsView attachment 001_3373-solar-pv-consumer-guide.pdf

 

[TedM]

EPCs have to be carried out by certified Domestic Energy Assessors. Costs vary but should not be much more than about £50 for a normal house. This includes a standard report that details the grade for the house as it stands, what improvement work can be carried out and what the resulting grade would be.

Carrying out the work to get to a grade C (or as high as is possible if C isn't attainable) can be done over the following 12 months. But AIUI the 21p rate won't get paid until that work is done.

 

[moggy1968]

and the cost of that work will negate any value from the tariff, same as it did under the old grant system and some older houses will never achieve that level

 

[solarfred]

EPCs have to be carried out by certified Domestic Energy Assessors. Costs vary but should not be much more than about £50 for a normal house. This includes a standard report that details the grade for the house as it stands, what improvement work can be carried out and what the resulting grade would be.

Carrying out the work to get to a grade C (or as high as is possible if C isn't attainable) can be done over the following 12 months. But AIUI the 21p rate won't get paid until that work is done.

So a subsidised job at £50? Subsidised by whom? (no need to answer that). Gi's a job - I can do that.

 

[TedM]

It's not a subsidised amount. That's what a DEA can charge for about half a days work. That also includes a (I think) £9 certification fee for entering the EPC onto a central database.

All the DEAs got shafted when the government binned HIPs so there are more DEAs than work at the moment. Sound familiar?

One of my neighbours is a DEA, and pretty bitter about it too.

 

[moggy1968]

yep, they did rodger them as well at no notice. felt pretty sorry for them at the time. job one week, dole queue the next. better get used to it though!!!!!

 

[solarfred]

Unbelievable....
When HIP's came in I put my house "on the market" with my local agency and said it stays there until I decide to sell. That way it was outside the regulation which I considered to be insulting.

 

[Maff]

Earlier this month the government had a meeting with the big 6 and came away telling us to 'switch' to find a better deal, then a month later they rip the spine out of the solar PV industry, funny but i bet there is a statement from the big 6 coming saying that they are freezing their prices.
Our freind Gregg banging on about each consummer having to subsidise the FITs at £27 a year, buts it ok for EDF to make £125 a year out of my pocket.

We are a newly accredited company (2 man), we have no jobs on the books, as we were in the middle of an advertising strategy,we went to Brum on Friday made some nice contacts now it seems all for nothing.

If anyone in West Kent/East Sussex needs a hand rushing through any installs give me a PM

 

[Mark Davey]

please find attached document released this afternoon outlining timescale and payments001_3373-solar-pv-consumer-guide.pdf​

excellent info, please can you tell me where you found it??

 

[solarfred]

That's all very well but the planning office is allowed to sit on an application for 8 weeks! So all the time and expense already expended will be for nowt but the council will cash their fee cheque for telling us we do not need planning permission - go ahead with your planned installation. Sorry but it will only be worth slightly less than half what you proposed though. The bonus is, if you are quick, we will not send a man round to charge your client a few thousand to upgrade their house to maintain that level as the poor sods will have to do from April 2012.

 

[jupestar]

We've two church's who have just shelled out £500 each for pre-planning, and planning fees. We put in for DNO at the same time to cover risk of not getting installed before the 'planned' April cut (Doh). Three community centre's doing the same, a sailing club and a squash and tennis club. All lost out on planning applications. Not to mention all the farmers.

If they were MP's i'm sure they could expense these costs.

The loss of margins won't kill it customer confidence will.

 

[solarfred]

The loss of margins won't kill it customer confidence will.

Spot on!! It's a "trust" thing.

 

[GreggElectrical]

I have exactly the same problem with a church. Because they are fitting a new stainless steel roof the work was scheduled for Feb to meet the FIT deadline. It has been in the planning for over 6 months!

 

[TedM]

please find attached document released this afternoon outlining timescale and payments001_3373-solar-pv-consumer-guide.pdf​

excellent info, please can you tell me where you found it??

That looks like an updated version of the EST document that was leaked last week.

 

[Scooby]

Every PV installer - and customer - should be writing to their MPs citing actual examples of the damage being done, of which there are many on this thread alone. They need to understand the reality of this unanticipated cut, bearing in mind that the population at large, and many installers too, had good reason to believe nothing would change until next April. We have been completely wrong-footed.

Keep the language un-emotive and inoffensive. Don't be sarcastic, belligerent or rude. The actual stories themselves speak more loudly than any snide comment, so cite cold hard facts; churches losing £100s of pounds on wasted planning fees, domestic customers potentially losing deposits as they feel it unviable to proceed, companies laying off apprentices, companies even folding...

If you have a story to tell, then tell it.

 

[The Launderer]

I dont think it will make much difference but I have written to my MP again and asked for her comments. First letter has had no reply so far

 

[seprim]

Every PV installer - and customer - should be writing to their MPs citing actual examples of the damage being done, of which there are many on this thread alone. They need to understand the reality of this unanticipated cut, bearing in mind that the population at large, and many installers too, had good reason to believe nothing would change until next April. We have been completely wrong-footed.

Keep the language un-emotive and inoffensive. Don't be sarcastic, belligerent or rude. The actual stories themselves speak more loudly than any snide comment, so cite cold hard facts; churches losing £100s of pounds on wasted planning fees, domestic customers potentially losing deposits as they feel it unviable to proceed, companies laying off apprentices, companies even folding...

If you have a story to tell, then tell it.

You nailed it Scooby

Well done

 

[SolarCity]

I've written to my MP - I actually do this quite a lot anyway as I'm a bit of an opinionated so and so (not that you'd tell, right?!)

Normally get a non-generic reply within a week or so.

 

[series530]

Every PV installer - and customer - should be writing to their MPs citing actual examples of the damage being done, of which there are many on this thread alone. They need to understand the reality of this unanticipated cut, bearing in mind that the population at large, and many installers too, had good reason to believe nothing would change until next April. We have been completely wrong-footed.

Keep the language un-emotive and inoffensive. Don't be sarcastic, belligerent or rude. The actual stories themselves speak more loudly than any snide comment, so cite cold hard facts; churches losing £100s of pounds on wasted planning fees, domestic customers potentially losing deposits as they feel it unviable to proceed, companies laying off apprentices, companies even folding...

If you have a story to tell, then tell it.

I have just written to my MP - the first time in my life to ever have done so.

I have received a lot of useful and helpful advice from people on here and want to try to give something back. My letter wont make a difference. Who knows though: if we all do it, maybe something will happen.

Fingers crossed for all of you.

 

[Aquinas_Quark]

How long does it normally take for the FiT certificate to be received and processed By the energy supplier after the install has been completed?

Sent FIT application to nPower 14th Sept, still getting told on the 'phone "you should get a letter by the end of this week...or early next week".....ho hum!

 

[GaryM]

Sent FIT application to nPower 14th Sept, still getting told on the 'phone "you should get a letter by the end of this week...or early next week".....ho hum!

Have they acknowledged receipt?
I asked EDF how it worked with them and they said that as soon as they receive the FiT then you're in so to speak even though it can take up to two weeks to process.

 

[SolarCity]

I wonder if the MCS website will be able to cope with the increased load. Can you imagine the uproar if their site goes down for a couple of days on Dec 8th?

 

[GaryM]

There will be some very unhappy customers, that's for sure. Another thing for sure is that I doubt they will understand!

 

[jupestar]

Yeah we have got s few unhappy customers (cause they were awaiting DNO/Planning) - one site that managed to get it's permissions through is a Conservative Club..............

It'll probably be the last install we complete before the deadline. How ironic is that.

 

[Aquinas_Quark]

I am about to place an order for a 4kw system. I am now worried that it will not be installed and passed off in time. I have seen the question asked on this thread three times but it has not been answered.

How long does it take from install to completion and signing off so the still gets the current FiT payment, One week?, six weeks???? ie if it is installed next week, when will it all be passed off paper work wise?

If I am not given a set in stone guarantee by the installer that it will all be done before 8th December, I cannot go ahead with the order.

We had an install done in one day, it was commissioned by evening, we sent the FIT application off the next day. You need the MCS certificate, and read the generation meter (ours read 0 obviously). HOWEVER 17 days later I am still chasing nPower for an acknowledgement. BUT I have a proof of delivery with Recorded Mail and I believe the important date is the date RECEIVED by the energy supplier. Cheers.

 

[Aquinas_Quark]

Have they acknowledged receipt?
I asked EDF how it worked with them and they said that as soon as they receive the FiT then you're in so to speak even though it can take up to two weeks to process.

No acknowledgement given, but I have Recorded Delivery confirmation of receipt. "Up to 2 weeks" with nPower means 3 months, so I will be less than polite this week when I call them!

 

[Aquinas_Quark]

please find attached document released this afternoon outlining timescale and paymentsView attachment 8521

What is the address of the website this is from? Thanks.

 

[Aquinas_Quark]

If interest rates were higher would people choose to invest in PV after all investment is all about the rate of return on the money invested

I don't understand this: all this talk of 10-12% return on a solar PV installation. If you have £10K in a bank at 4%, you still HAVE the capital. With solar PV it's GONE. So I would say that at 43.3p/kWh you may get an EFFECTIVE return of say about 6%, with 21p/kWh NO WAY!
Am I wrong?

 

[Aquinas_Quark]

Furthermore - is anyone planning retaliation when the government (or any future one) says - we need a new hospital/school/olympicfunslide and can't keep paying 43.3p/kWh to those who installed in 2011? I look forward to a strictly middle-class riot - looting at Debenhams, then M&S for 7:30 sharp......?