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J

Jaycee

Gents

Why is it there are so many companies that are both installers and suppliers of PV products?

It Just doesn't work like that in other trades, you have an installer and a supplier, why is solar so different?
 
Is the PV supply Iindustry that weak that installers have to take it opon themselves to finance the supply of their own products?

How many sparks keep any stock, they just don't, they just use an electrical wholesaler.
 
Is the PV supply Iindustry that weak that installers have to take it opon themselves to finance the supply of their own products?

Well with all these deadlines because of the FIT, there is no stability, flat out then nothing, the flat out..
If, as a company you are flat out installing, and buying panels at let's say £200, however if you buy an artic full, you can buy at let's say £130, then why not wholesale them aswel, it makes perfect sense.

Of course if wholesalers did not take credit away when it became busy, and could maintain a supply at reasonable prices, I am sure that the installers would not be wholesaling.

It is just market forces, unfortunatly they are all over the place.
 
Their are suppliers that are willing to give credit, they are electrical wholesalers, if PV installers used them then they would keep stock in depth, the thing that stops them is the solar industry is seen as new and un-established, and the stock holding is a lot more than a few drums of cable.
 
Speaking for others here, there have been many cases on here where PV companies have had their credit reduced, or even stopped and had to pay upfront with order when things got busy in December.

To be held to ransom by a supplier is not the way forward for long tem trading, all we all need is some stability, but sadly it is all controlled by the Government, who, quite frankly, have not got a clue.
 
The companies that withdrew credit,mainly one beginning with S, are PV suppliers, with little experience of wholesaling, unlike your electrical wholesaler, who has been in the trade for over 100 years in the large wholesalers cases.
 
Their are suppliers that are willing to give credit, they are electrical wholesalers, if PV installers used them then they would keep stock in depth, the thing that stops them is the solar industry is seen as new and un-established, and the stock holding is a lot more than a few drums of cable.

In the December rush we ended up having to source some panels from other places than our usual supplier , we got them from city's who we already dealt with on the day to day contracting side .
Not only did they pull it out of the bag and deliver all that was ordered on time but they also upped our credit limit by over £150,000 to do so with no questions asked !
 
In the December rush we ended up having to source some panels from other places than our usual supplier , we got them from city's who we already dealt with on the day to day contracting side .
Not only did they pull it out of the bag and deliver all that was ordered on time but they also upped our credit limit by over £150,000 to do so with no questions asked !

Fair play to them, all done when every PV supplier wanted payment up front.

Electrical wholesalers can do this, PV suppliers just don't have the credit ( both to their customers, and suppliers ) in place to do so.
 
In the mad rush last year, we did not withdraw any credit availability to existing customers, nor did we increase our prices (as we easily could have done). We took the view that we should do our best to provide good service those who were our customers in previous months. One of the problems many suppliers experienced, was that we had companies we had never dealt with before calling and asking for new credit accounts. The reality was that we had no trading history with these companies, and were unlikely to hear from them again after the rush died down. There was also a question over how many existing companies would weather the inevitable quiet time in January.

I think the tightening of credit in that period is understandable, although stopping existing credit accounts is questionable.

One of the other major reasons for lack of credit availability in PV is that the majority of companies are new, and as a result can be credit risks that suppliers are unable to get credit insurance on. There are also many companies that will set up a new ltd company - eg "Joe Bloggs Solar" which is part of "Joe Bloggs Electrical" but with no cross company guarantee. This is a much bigger factor in credit being refused rather than there being a lack of finance to provide it, or a lack of credit with manufacturers higher up the chain.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
We only discovered pv supply mid last year, I only wish we had found it a few years back
 

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