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Since the government introduced the Feed-in Tariff, some companies have offered to install free solar panels.
This means the supplier will take the Feed-in Tariff rates, but you’ll benefit from all the free electricity you can generate.
If you want to keep your income for the Feed-in Tariff, consider buying your solar panels outright.
Tired of your annual energy bills constantly changing? By generating your own electricity, you can fight fluctuating prices by keeping as much as 50% of your energy completely free. What’s more, it’s environmentally friendly.
You don’t pay for the cost of the equipment, maintenance or installation; you just reap the rewards of free electricity. However, you won’t earn money for generating your own electricity. If you would like to be paid for generating your own energy and make a good return on your investment, you might want to consider buying solar panels.
Free solar panel installers will only install on roofs at least 19m2. If you have a smaller roof, solar panels could still be a great investment thanks to the Feed-in Tariff, but you will have to buy your own solar panels. There are also lots of great finance and loan options to help you if you want to buy solar panels.
Since the government introduced the Feed-in Tariff, some companies have offered to install free solar panels. This means the supplier will take the Feed-in Tariff rates, but you’ll still benefit from all the free electricity you can generate.
If you want to keep your income for the Feed-in Tariff, consider buying your solar panels outright.
To qualify for solar panels for free, you need quite a big roof - about 19m2. You’re usually OK if:
You may be turned down for free solar if your house is one of these following types:
Don’t worry, if your roof isn’t that big you can still invest in solar panels by buying them outright. The added bonus? Not only will you halve your energy bills, but you’ll earn money from them too. And if you can’t afford the upfront cost there is financing and loans available. Find out how to buy solar panels.
In return for installing and maintaining your solar panels, your solar installer will earn the income generated from the Feed-in Tariff.
So you get free solar panels and free electricity while the installer continues to own the solar panels and collects the Feed-in Tariff payments from the government.
However, it is worth noting that installers that offer free solar panels have a few more stipulations about what kind of home is suitable than if you bought them outright. To find out if you qualify for free solar panels, you’ll need to ask a few questions first:
If you want free solar panels, your roof must also be South facing - the optimum position to collect energy from the sun. If your roof is not South facing don’t worry, you can still buy solar panels, cutting your bills in half and earning you money through the Feed-in Tariff.
You may be turned down for free solar panels if…
Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are installed on your roof and collect energy from from the sun to generate energy. This solar energy is used as electricity in your home, powering everything from your lights to your washing machine.
We know it's a big decision, so we've tried to cover all the details you'll need in our guides below. If you still have any questions just let us know on customerservices@uswitch.com
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A 3kW 12 solar panel system, with a tilt of 30 degrees, South facing, with no shading and a 0.8 constant (used to make the calculation accurate for UK conditions), will generate 2575 Kwhs of electricity per year. By signing up to the Feed-in Tariff, you can earn 15.44p for every unit of electricity generated (£397), plus 4.5p for every unit sold back to the Grid (£57) meaning total Feed-in Tariff earnings of £455. By adding together the savings on electricity and the earnings on the Feed-in Tariff, you get a total saving of £640. Over the 20 years of the feed-in tariff, this means total income of £12,819.