D
danesol
I have looked through the thread and am surprised that there are folk who dont think PV is still worth the investment.
I purchased a 4kw system in mid 2011 so was fortunate to get in at the higher FIT rate but probably paid double than current market prices for my system at that time.
System prices have fallen,fit rates have fallen but investment returns from conventional deposits,annuities and everything else have also fallen if your looking for "risk free"
However if you are an isa investor in Cyprus at the moment the government there has just announced a smash and grab 10% levy on all personal savings deposits to help the national debt.
-I guess they would have a hard job ripping the panels of your roof once on -so what really can be a risk free investment in these times?
My own rough calculations proved to me,that for a one off upfront investment,the annual return would more or less cover my total annual gas and electricity bill for the next 25years
For the £5K upfront investment you are probably going to cover a significant proportion of your total energy bill for the next 20years.
Without turning this into an exact science with the math I am pretty sure inflation will continue to rise and energy costs also.
The government will also no doubt keep interfering with FIT and create more obstacles and rules to follow in the future-after all what else would they do
to justify themselves-sort out some "real" problems -I dont think so?
So it makes sense to buy sooner rather than later.
PV at this time is still a no brainer to invest in -where else can you get the the return against inflation and the nett added benefits of reducing your electricity costs?
ISA's in cash form wont even keep up with inflation so every year your savings will be worth less if you go that route,you could gamble on a horse or perhaps get lucky with
the stockmarket.....but for a virtually risk free investment return then as a householder you cant beat a PV system- provided you have the roof space to put one on!
Oh and if the country goes bust the government is unlikely to come round and nick the panels.........
I agree with the majority you state, but you can only install once and you like myself are very fortunate we did install when we did, but to suggest its even as good investment (financial return ) is wrong and if you are not going to be in the house more or less the full term, you wont get back the return anyway.
With regards the country going bust, which technically we already are at 4 trillion including pensions, the claim about PV thereafter is unjustified as if there is NO grid power your PV wont work anyway and will be dead electronics, unless that is you convert it to an island system