5.6kw for 500 quid?!

[SolarCity]

It absolutely IS a scam.

Read their web site. There is no mention of FITs - simply grants. Their very front page is totally misleading (deliberately). Their salespeople claim that the customer DOES keep the FITs AND free electricity benefits.

 

[JulianC]

Oooh look, Penny and Lanx74 both work for energysavinggroup.con

Pair of losers.

I have nothing against these rent a roof schemes and am sure it suits some people. But to dress it up as something else and charge £500 for the privilege? Bloody disgraceful.

 

[SolarCity]

I have nothing against these rent a roof schemes and am sure it suits some people. But to dress it up as something else and charge £500 for the privilege? Bloody disgraceful.

Absolutely. Free solar panels are great for those that can't afford them.

Misleading the public like the Energy Saving Group is doing is an absolute disgrace.

There is hardly a customer in our area that hasn't been approached by these people. One of the customers we are dealing with right now has actually paid out £500 and is awaiting a refund.

 

[Noshocks]

Same here, customer i went to the other day had paid £500 and was told he could have the £0.03 export tariff, he was then told that they had changed their policy and knowones offering this now, no sign of a refund, it may not be a scam but it doesent smell right.

 

[SolarCity]

Same here, customer i went to the other day had paid £500 and was told he could have the £0.03 export tariff, he was then told that they had changed their policy and knowones offering this now, no sign of a refund, it may not be a scam but it doesent smell right.

That's exactly the same as the situation with our customer. They announced they changed their policy and he is now trying to get his money back.

 

[Noshocks]

The free schemes are on the way out for sure, as a business model it has at least one problem, capital, you need loads of it, only one or two will survive and probably the onnes that deal with social housing, councils wouldent allow them to go bust.

 

[Lanx74]

Oooh look, Penny and Lanx74 both work for energysavinggroup.con

Pair of losers.

I have nothing against these rent a roof schemes and am sure it suits some people. But to dress it up as something else and charge £500 for the privilege? Bloody disgraceful.

Firstly Julian, thank you for the compliment, it was highly deserved based on the venom in my post and I'm sure your proud of yourself.

Secondly, I don't work for them, simply doing my research into a similar outlet and looking for opportunities like we all are.

In addition, it seems that the criteria for the free systems is very strict on orientation and roof size and therefore a majority of people who want the free panels simply cannot. As I can make out, energy saving group are doing the ones that are off south as well, and smaller roofs than free systems qualify for?

Surely the ones who go to them in the first place have looked at the free option first and been refused as sub optimum ( like I have )

 

[Pleasereadthis]

I am an employee of Energy Saving Group, should i say self employed. We do offer systems up to 5.6 kw for £500 on any orientation of roof bar north facing, our installs are sub contracted out to a named company who have undetaken all of our work. The inital additional payment of £0.03 p per exported unit was agreed with another company who then decided to plug the contract as it wasn't deemed financially inadequate for them.

We all know how it works... you are better off installing and paying for your investment independently even though it is a longer term investment, as you get 41.3 p per unit plus reductions on your electricity bill as well as 3 p for every unit you are exporting that is not used. We provide customers with Schuco Panels with a 1.9kwh output.

This isn't a CON it gives people who aren't as lucky as the small minority of us, perhaps 3% of all domestic households that are entitled to free systems or the more affluent or settled households that can afford to invest in a full priced system. Some people within the company may not know this which does obviously cause fractions for the company as people are not dealing on the same wave length. If you want to delete my post you are more than welcome to. But i do ensure you that this isn't a con and there are many happy companies within my area of work.

Thank you for your time

 

[SRE]

I am an employee of Energy Saving Group, should i say self employed. We do offer systems up to 5.6 kw for £500 on any orientation of roof bar north facing, our installs are sub contracted out to a named company who have undetaken all of our work. The inital additional payment of £0.03 p per exported unit was agreed with another company who then decided to plug the contract as it wasn't deemed financially inadequate for them.

We all know how it works... you are better off installing and paying for your investment independently even though it is a longer term investment, as you get 41.3 p per unit plus reductions on your electricity bill as well as 3 p for every unit you are exporting that is not used. We provide customers with Schuco Panels with a 1.9kwh output.

This isn't a CON it gives people who aren't as lucky as the small minority of us, perhaps 3% of all domestic households that are entitled to free systems or the more affluent or settled households that can afford to invest in a full priced system. Some people within the company may not know this which does obviously cause fractions for the company as people are not dealing on the same wave length. If you want to delete my post you are more than welcome to. But i do ensure you that this isn't a con and there are many happy companies within my area of work.

Thank you for your time

Is that the same company who quoted for a 3.9kwp system (on a house that could only physically fit 2.2kwp on it ) to an elderly couple and told the same couple that they could have their existing solar thermal moved and then claim for the RHI (which hadn't been agreed at the time) even though they had already had the LCBP grant 4 years ago. Exactly the same name - but could obviously be a coincidence....

 

[Pleasereadthis]

Were you not aware you could back date your RHI? And if this is an electricians forum what relevance does this have?

As for fitting a system of that size on a roof that obviously cannot hold it that pretty pointless, possibly a mistake.... maybe its the fact that business is being taken from you?

If you had the initial money to input would you not run a scheme like this? Benefiting from 15 years of profit through the FIT scheme? Obviously your reputation and income isn't that substantial

 

[Markc]

.... maybe its the fact that business is being taken from you?

If you had the initial money to input would you not run a scheme like this? Benefiting from 15 years of profit through the FIT scheme? Obviously your reputation and income isn't that substantial

I don't see these "Free" systems as taking any business away form my company at all and in fact I can very easily and straight forwardly prove these systems as financially un-beneficial by providing independent evidence such as Which, Martin Lewis etc who all state it is better to borrow the money to have an installation over a "free" one. I was worried coming on a year ago but now, No, The people who have a "Free" system are not my customers anyway.

In truth NO. The risk is to great and only time will tell on this. There is no more prove of return now than there was last year. A change of government or policy could see the FITs by the way side and that would affect ALL our business. The introduction of the Green Investment Bank (if introduced to the full extent it originally was proposed to be) will see these "free" system wiped off the planet. A company offering these has to be heavily in debt with either the bank or investors so the risk is greater here than what I do.

As for reputation and income it's as substantial as it needs to be and in good order. I pride myself on providing honest clear advice which is backed up by having over forty years trading history.

If you can't win an argument there's no need to resort to snide comments. You are doing well I trust with what you are offering and good luck to you for doing well but lets make one very clear point, you are offering nothing to a customer we don't. In fact you are offering less. All this profit your company is gaining isn't there yet and it will be some time before it is. I on the other hand have it in the bank.

 

[SolarCity]

Allow me to quote from the website:

"Full Renewable Energy Survey Including:

Solar PV Installed up to 5.6kw
for only£500.00

Fully Installed and Maintained for 25 years

(Typical cost if purchased outside of offer - £28,220 for the system plus £3,750 maintenance agreement)"

Now, the bit at the bottom is the crucial part. It is deliberately misleading. A 5.6kW system from which you do not receive FITs is not installed for £28,220. For your information, this system would take around 70 years to pay for itself if the FITs weren't offered. There is no mention whatsoever of the FITs on your website.

The sale people are either drastically and unethically untrained or deliberately lying. How do I know? One of them was on my drive one morning explaining that the FITs were kept by the customer.

I'll be frank - there is a market for the free solar panel installers in this market as long as the ones that offer it are ethical and transparent. The Energy Saving Group, in my opinion, is neither of these things, and is in fact a blight on our industry and we'd all be better off without them.

​

 

[SRE]

Were you not aware you could back date your RHI? And if this is an electricians forum what relevance does this have?

As for fitting a system of that size on a roof that obviously cannot hold it that pretty pointless, possibly a mistake.... maybe its the fact that business is being taken from you?

If you had the initial money to input would you not run a scheme like this? Benefiting from 15 years of profit through the FIT scheme? Obviously your reputation and income isn't that substantial

I have the money to invest - I chose not to. My reputation nationally in my field is excellent thanks and I have recognition from Prince Charles and Al Gore for the work I've done over the last 20 years. As Mark says if you're doing well then congratulations - we're all striving to achieve the same thing honest, decent work for an honest decent day's pay. We didn't sell to the elderly couple because they couldn't afford it and my conscience wouldn't let me.

 

[TedM]

Please read this - perhaps you are unaware that as from 1st March 2011 the Advertising Standards Authority also have responsibility for handling complaints about a company's website contents?

New online remit - Advertising Standards Authority

This now allows members of the public to complain to the ASA about marketing material on websites. All they have to do is complete a simple online complaint form here Step 1 - Advertising Standards Authority

It only takes about 10 minutes.

 

[Worcester]

Domain name:
energysavinggroup.co.uk

Registrant:
Steven Dickson

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
Quarry House
Fox Lane
Bromsgrove
Worcestershire
B61 7NG
United Kingdom


Perhaps I'll ask them to come and quote my dad.