DECC launch FIT review

[SRE]

on the plus side, I think that in the right circumstances roof top commercial PV will still be reasonably financially viable if we can keep costs down.

UK PV costs though are so reliant on GBP / EUR exchange rates that any signficant rise could further decimate the industry, as there'll be no margins to absorb it.

Surely you're going to need volume to get the cost down though Gavin? I'm not even looking past December now - most of ours struggle to get a D rating with pv.

 

[whinmoor]

Isn't it going to be impossible to pay the wages of the workers during the downtime between jobs? The overheads are pretty steep in this industry. No one will want an install in January or February so there will be no income but still plenty of bills to pay. Hundreds of installers will fold during this period.

There may be scope for cheap gangs from Eastern Europe (or elsewhere) to go from job to job picking up work but keep on full-time staff will be tough.

I wonder how many will simply not both to renew RECC subscriptions which will be due on 1st Jan.

Of course, it's not just limited to installers. Other spin-off companies such as 4eco (immerSUN), Marlec (iBoost) and SunSolar (panels in Birmingham) will be royally shafted as well.

Talking of Birmingham, anyone thinking of going to the NEC in October? Imagine if you are an exhibitor and you've booked a stand for £thousands and you're planning to bring over a few reps for a week in the UK to expand your business. You're well and truly up the creek as well with no one to even visit your stand, let alone buy your product afterwards!

 

[Worcester]

With this level of cut for the FiT, I'm not holding my breath for any ongoing allocation, beyond the current budget commitment to March 2016 for the RHI either..

They've closed the Green Deal Finance Company, closing FiT, can't push the costs on to the energy companies due to them blaming the gov't for green 'tax levies'; will be difficult to see how they can justify support the RHI with those policies..

Just glad we restructured our business model 3 months ago...

 

[SolarCity]

I've never actually managed to get a delivery from them on time with the right invoice. Binned them last year.

They send me 7 screws through the post yesterday. And invoiced me for them also. I have no idea what that is all about. I haven't even been in contact with them since I shouted at one of their guys in the office.

 

[SolarCity]

The caps are a major issue. Imagine telling a customer that you have no idea what FIT rate they will get.

 

[solarsavings]

Anyone else seriously considering a tactical retreat now?

 

[SolarCity]

Anyone else seriously considering a tactical retreat now?

Yep. Solar will be a tiny market from now on. Not even worth spending the time messing with.

Lets have three cheers for all the suppliers also who have been quick on the trigger and raised their prices.

 

[SolarCity]

I'm working on an former Tory councillor's house today. I wonder what his take on it will be.

 

[SRE]

I'm working on an former Tory councillor's house today. I wonder what his take on it will be.

I'd be fixing it with hanger bolts if it were me.

 

[SRE]

With this level of cut for the FiT, I'm not holding my breath for any ongoing allocation, beyond the current budget commitment to March 2016 for the RHI either..

They've closed the Green Deal Finance Company, closing FiT, can't push the costs on to the energy companies due to them blaming the gov't for green 'tax levies'; will be difficult to see how they can justify support the RHI with those policies..

Just glad we restructured our business model 3 months ago...

We did too Gordon - house no 1 bought at auction completes this morning, house no 2 next week. We're still working on electrical and EV stuff but we've been in and out of property for 20 years and had planned this as a back up in case something like this happened. We'll take what we can until Christmas and then that's it.

 

[Energetic]

Anyone else seriously considering a tactical retreat now?

Sick to death of all the bullsh1t in this industry. Looking forward to a busy few months then moving on quite honestly.

 

[TedM]

There is another nasty wrinkle associated with the quarterly cap.

The change will mean that the EPC issued for the property will have to be dated before the installation's commissioning date rather than on or before the eligibility date as at present.

This means that the PV itself can no longer be counted towards the building's EPC. The required level will have to be achieved without it.

This is separate from the future potential change of increasing the requirement from a band 'D' to a band 'C', by which time the FiT will probably be less than 1p per kWh in any case.

Thinking a little more on this I guess the way around it is just to delay the commissioning for a day and get the EPC done with the PV already in place, if the assessor is amenable to that.

But then due to the quarterly cap every second counts in getting the highest tariff, so any delay is going to be nervy.

 

[SRE]

The figures are always weeks old though aren't they so how will anyone know which tariff they will get?

 

[whinmoor]

The figures are always weeks old though aren't they so how will anyone know which tariff they will get?

Does it honestly matter? Aren't you measuring the difference between something like 1.44p & 1.31p? That's going to translate into peanuts whichever way you look at it?

 

[SRE]

Fair point and it certainly won't affect us.