Future for installers

[stevechorner]

i think that the potential customers are going to be stagnant for a little while as the new pricing structure sinks in. I think its rather like a house that you get told is worth 300k then when you come to sell it it goes on the market for 275k ! you think you have lost 25k when in reality you never had it in the first place.

The PV will be much the same, as people will still get a return on their investment albeit extended by a further 6-7 years, but how many home improvements actually pay for themselves over time?

The price of electricity will only increase, yes you wont be able to sell as readily as we have before, but ultimately people will come rounf to buying again.

Those companies without any other revenue streams are going to suffer the most, but ultimately there is still a good PV market albeit we are going to have to work that bit harder to sell it, and we wont be able to kick each other in the nuts and keep dropping the prices!

I only wish that this were the case but I'm afraid I can't agree. Basically you will still gt business from rich people with money to spend but the average previous majority will not spend their savings for the 2 very good reasons that we simply can't get away from.

Firstly, to get most houses to Level C will cost - sometimes massively to the average person putting PV out of the question, and,

Secondly, the rate of return to break even will be much longer - longer than many older people will live for to be honest - and they would be better served as pensioners by investing their money in bonds where they can get their hands on it. Younger people would be better investing it in their growing families. I'm afraid the announcement is very very serious to the future of PV for the average person and what is still requested will be nowhere near enough to keep people employed. Very sad days coming up for many people I feel. I am one of the lucky ones having installed 2 weeks ago but there would be more chance of me visiting the moon than there would have been in me investing in PV post April 2012.

To all you genuine (most) installers out there I wish the very best. Try and get your business planning hats on as much as you can cos you have some big decisions to make. Good luck to you all.