Minimum of 21 pence now guaranteed for installs up to 31/3/12

[sambotc]

Well thanks to everyone involved in this big fiasco, I got a nice letter confirming my redundancy this afternoon. Hopefully this news means the wheels can start turning again and the offer of a job may be available again in the not so distant future.

 

[dansk]

Well thanks to everyone involved in this big fiasco, I got a nice letter confirming my redundancy this afternoon. Hopefully this news means the wheels can start turning again and the offer of a job may be available again in the not so distant future.

sorry to hear that, this is the true cost of incompetance.

 

[Earthstore]

Ditto dansk..

 

[sambotc]

To be fair to my employer, theres only so long you can keep 18 fitters busy for before the true costs involved means there are no other options, and give him credit he waited until after christmas when in reality we all knew it was coming sooner or later. The court case in hindsight only made the situation worse, as it has for all off you, and is it all really worth it for what will now become only 2 more months at 43.3p at best?

I'm sure everyone would be happier if they used the court case as leverage to try and get them to back down on the EPC and stick with the 21p. To make matters worse the suppliers have prematurely dropped the price of kits which only emphasises the fact that everyone involved in the P.V industry has been creaming off a good margin while the rates were so high...

 

[The Launderer]

I have followed all of this daily, read information from many different sources.
The statement from REAL does not change a single thing.
It states the minimum will be 21p up until April (2 months)
There is no clarification that 21p is for the full 25 year term.
Until that statement it was 43.3p to April then reduced to 21p ( proposed ) for the remainder of the 25years.
So please take care if you are telling customers the FIT is 21p for the full 25 years, because this is not the case.

It was my understanding that customers signing up today would receive 43.3p up until 31st March. It was what happened after that that was unclear. For me the announcement on REAL is quite clear in that the customers installed between now and 31st March will receive 21p index linked and tax free for 25 years. Otherwise what was the point in making the announcement.

I am also assuming that customers installed between now and the 31st March will receive 43.3p up until the 31st March but for all the difference that makes during a Scottish winter I am not too bothered.

It is also my understanding that if the Government loses its appeal then the customer will get the full 43.3p for 25 years.

So unless someone can can convince me that REAL are deliberately trying to mislead us I will be telling customers that they will get 21p for 25 years guaranteed with a possibility of 43.3p.

 

[Earthstore]

Please contact REAL and get it in writing that it is 21p for 25yrs.
Still, maybe we should all wait yet another week, and watch the do do hit the fan....

 

[JD6400]

It was my understanding that customers signing up today would receive 43.3p up until 31st March. It was what happened after that that was unclear. For me the announcement on REAL is quite clear in that the customers installed between now and 31st March will receive 21p index linked and tax free for 25 years. Otherwise what was the point in making the announcement.

What was the point in most of what the ----ers have done !!!

All i know is we have now been nearly bitten not once but twice now by the incompetence of the powers that be and i for one am not risking it a third time , well not just yet anyway !

 

[The Launderer]

This is the statement:

"Following confirmation that there will be a hearing of their appeal against the JR finding we can now state the following regarding tariffs - which should help to reduce the uncertainty:

The tariff rate for PV installations less than or equal to 4kW will not fall below 21p for installations with an eligibility date between 12th December 2011 and 31st March 2012."

Lots of us have been writing to our MPs regarding the whole sorry mess. No doubt some of this correspondence is resulting in pressure on DECC resulting in this announcement.

 

[Surboy]

Personally I think that selling at 21p up until March is a safe bet. Have managed to build a pipeline of work with this for February. Too much doom and gloom but have realised there are still people out there interested in solar. Happy selling!

 

[Aquinas_Quark]

But - at 21p, what are we looking at - about 16-18 years before a customer recoups the cost of the installation + interest he would have had?

 

[The Launderer]

But - at 21p, what are we looking at - about 16-18 years before a customer recoups the cost of the installation + interest he would have had?

What interest would that be?

Best rate of interest I can find anywhere is 3.5%. Then you need to pay tax on that bringing down to 2.0 - 2.5%. With inflation running at nearly 5% the customer is losing his money keeping it in the bank.

Okay, inflation is a bit higher than normal but even if it drops its going to be a long time before interest rates start out performing inflation.

An investment in a PV system makes much more sense as its index linked and tax free. If you add in the money that you are not losing by keeping it in the bank the payback time on a PV system decreases.

So an invester in a PV system protects his capital, makes a profit and can feel good about the main reason for installing PV which is to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and help protect the planets future.

 

[moggy1968]

Your figures of 2.5% are poor, get yourself a new financial adviser! (my parents currently get 6% from their investments but the way). The return from PV needs to be significantly better than savings because once the money is spent on PV you no longer have access to the capital. At 16-18 years it isn't a worthwhile investment.