Jleaf Solar is a family-owned company specialising in the supply and installation of green, energy-efficient and cost-effective PV solar panels for both homes and businesses. With the costs of electricity soaring, there’s never been a better time to join the ever-growing band of people who are now producing their own electricity by harnessing the power of the sun. PV solar panels could save you up to £140 per year off your domestic electricity bill and, what’s more earn you a government-backed income of between £1,000 and £1,200 each year through a scheme called Feed In Tariffs. The best part of all is that this amount is guaranteed by the government for the next 25 years. Doesn’t it make sense to save a fortune and earn one at the same time?
Jleaf Solar No 1 for the supply and installation of energy-efficient PV solar panels in Manchester
So how can Photovoltaic cells save and yet earn you money at the same time?
The Costs
The average cost of a PV solar panel installation is estimated to be between £8,000 and £12,000, though that does depend on a number of variable factors like the size of house and its orientation. That’s a lot of money to invest, but when you consider the alternatives of low-rate ISAs and poor general interest rates, solar-generated electricity schemes start to look financially attractive. You could put that money into an ISA of course and it would be safe, but you’d be hard-pushed to find anywhere that would give you a return better than 3% these days. So the best you could stand to gain is £375 per year.
The Benefits
The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) introduced a new scheme on 1 April 2010 called Feed-In Tariffs (FIT) in an attempt to address some of the issues surrounding energy resource depletion and green house gas emissions. It did this to encourage homeowners and businesses to invest in renewable energy sources like solar electricity panels. Under the scheme energy suppliers have to make regular payments to those households and communities that generate their own electricity using low-carbon sources like solar panels. Households that do generate electricity this way are guaranteed at least a minimum payment for all the energy that’s produced. Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) have been designed to ensure that the average monthly income generated will significantly exceed the monthly cost of purchasing and installing the technology. FITs are made up of 2 separate elements: a generation tariff and an export tariff.
Jleaf Solar – Manchester’s premier supplier and installer of PV solar panels
So how much can you earn by generating solar panel energy?
A typical domestic solar electricity system, with an installation size of 2.7 kWp could earn around:
- £990 per year from the Generation Tariff
- £40 per year from the Export Tariff
- £140 per year reduction in current electricity bills.
This gives a total saving of around £1,170 per year, assuming 50% of the total electricity generated is exported back to the grid. The figure obviously varies depending upon how much is exported. It’s estimated that it takes on average approximately 10 years to fully recoup the cost of the initial installation, though certain government grants are available to reduce these installation costs for qualifying households. The important point to remember is that these Feed-In Tariff payments are guaranteed to continue for 25 years after the installation. Effectively what this means is that at the end of 25 years any household that invested £12,000 in a PV solar panel system will have received back £29,250 in total. That’s a return on investment of over 9% a year.
For further information why not give us a ring on 0161 408 2401? Alternatively have a look at our website www.jleafsolar.co.uk, or email us at help@jleafsolar.co.uk for full details of the services we offer.