Solar water cost and ROI

Our panels (a pair of evacuated tube panels) set us back of the order of £9000 in (if I remember correctly) 2004. With hindsight, I think we did this too early - the price of a similar system has now dropped considerably (more like £2500-5000, apparently). We're probably saving £50-80 a year, so the ROI time is... a while yet.

On which topic, it's worth noting that our suppliers went out of business, and were taken to court indirectly over their rather inflated ROI claims, and we did get £4000 back as a result. We're currently using the local Peterborough Boiler Services to maintain our system (not that it needs much!), and are pretty happy with them.

It's also worth noting that there are two government incentive payments for solar hot water, one of which is available now, one to come. The one available now is the Renewable Heat Premium Payment, which is (or pretty much was since the deadline is March 31st) a scheme which pays £300 for any solar water heating install since Aug 1st 2011. The future one is the Renewable Heat Incentive - basically, if you've installed since 15th July 2009 (bother!), you will be eligible for some form of payment similar to the solar PV Feed-In Tariff.

As I said, with hindsight, we should probably have left it a couple of years: I'll get some stats upon a subsequent post for the last few years' gas bills, so you can see how much we've saved. Either that or I'll give Anne posting rights on this blog, and she can!