"Nigel" wrote in message ...
Hi,

Does any one know of a site where you can roughly work out how mush money
you will save with solar panels. We are thinking of getting them put we
need to work how much we will save and how many years it would take to get
the money back.

Thanks

Nigel

The consensus seems to be ( dons tin helmet ) that these things will never
pay for themselves if installed professionally. One might as well take the
umpteen thousand and put it in the bank at 5%. I've seen costs of £13,000
mentioned! That'd return
£650/year at 5% not including the effects of compounding. Try and squeeze
£650/year out of a solar panel(s), and you lose your capital as well.

Even installation costs of half that could still not recoup the outlay.

The way to evaluate these things is to see what the annual saving is as a
percentage of initial outlay, expressed as a percentage. Would you put your
money in a bank that returned 1% or 2% and kept the capital ?

I would say the only way to get a decent return is if you DIY the lot, with
a good situation i.e. a south facing roof.

As has been mentioned, if you want strategic isolation from the vagaries of
the gas and electric supply, that's another thing altogether.