7 Benefits of solar powering your home

Aside from the obvious environmental reasons, there are plenty more benefits to solar powering your home. Here is the low down on how solar energy can benefit your pocket, your home and the world.

Although you will still rely on the National Grid for some of your power, solar powering your home will drastically reduce those bills, by as much as half. 

It may be difficult to predict how much by as this figure is likely to change month on month. Depending on whether you opt for Solar PV or Solar Thermal, this decision will also have a large impact on your energy bills.

Credit: Alla Tsyganova

To encourage more people to go green, the government introduced subsidiaries to those supplying their own energy. This is called the Feed-in Tariff, and it works by selling your excess energy back to the National Grid.

When it was first launched it was common to see pay outs of over £1,100, but this has been cut back and stands at £630 in 2014.  All the same, with the cut in utility bills and a subsidiary from the government, you will be better off than you were previously.

Although subsidiaries have decreased over the years, so too has the price of the panels themselves. Now a system will cost you (on average) between £3,000 and £7,000 dependent on the type of system you install. A few years ago it would have set you back £10,000. We are likely to continue to see these figures fall.

Credit: terra24

Typically a system will be guaranteed for 25 years. And generally speaking you don’t have to do anything, although light cleaning from time to time is generally advised, this shouldn’t require too much attention.

As previously mentioned you can expect to see your system in working order for 25 years, else it will be replaced with no fuss. In fact if you opt for a Solar Thermal system then it will most likely outlive your boiler, but that’s not an issue either as it’s just a matter of reconnecting the wires.

Credit: anatoliy_gleb

Some companies will offer to fit your system for free, although this may eradicate that costly initial pay out you will have to wave fair-well to the subsidiaries.

Make sure to check what is offered by the company supplying your system, and do your research to see how this will affect your financial situation, to make sure you're making the best decision for you and your home. 

Utility bills are a point of contention, ever increasing profits and ever increasing bills. The truth is, you can’t predict where the cost of Solar set-up might go although it seems to be decreasing at a steady rate.

Whether that means you keep paying high utility rates and wait for costs to come down, or you buy your solar energy system now and get off the National Grid is up to you.

Banner credit: sl-f

Read more: Is your cup of tea silently hijacking your energy bill? 

Read more: The UK's going green, but which energy tariff should you use? 

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