Free solar in Bristol

Bristol - Thousands of homeowners now have Free Solar installations from HomeSun.

Thanks to the government-backed Feed-in Tariff scheme, over the last eighteen months HomeSun has been able to supply and install thousands of solar panels free of charge on eligible roofs across the country, and to maintain the systems free of charge for 25 years.   Even with UK weather, solar could save homeowners a third off electricity bills.  We think that's pretty good! 

As a result, thousands of homeowners have saved a third on their electricity bills – like Mr Arnold from Petersfield who has saved an enormous £359 on his £1,062 bill. “Never-ending energy price rises don’t worry me so much now” says Mr Arnold. “I know I’m saving money with solar, and by only using the dishwasher and washing machine during the day, I’m saving even more than I thought I would.”

The government has proposed to cut the Feed-in Tariff from 12th December - and no-one will know what the new subsidy will be until mid-late January.  Until that subsidy is known, we are unable to offer or install any new free solar systems.  However, we are still taking applications and assessing roofs for solar and subsidised, so that when the tariff is announced we (and you) are ready and waiting. 

Eligibility isn't about wealth or health, it's about suitability of your roof for solar, and for one of our standard 16 panel systems.  When making an assessment, we are looking for the extent to which a roof meets certain criteria and at this stage the criteria aren't fixed because the Feed in Tariff isn't known. 

HomeSun remains completely committed to bringing down the cost of solar, making free electricity from the sun more accessible to more people, so please give us a few details by clicking the orange box at the top of the page.  We'll let you know if your roof could be eligible in principle for a subsidised solar package.

To give you a feel, the basic criteria for a free solar system are summarised below.

• Close to due south facing
• South of Hull (which Bristol is!) (the further south and west of the country, the more likely the system will be free)
• At least 20m2+ of unshaded area with clearance space around the panels
• More than 500 metres from the sea (which of course Bristol is!)

(unfortunately, we can’t work on flat roofs or listed buildings, and conservation areas are a bit of a challenge)

If we can’t do Free Solar, all is not lost!  For slightly less ‘solar perfect’ roofs, we have SolarShare– which involves a one off fee.  Until 12th December the one off fee was up to £500.  The new pricing will be announced once the reduced Feed in Tariff is released in January. 

Mr Arnold: Electricity usage ‘before solar’ 2009/10 was 8,246 units / Electricity usage 2010/11 ‘with solar’ was 5,459 units. Total savings of 2,787 units, at 12.8p per units, which equates to £358.97 saved.