Family saving 50 per cent on energy bills

Published on Monday, Jan 16 2012 by John Woods

A Scunthorpe family has reported saving 50 per cent on energy bills thanks to solar panels and has encouraged more people to follow in their footsteps.

Kate and David Thomas told the Scunthorpe Telegraph that they decided to have solar panels fitted onto their home after seeing them on a neighbour’s property – in fact, there are now four houses on their street with solar panels installed. In total, the Thomas family had 18 solar panels installed.

Kate Thomas said she is sold on the benefits of solar energy already. She told This is Scunthorpe, “We made some enquiries… about getting our own solar panels and the package almost sounded too good to be true. We applied for the panels in June and had them installed in October, so there wasn't a lengthy period, and we had no disruption when the panels were being installed."

It’s worth also noting that solar panels usually require very little maintenance once they have been installed. They just need to be kept relatively clean and free of trees blocking the sun so that they can continue to generate the maximum amount of energy. Most solar panels are actually self-cleaning and a quick wipe with soapy water is all that that’s needed should they require attention. On average the systems last up to 30 years.

Kate Thomas told the newspaper that she would recommend solar energy to anyone. Her husband David said he was pleasantly surprised at how straightforward the scheme was, with no hassle or legwork required by him or his family. Kate added that she believes their electricity bills have dropped by a massive 50 per cent since having the solar panels installed.

Homeowners in Britain who install solar panels receive a Government payment for the energy that they generate. The rate is currently 43.3p a kilowatt-hour but there are plans to cut this to 21p as of April this year. Mrs Thomas said, "I think the Government proposals are unfair, as they should encourage people to use solar panels rather than put them off."

Kate, a coronary care nurse at Scunthorpe General Hospital, admitted that initially she did have some reservations about solar energy. For example, she said she thought the solar panels were “ugly” and that the scheme might be too good to be true. However, she said these doubts have been well and truly addressed. She told the paper, “I can't see any faults now”.

Solar panels have been proven to cut household energy bills. Estimates suggest that with the Feed-In Tariff scheme, homeowners could be as much as £23,000 better off over the lifetime of the solar panel system, thanks to tax-free, index-linked payments direct from energy companies. In addition, surplus energy can be sold back to the National Grid.

To find out more about how solar panels work and the savings that can be made through them, go to the EnergySaving Trust website.