John  from London was one of the brave ones who in the summer of 2016 was not afraid to invest in a solar power system for his house in London, which was under construction at the time.When asked what prompted him to invest at that time - ecological awareness, the desire to save money or simply a penchant for fashionable innovations - John says that all three of these motives were at work.John was already interested in solar energy when he was planning to invest in a solar power system under a scheme that had been in place until 2013 to encourage the development of solar energy, where electricity generated by small solar power system was bought back at a price above the market price set by the state. With the abolition of this incentive scheme, the desire to invest in modern technologies has not diminished, so when the opportunity to become a generating consumer arose, John did not hesitate. What's more, he was just finishing the construction of a new house in London, which would not only include an electrically heated sauna,charging station for electric car but also heat the entire building with geothermal heat pumps . So it was necessary to look for ways to reduce electricity costs in the face of relatively higher electricity consumption.When John was looking for a company to install the solar power system, after receiving quotes from several companies, he chose "PanelSolar". According to John, the choice was not only based on the fact that the company offered a cost-effective option, but also on the attitude of the company's employees towards the customer. He liked the fact that the young employees of the company wasted no time in advising him, giving him tips on how not to overinvest

Results of solar power system

The operating year for generating consumers runs from 1 April to 31 March of the following year. This is when the amount of electricity produced by the solar plant and the amount of electricity consumed by the consumer are added together.   If the amount of electricity produced in a month exceeds the amount of electricity consumed, the surplus is carried over to the next month, and if the surplus is subsequently consumed, only the grid usage charge is payable, but not the full price of electricity. The surplus thus accumulates or decreases throughout the 12 months and disappears only on the night between 31 March and 1 April, when the new year of the generating consumer begins.So - a solar plant installed in the summer of 2016 has already served two full years. During the first full year, from 1st April to 31st March, the building consumed 14.6 MWh of electricity, and during the second year 15.5 MWh.Meanwhile, the solar plant generated 10.6 MWh of electricity each year. This is approximately 70 percent of the building's total electricity demand. Less than a third of this amount, 3 and 3.4 MWh respectively per year, was consumed immediately, while the remaining 7.6 and 7.2 MWh were fed into the grid, to be withdrawn at a later date by payment of a grid connection fee.Thus, the solar power plant, taking into account also the cost of using the grid and the additional cost of buying less electricity from the grid, reduces John's costs by around £900 per year.

Producing user experience

When John was asked how he sees the economic benefits of investing in a solar power plant, he replied that it is not a "London business" that pays for itself in 2-3 years, but given that the equipment has a 25-year warranty and a 10-11-year payback period, he is happy with the investment and would do it again if he had to make a new decision.The reduced cost of maintaining the building is also very important in view of the forthcoming retirement, when the power plant will have long paid for itself, but will still significantly reduce electricity costs.John often has to give advice to his neighbours, many of whom have already followed in his footsteps and installed a solar power plant on the roof of their building.When asked if the solar power plant requires any maintenance costs, John mentioned only that he had to climb up on the roof several times in winter to clear the snow from the solar power plant. There were no other worries or repair costs.

electricity consumption habits changed?

Have John' electricity consumption habits changed? Well - there hasn't been any big change. Yes, during the day, when the sun is shining, there is less thinking about how to save electricity, and there is an effort to consume more electricity when the solar power plant is on, rather than when it is not. But some major changes are not yet on the cards. Perhaps, if the opportunity arises for generating consumers to install power plants larger than 10 kW, John would consider increasing the capacity of the installed solar power plant to produce an amount of electricity equal to the annual electricity consumption.In principle, John would recommend that all owners of individual buildings consider installing a solar power plant. The choice of contractors, the choice of equipment and the decision to build a solar power plant were all the right steps for John.Moreover, electricity consumers were also encouraged to invest more in new solar power plants by the continuing fall in the price of solar power plants, the availability of the £323 per kW State investment subsidy and, of course, by the infectious example.