Five Things You Should Do Before Buying Solar Panels

A residential solar PV system provides electricity for your home in about the most economical and clean ways around. When you mount solar panels on your roof, you’ll have a source of free electricity for up to 30 years, with almost no maintenance or additional costs beyond the initial installation. To make the deal even sweeter, the government has set up a Feed-in Tariff Scheme that pays you to produce the electricity you use – and pays you even more if your solar PV system produces more electricity than you use. Before you queue up at your nearest solar installer’s door, though, there are a few things you should do to ensure you get the most out of your new solar PV system.

Do a full energy audit. Producing your own electricity is cool, but it’s silly to waste the electricity you make. Besides, you’ll still be getting some of your electricity from the grid, so it makes sense to reduce the amount of electricity you’re buying as much as you can. Figure out where you’re using electricity and how much of it is wasted so that your solar panels will be supplying electricity to a streamlined, energy efficient home.

Install a timer system to control your electricity use. Again, conservation measures pay off big, even before you install your solar panels. And since much of the electricity you use is at night when your solar panels aren’t producing electricity, putting your lights, televisions and other electronics on timers definitely helps save you money. After all, why should you pay for the telly if it’s running after you fall asleep?

Learn as much as you can about solar PV systems. Educating yourself will give you a leg up when you start taking quotes on solar systems and comparing solar panels against each other. There are, unfortunately, a lot of fast-talking salesmen out there who’d rather sell you the solar panels that profit them the most rather than the system that will serve you the best. The more you know, the better you’ll be able to protect yourself from being swindled.

Get quotes from several different solar installation companies. There’s a wide range of prices out there for very similar systems, so it pays to shop around. Do be careful about companies that are selling incredibly low-priced solar PV systems, though – sometimes you do get what you pay for.

Have your property properly evaluated by a reputable solar panels installer. About 80 percent of the properties in the UK are suited for installing a solar PV system, but only an experienced, reputable solar system installer can tell you for sure and recommend the best installation for your property.

Solar panels offer many advantages for the homeowner who decides to install them, but there are things you can do before you choose your solar PV system to make it even more advantageous. Follow these five tips and you’ll benefit even more from clean, green solar power.