ProDave

The issue is they have up to now been a monopoly. If you want the FIT you HAVE to use an MCS contractor. They are trying to perpetuate that with the new export payment scheme. Customers need to learn how low the export payments are, and how high the MCS premium is, and then they just might start using non MCS contractors and not bothering with MCS.

Possibly. I might start advertising that to see if I get any takers.

I doubt there are many customers. I could not get panels and inverters in any quantity for as cheap as I bought mine, they took some serious searching, And then add even my basic labour rate and the payback time would be so long it would be a hard sell to convince anyone it was worth it. Plus I don't want to spend my time working on roofs.

But isn't that what we ended up with? A scheme that seems to fleece you by charging over inflated install costs. Just look at some of the MCS quotes people have posted on this forum. then look at the actual amount of labour, cost that at a fair rate, and you get the "MCS premium" we often talk about. ALL that is needed for the electrical side is an EIC to demonstrate the install has been designes, connected and tested in accordance with wiring regulations. Why do those up high think it has to be any more complicated than that? It if really was an issue of "safety" the DNO would not allow connection until an MCS certificate was issued. Hell, they don't even ask for an EIC, they just want to know the size of the system and the details of the inverter used so they have confirmation it is an approved type. Oh and the bad news, an equivalent to part P is on it's way to Scotland. I just hope I can retire before I get burdened with unwanted extra paperwork and expense with no benefit to the customer. If you look in England, most prosecution for unregistered electricians is for using the logo of of a scheme they are not a member of. Very few for actual bad or unsafe work.

From Octopus Energy

A sort of SIP stud?

4KW PV, arranged as an E/W split (to try and maximise generation time at the expense of lower total generation) Air source heat pump for heating and hot water. Timed to not turn on until 10AM when there should be reasonable PV generation. Excess power dumped to the immersion heater (home made dump controller) And a regime of trying to use the big appliances around mid day rather than in the evenings. The ASHP heats the HW tank to 48 degrees at 10AM and there is enough capacity still to absorb plenty of surplus On a good day the tank will be up to 68 degrees by the afternoon. The only time there is significant export is at mid day if nothing else is on when generation exceeds what the immersion heater can use.

I find it very sad, that there is no incentive to install solar PV any more. How does the government expect the average home owner to install renewable energy if it is going to cost them thousands that will never be recovered in saved energy costs? What I think should be happening if there is no subsidy any more, is encouraging cheap DIY installs and paying a fair rate for exported power. But we have this stupid new scheme that demands you must pay for an MCS installer in order to claim the small export payment. That is NOT going to encourage many people to install micro generation. Actually while solar PV can be useful to a home owner, I think solar PV would be a much better prospect to install on the roof of every business premises. They are much better placed to easily use daytime generation and so for it to be viable without subsidy.

For me it is partly wanting lower energy bills (electricity to power "stuff" like washing machines etc is at least double the electricity used to heat the house. It is partly about wanting to be a bit greener. And lastly about maximising SAP value. I am aiming for an EPC A, I would not get above B without any renewable generation. But with all that, with no FIT is is only viable if you can install it very cheap. I try very hard to shift electricity usage to the middle of the day by using the washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher in the middle of the day (only 1 machine at a time) and diverting excess power to the immersion heater.

Not so. Open Reach gave us the cable and duct with the plot referred to as "land next to....." And BT connected with the house name, in spite of it not being on the PAF file as I refuse to pay to have it put there.

I am estimating payback in 6 years for my bargain basement DIY ebay sourced install.

Details of the replacement scheme for paying for exported power from solar PV have been announced. https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/beis_unveils_smart_export_guarantee_to_replace_export_tariff Headlines: Must be an MCS install to qualify. You must have a smart meter installed to measure actual export not deemed export. Export rate is set by your "supplier" My comments: I am so far self using 95% of my generation. I have only exported 48KWh so far this year. At a typical export payment rate of 5.5p per KWh I would have received an export payment so far of £2.64 Given how much I would have had to pay for an MCS install, that extra cost would NEVER be repaid by the small export payment, compared to the savings I achieved by self installing. I personally think it is wrong to still insist on an MCS install as the only way of making it "safe" That is an insult to most electricians who are perfectly capable of a safe install without the overhead of the MCS scheme. And in any event as a few of us have proved recently, there is no problem registering a solar PV system with your DNO without any MCS paperwork. So it is nothing to do with being "safe" but continuing to feed the gravy train.

Over what time period? I have a tree thinning program, removing bits gradually over a number of years.

What is this 5 cubic metre thing, and a felling licence? I have some trees on my land to trim. I don't expect to ask anyone or get a licence. There are no TPO's.

I suspect "different departments" will come into play here. The highways man says they need to come down. The tree officer may say no. Look carefully at your deeds. Where is your boundary? are they actually on your land? It would be a shame if something happened to them and they died.

Unless you have some written agreement with him, I would just take whatever he offers you.

I would install it now, and in the event of a warranty claim, remove it. But I would never admit on a public forum that I had done that.

You need to be more specific. Are they billing you for waste water or surface water drainage or both? We only pay for mains water. If sewage were available, that would cost more than mains water. As mains sewage is not available here, we have a treatment plant. That uses 2KWh of electricity per day and costs £150 for a pump out every other year. So this is cheaper than mains drainage would cost if it was even available here. There is an air blower pump to maintain that seems to be a new diaphragm every few years at most.

At that height it might need to be toughened glass regardless of where it is.

But you won't be able to cut it if nt the right size or shape. It's not glass in a stove, but clear porcelain

Buy another £30 stove if you can get another bargain? I got a new glass for the stove in our old house from ebay (Dunsley Highlander 5) I forget how much but it wasn't much.

My neighbour did that. Built a 1 bedroom bungalow. Later added 3 more bedrooms and 2 more bathrooms in the loft. The important thing is make the roof using attic trusses when you build the bungalow so all the structural work is in place to do the loft conversion later. And design the layout so you have space on the ground floor to add the staircase, e.g an over large entrance hall that will fit a staircase later on. Unless they system changes in the mean time, it will also mean you get a lower council tax band, and that does not change when you extend the property, it presently only gets re valued when you sell it.

Have you heard one of these fan radiators running? I would not want a fan that I can hear running for much of the time.

The good thing about the Scottish system is you have to submit full plans. They have looked at your plans and passed them. As long as you build to the plans, there should be no issues. BC last visited my site when the frame was finished. They don't want to come again until completion (though I will be getting them out to give me a temporary habitation certificate at some point).

Method 2 is what I did. 11mm OSB over the joists. 25mm by 50mm battens following the lines of the joists. UFH pipes between battens. Dry my sand cement screed between battens, Sturctural timber floor over the top fixed down to the battens. Don't forget to size the joists for the extra dead load of the screed.