This is definitely a good question given that the bad financial situation is still hanging around somewhat and possibly customers are finding out about quick ways to saving money. Alas solar energy panels, like most other renewable energy solutions do not generate excellent short term rewards, but instead are a long term payback answer. So it depends on the outlook of the home owner as to whether the solar energy prices in the region of £12,000 for a typical domestic solar energy panels set up, is something they can live with. The typical payback period for this solar energy panels set up is in the region of 10 to 12 years, but with an estimated lifetime in the region of 45 years, once the solar energy prices have been earned, the home owner is then providing all free electricity. In fact the electricity that is produced by the solar energy panels can be regarded as free from the start, it just depends on how the solar energy prices are accounted for.
The set up of solar energy panels might in fact be a spur to the home owner to take a eco-friendly viewpoint on their electricity usage patterns and one aspect that can be looked into easily is that of machines. The Energy Trust web site has reviews of high efficiency machines, so possibly with these along with some electricity saving practices the home owner might be able to save more money. Of course this might well add more expense on top of the solar energy prices already paid, but in the long run these electricity saving machines should also be reliable and long lasting and so might well also be good long term buys.
The typical solar energy panels set up is estimated to be able to generate in the region of 40% of the typical families’ electricity requirements, but with the electricity saving machines as well, this percentage must improve. This in itself might well give the home owner some sense of achievement in cutting their electricity bills by around 40%, and then saving even more by cutting their electricity usage. In addition, the home owner will receive credits via the feed-in tariff for electricity produced by their solar energy panels and also for any excess electricity that gets exported back to the grid via their utility supply enterprise.