Having recently moved home and being the environmentally conscience chap I am, I looked into solar panels.

What I think a lot of people don’t realise is the fact that you can now get them very cheaply or even free.

For instance, E.ON will install them for £99 (if you’re a customer – £199 if you’re not).

How is this possible? The government introduced a scheme last year named Feed In Tariffs (FITs) which provides the following…

• A payment for every unit of electricity generated by your system. This is paid regardless of whether your home is using the electricity or not, and this year the payment is 43.3 pence per unit
• An additional payment for any electricity that isn’t used (e.g. when you’re on holiday). This is exported to the national grid, and the payment this year is 3p per unit

The payments are guaranteed by law for 25 years and will rise with inflation.

The nub of this is that it pays to install solar panels – hence many companies can fit them for free and take the money from FITs. Of course you still get free electricity from it and can typical save at least a third of your bills.

Of course, you can pay the full amount and take the FIT amount yourself.

I looked at a company named HomeSun who will fit and maintain them for free. There are a number of conditions – such as your house facing the right way, living south of Hull (sorry Hull) and being able to provide enough roof space – and, sadly, my home wasn’t suitable. In this case they have a 2nd option where you pay up to £500 towards the installation (when it’s free they need to make sure they can make the money back).

If you’re interested in the service from HomeSun – and there certainly seems to be lots of positive feedback (in their interest – they only make their money back if it’s a decent installation!) – then visit their website. If you use the referall code of HOMESUN_11604B522 then you’ll also earn yourself £50 in M&S vouchers.