Customer story: Jody

Would you have switched to solar right now if Sunsave Plus wasn’t an option?

I think if Sunsave Plus hadn't come along, I probably wouldn't have been able to make the switch to solar, and maybe we'd have had to look at remortgaging at some point in the future. 

It's something we've been meaning to do for a few years, but we've always just kicked the can down the road.

Why did you want to go solar?

I've been looking at getting a solar system for quite a few years, primarily to do a bit for the environment and to make some savings. We're quite a high-consumption household, and we've been struggling with high bills for the ten years that we've been here. 

And also because, if we ever sell the property, we think it's obviously quite appealing to people, particularly in this kind of area.

Why did you choose Sunsave Plus?

We were looking for a provider that could help us put in a really fantastic system, but also help with the finance side of things. So I did a bit of a Google search and it seemed that you were the only one that offered this full finance package alongside the installation. 

Then I did a bit of background check on the actual quality of the installations, and it seemed everyone was very happy. 

It made sense to put in quite a large system with a large battery because we have such high consumption, but the initial outlay would have been prohibitive. So it was either: go with the subscription plan, or not at all. 

But it seemed fairly low risk, because the figures just added up. We were going to make a net saving every month, and there was no financial commitment on our part until the system was in place. So it seemed like a no-brainer, really.

How important was the Sunsave Guarantee for you?

One of our primary concerns was what we were going to do about maintenance, who we would call, and how we could insure against any potential issues with the system. 

So the Sunsave Guarantee was an essential part of the overall package for us - it just gave us that peace of mind that everything will be okay.

How did you find the Sunsave sales process?

It was quite enjoyable right at the beginning, seeing how the science of it all worked with the data on sunlight in the area. Then I reported back to my family and shared bits of information about that. 

I had quite a long list of tricky questions, but they were all answered really clearly, and they all made perfect sense. 

We also discussed what would happen in the event of selling the house, and there seemed to be quite a few options there, so I was satisfied with that.

What did you think of the Sunsave proposal?

It was very, very clear looking at the figures, the way you broke it down over the years - it was a bit like getting a mortgage deal. You could see what you were paying off over time.

And it was great to be shown the projection for five, ten, fifteen years. It's always remarkable seeing how the compounding effects add up, and how the figures stack up over time.

How was your experience leading up to the installation?

This has been pretty painless, actually. There hasn't been a need for too much interaction or too many chores on my part. I just had to take a few pictures, take some measurements. It was quite impressive. 

I was surprised that no one actually attended the property, but I could see now that it worked really well doing it all remotely.

There was some discussion about planning permission, because it's a conservation area. But we found out from the borough that there were no regulations on solar panels, so we got the green light to go ahead, and it's been fairly seamless.

Have you made any other changes to cut down your energy bills?

We've switched over to EVs. So, we had our first EV three years ago and then we got our second one the year after. And we haven't looked back - it's been really good. We were charging on the street initially, which was convenient, but we didn't realise how much it was costing until we did a bit of a review. 

We've now installed our own charger, so that we can charge at a much cheaper rate, and we've switched over to the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff, which ties in nicely with our solar panels. Hopefully they're all going to communicate really well, and we'll make some good savings.

Will you be exporting to the grid?

We were quite keen on the idea of being able to export some energy to the grid, but when we looked at the figures with Sunsave, it seemed that because we were such a high-consumption household, we would be focusing more on charging up our own battery and making savings there. 

So, when we looked at the tariffs, we ended up going for the Intelligent Octopus Go import tariff (and Octopus Outgoing Fixed export tariff), which goes nicely with the two EVs.

Do you have any tips for others considering the switch to solar?

I'd say consider your battery size, because you're rarely going to regret having a battery that's too large.