Solar Zero system by Solar City NZ

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Solar Zero system by Solar City NZ

1 | 2 | 3

tdgeek

29740 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3049804 14-Mar-2023 07:28

Nate001:

How do the numbers stack if you go somewhere like Harrisons and get a system installed? Obviously no battery for simple installs. With all banks now offering some sort of sustainable/green energy loans it seems silly to sign a 20 year contract with solarZero and instead put the monthly payments towards buying it yourself.

I've always seen solarZero installations as a liability if you ever decide to sell the house, vs a system that has no contract would actually add value to the house.

If they can provide a solar system for zero upfront and make money off it, you should be able to buy one outright, make the same savings, plus their profit

johno1234

2793 posts

Uber Geek

#3049808 14-Mar-2023 08:06

tdgeek:

Nate001:

How do the numbers stack if you go somewhere like Harrisons and get a system installed? Obviously no battery for simple installs. With all banks now offering some sort of sustainable/green energy loans it seems silly to sign a 20 year contract with solarZero and instead put the monthly payments towards buying it yourself.

I've always seen solarZero installations as a liability if you ever decide to sell the house, vs a system that has no contract would actually add value to the house.

If they can provide a solar system for zero upfront and make money off it, you should be able to buy one outright, make the same savings, plus their profit

Far too sensible. You sound like an economist.

PJ48

295 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3050201 14-Mar-2023 20:30

Maybe I am missing something here, but I have a SolarZero system and have been quite happy. If I had bought a system outright including a battery, then I would have to pay back approximately 1.5 - 1.8 x the outlay over a 20 year mortage, as at the time the banks were not offering interest free inducements for solar. Even now it is only for 5 years. So I have defrayed my costs over 20 years for the actual outlay, and can in the meantime invest money that I would have otherwise spent on paying back interest on a mortgage. In addition I have a locked in rate of $0.08 per kWh which is way cheaper than it would have been with my old power retailer. At the end of 20 years I don't own my system, but I have saved about 1/3 of my original costs over that time, and have the freedom to either spend or invest that money. Any equipment failures or maintenance needed is part of the lease arrangement, I have already had an inverter fail and be replaced for free.

PKpingu

13 posts

Geek

ID Verified

#3056016 29-Mar-2023 09:01

I almost signed up to SolarZero this week but something smelt fishy with the consultant and his proposed solution.

Tried to tell me I would buy off peak electricity off the grid at 14.8c but my sell back is 15c. Then goes on to say if I bought 300kw/h of power and sold 300kw/h back in a day, I would be in credit.

Their proposed solution had a chart of my power bill last month (~$170) vs future electricity bill would be around (~$70) - a savings of $100 a month on power.
Except.... they didn't add the rental fee of $109 inc GST a month for the solar equipment.... which means I would be paying more every month?

He also said, to guarantee your first year savings, he'll give me 2 months rental free. But what about the remaining 19 years?

Something didn't feel right, so I started googling their reviews - scathing reviews!

Felt a bit scary to commit 20 years to SolarZero.

Quinny

885 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#3056216 29-Mar-2023 14:43

PJ48:

Maybe I am missing something here, but I have a SolarZero system and have been quite happy. If I had bought a system outright including a battery, then I would have to pay back approximately 1.5 - 1.8 x the outlay over a 20 year mortage, as at the time the banks were not offering interest free inducements for solar. Even now it is only for 5 years. So I have defrayed my costs over 20 years for the actual outlay, and can in the meantime invest money that I would have otherwise spent on paying back interest on a mortgage. In addition I have a locked in rate of $0.08 per kWh which is way cheaper than it would have been with my old power retailer. At the end of 20 years I don't own my system, but I have saved about 1/3 of my original costs over that time, and have the freedom to either spend or invest that money. Any equipment failures or maintenance needed is part of the lease arrangement, I have already had an inverter fail and be replaced for free.

The most significant disadvantage is if you have to sell, the buyer has to accept the contract (and any real estate agent will tell you this is a big turn-off), OR you have to pay it out. And there go those savings. Besides, many of the numbers they give people fail to stack up as can be read over and over in this thread. I paid for my system, it added to my capital value, I can sell the house with it as a positive being "green" and owned, I got the interest-free loan, and my last power bill was ... $3.

gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#3056219 29-Mar-2023 14:49

Quinny:

The most significant disadvantage is if you have to sell, the buyer has to accept the contract (and any real estate agent will tell you this is a big turn-off), OR you have to pay it out. And there go those savings. Besides, many of the numbers they give people fail to stack up as can be read over and over in this thread. I paid for my system, it added to my capital value, I can sell the house with it as a positive being "green" and owned, I got the interest-free loan, and my last power bill was ... $3.

Just to add to this.
I bought a house that had one of these systems with 19 years on it. The agent was making this sound like it was the gretest thing and that I was lucky to be able to take over the contract...

Anyways, just wanted to say that potential buyers don't have to take it up. As part of the SolarZero contract, if the owner selles their house, they can buy out the remaining contract (and leave the gear as is) or pay for removal of the gear (and not contract is entered to by the new buyer)

We decided not to take it up and after charging the vendor some cash for removal costs, they ended up deciding they didn't want to remove the panels as it was too much work. They did send someone to take away the battery and replace the inverter by a small/simpler one that works without a battery.

In the end, we ended up with 14 panels we owned and no contract signed with SolarZero.

1 | 2 | 3