What would the Solar Power man say?

I just finished my first year of Solar Power. How did I do? Here is the letter I wrote to the company i purchased them from:

Dear Sir,

I e-mailed 6 months into my contract to voice concerns that my system wasn't producing anywhere near the figures quoted me. At that time I had a reply requesting that I wait for the first year to complete and then come back to you.

I just filled in my 4th quarterly FiT figure, thus making 1 complete year.

When I signed the contract a few things were explained to me.

First that it was a contract, legally binding for both parties and that if the figures didn't meet the analysis (though this was practically impossible) you would make up the difference.

Secondly, it was drummed into me over and over that the figures were so conservative, due to being based on sunlight rather than daylight hours that I would have my loan paid off realistically in 5-7 years rather than the 10 on the contract.

As said, I have just filled out my 4th FiT figure which came to 2705 KW Hours.

With the reimbursement figures of 43p & .03p this is what I calculate:

2705 x .43p = £1163.15  

2705 / 2 = 1352.5 x .03 = £40.575

£1163.15 + £40.575 = £1203.725

The 'extremely conservative' figures stated on my analysis are: 4197, over by 1492

My payments this year on the loan are £185.38 x 12 = £2224.56

So I am currently out by £1020.835

My monthly Electricity payments are £41 per month 12 x £41 = £492

So, even if the solar panels managed to wipe out all my electricity usage (which of course it hasn't) I would still be under by £528

So, the big question is what is wrong? Why is it under producing to not even meet the 'extremely conservative' figures on my analysis?

What happens now? Do I expect a payment from you to cover the shortfall?

If this is showing a shortfall in the first year, which is supposed to be the optimal time for the panels, what happens for the remainder of their lifetime?

I look forward to hearing from you with a realistic solution.

I waited a week, got no reply and started to get the details of my local Citizens Advice Bureau. That same day I had a reply with a final settlement from the company giving me a cheque of just over £2700 to take my loan period down. To my estimation this amount will roughly pay for 4 years under production, or to look at it another way, just over 1 year full payment of my loan. The amount on the cheque was apparently worked out in co-operation with thr Micro-regeneration programme and a regulatory body called REAL.

Am I satisfied?

I was surprised at the no quibble payment given me. It means I payed about 11K for a 2.88KhW 16 Bosch panel system. I still have the prospect of 8 years payments left that won't be met fully by the Feed in Tarrif reimbursement but remember there is another 16 years after that where it's all profit.

I was not impressed with the sales tactics, and the overemphasis on paying my loan off early. The sales guys for the company I was with are apparently the technical bods too who work out the solar hours from your local weather station rather than the generalised government figures.

If you too are finding the same thing with the figures not matching up I would send a message. Keep track of all the figures in a spreadsheet, when you go to them be armed with accurate figures.

What would Davy McDougall say?

I must say first, I am not a fan at all of the BlueBirds, I just looked this up on the net.


It's on the news today that Cardiff City have been made an offer:

The club's Malaysian owners have proposed investing £100m on the team, a new training ground and increasing the stadium's capacity.

But it would come on condition the home kit changes from blue to red, with a dragon instead of a bluebird crest.

News Link HERE

So, apparently the fans are up in arms at the thought of losing their history. However, when I asked some of the fans at work what that history was they just looked blank at me.

So I did some Googling:

The name Blu Birds:

Cardif City are named the Bluebirds because of the play named 'The Bluebird' that was shown in Cardiff in 1908. Cardiff was chosen to host the play over many different cities and so CCFC decided to cahnge their kit clour to blue and use the plays name as there own nickname. Web Link HERE

So I thought the play must have been written by a famous Welsh Playright!?

Yes?

No.

The Blue Bird (French: L'Oiseau bleu) is a 1908 play by Belgian author Maurice Maeterlinck.

Web Link HERE

So, apparently, if you are against the name change it is because you are supporting a Belgian play!

p.s.: Davy McDougall Web Link HERE

What would Neil Kinnock say?

Working in a Graphics dept. I get asked for lots of favours. Business cards/ letterheads/ posters/ photo retouching etc etc.

I have just been asked to produce a poster for a Labour Concillor showing (if he wins) that 'He Lives Here!', 'You Voted For Him!' sort of thing.

Thing is, the guy who asked me to do this is the father of the candidate, and I know him and his son a little, as you do when you've worked with someone for 10+ years.

Now on the one hand I wish the guy luck.
On the other hand it worries me that Labour are backing this guy, and that he could win and be representing a whole community.
Why does it worry me?
Because this guy has never done a day's work in his life. His dad has paid his way through life, and still does. How can a guy like that have any real handle on life and what it means to struggle in the real world?

I wonder how many more like that are out there?
I fear too many.

What would John Merrick say?

It's still very cold here in Merthyr.

Over the winter period and still now, I'm dressing in cold weather gear while I cycle.

Respect the weather.

But, it doesn't seem to matter if it's a 'hoody', a 'beanie' or even my Peter Storm fleece hat, after a while of cycling I suddenly feel a freezing blast going in my right ear. 

Why?

Because my hat has started to move over to the other side of my head.

I'm forever adjusting it, pulling it back down over my ears to keep them warm.

What's going on! Am I alone in the hat moving phenomenon?

I know that no one has a symmetrical head, and I'm guessing that subtle movements of blinking and head turning are slowly causing my hat to move off to the side of my head.

Makes me wonder how John Merrick would have got on!

What would Freud say?

I do have some strange dreams.
The most bizarre I think was when I was having a dream in which I died. I woke up quite shocked, to find I had fallen asleep on the sofa watching TV next to my wife at my parents house. As I woke and started talking I gradually started to get the feeling something wasn't quite right. After a while I realised they weren't calling me by my proper name, and then I panicked big time as I realised something was seriously wrong with everything.
And then I woke up again, in my own bed at home, next to my wife who wondered what the matter was. My first question to her was asking her what my name was. Fortunately my wife decided not to try and be funny and make a name up and told me straight. I think I would have gone mad if she had made something up.

Anyway, this was just a preamble. The dream that has got me puzzled at the moment is one I had this week. I dreamt I went into the living room to find someone or something had moved all my stereo equipment on end so it was facing the window. As I puzzled over this I noticed my PS3 was also like it, and then slowly realised everything in the room had been turned to face the window.

What the eck is all that about!?

What would Doctor Who say?

I was looking at some funny Doctor Who pics. Here are, what I thought, were the cream of the crop.
4 & 5 are gif's, click to see animation.

What would Philo Beddoe say?

I've liked Country music ever since I saw the Any Which Way movies, way back in the late 70's.

I owned the soundtracks on vinyl, they are still unavailable on CD, but that didn't stop me transferring them to my PC as MP3 format.

I liked the music so much because it was very much a story based medium. I love a good story, and I like a story in a song. I get very tired of a lot of the modern music that seems to be around these days that just repeat a few lines over and over again and again to a mind numbing beat.

I feel quite smug at the moment, my tastes in Country prevail. Groups like The Dixie Chicks, Lady Antebellum and my favourite Rascal Flatts, as well as artists like Reba McEntyre, Tim McGraw, and Kenny Chesney, just to name a smattering are constantly on my iPod, and it was my expectation that I would not be alone for long in liking this music. I figured it wouldn't be long before other people started appreciating this quality, lyric based, real music.

I feel smug because this week I've heard a lot of Country music on the radio, quite a few duets as stars and established musicians seek out the 'real' sound coming from Nashville, the home of Country, and an upcoming interview with Reba McEntyre.

Quality is rising.

And for any doubters, have a listen to this old classic from that first Every Which Way album…