4KW for £10k sounds like a good deal...but I'm sure the feed in has reduce to 30 something pence now...which explains the drop in price , there is loads of margin in their installation prices.It is index linked however...but expect lots of official inflation rate figuer massaging.

we have a 1.8kw on a not very good location.The fitting was pretty quick and slick, quite impressed.

However after nearly a year it does seem to be delivering, it has dropped our usage quite a bit. We are unusual inasmuch as I run several computers and other kit 24/7 so my midday load is much higher than most.I'm still on economy 7 so some of my midnight heating does a bit of calculation first!

The other thing was the choice...£10k in a bank at 1 or 2% post tax or a pension plan that uses up 1%/y in admin charges or 3% to 5% sans tax based on electricity prices a year ago?

As for the affordability the feed in is derived from a surcharge on energy bills, after all power stations have to be built regardless of whether they are big coal, nuclear or gas..or lots of small solar.

One thing to watch for though is what happens if you sell the house, apparently quite a few of these companies retain the feed in for themselves while allowing the new owner to have the "free" power. Probably going to be loads of "watchdog" programs about dodgy T & Cs in about 5 years time.

Where there is government money there is corruption I'm afraid.

The 10 years payback is about right. But.

Every time the electricity price goes up the payback time drops. I'm probably looking at 8 years total after the last round of increases.

The best investment against the electricity bill however was a £3 gas kettle! It dropped the bill down by £50/m two and a half years ago and is still going strong! Rough rule of thumb is heat as little water using electricity as you can.

The guarantees are for about 10years but by then most of this kit will be widespread and a lot more affordable should it break.

Hope that helps!

We are seriously considering spending upwards of £10k on a 4kw Solar PV system for our house

However - This does appear too good to be true

ie) "GUARANTEED" feed in tariff of our extra energy at 41.3 p per kwh - but for how long will the government be able to afford this ?

According to what I understand - the system should be able to pay for itself in around 10 years - and is (physically) guaranteed for 25 years - but what am I missing ?

There must be some downside to it (apart from the initial cost) ?

Anyone had a system fitted to their property - reports ... good or bad welcome...