Home > Reviews From Solar Power System Owners
We have asked people that brought a solar power system after getting 3 quotes through My Solar Quotes how their solar power systems are going! We asked:
What size system did you install?
How long has your solar power system been running for?
How did you find the solar installation?
How have you found the performance of the solar power system?
Do you have any other comments that you would like to share with New Zealanders thinking about going solar?
Review Date: 13/01/2024
Size: 3kW
Running for: 1.8 kwatt added another 3k watt 4 years for the 1.8 k watt 3 months for the extra 3 kw
Expected return on investment: currently i have no electricity bills am running a credit
Expected pay back period: approx 4 years
Comments on the installation: "absolutely fantastic,.installed the six panels in 4 hours"
Comments on the system performance: "currently with the two systems no bills 12 panels total"
Advice: "do it, get latest technology with small inverters mounted under each panel "
Review Date: 27/12/2023
Size: 5kW
Running for: 1 week
Comments on the installation: "From day we payed the deposit it took 4 months and the communication was appalling."
Comments on the system performance: "It is limited to 5 kW and on sunny days it produces this"
Advice: "Make sure your installer knows what they are doing. I would not recommend Harrison's Blenheim."
Review Date: 26/12/2023
Size: 11 Panels circa 4.5kW
Running for: 3 months
Expected return on investment: 8-10 year payback; hard to gauge at this stage, need to see what the performance is during winter months
Expected pay back period: 8-10 year payback; hard to gauge at this stage, need to see what the performance is during winter months
Comments on the installation: "The installation process was average and the inspector deemed it "satisfactory". He was unsure why they chose not to place 5 of the panels on the north facing roof (Instead all 11 panels were installed on the east facing roof). The whole process was expected to take one day but took almost two full days."
Comments on the system performance: "We included a battery which has been hugely beneficial given our usage profile. In three months we have only had to take power from the grid 4 times (rainy / overcast weather) and only an average of 5KWh each time. Because we are also using surplus power to charge our new EV we estimate we are savings over $250 a month (a combination of generating our own power, selling surplus to the grid and no longer having to purchase fuel for the car). We have yet to top up our car from the grid so we're approaching 1,000km travelled at no cost to us!"
Advice: "Overall we are happy with the performance however until we see how the system performs over a full 12 month cycle it is way too early to gauge whether or not it is a good return on investment (& impossible at this stage to quantify the expected ROI). We like the independence it brings and the fact that during the last three months we have almost been fully self sufficient running our house and car from power we have generated through the solar system. I personally would only get solar panels installed if it's coupled with a battery; ours stores 10kWh which to date is perfect for our usage profile. "
Review Date: 23/12/2023
Size: 5kW inverter
Running for: 7 months
Expected return on investment: Don't know
Expected pay back period: Don't know
Comments on the installation: "They were excellent. Very respectful and aware that I was working from home so minimised the disruption."
Comments on the system performance: "My September power bill was nearly zero and I've been in credit since. I might even have enough credit by winter to cover my winter bills entirely!"
Advice: "It is an investment in not only your own future/independence but also New Zealand's. The more people creating their own power and even feeding the country's grid, the better. It makes you feel really good to be contributing."
Review Date: 12/11/2023
Size: 6.8
Running for: I week
Expected return on investment: 12%
Expected pay back period: It is part of the house , will go up and down with real estate value
Comments on the installation: "Very good and all done in under 2 days"
Comments on the system performance: "Way better than expected, especially on cloudy days "
Advice: "My solar system has only been running a week , I don't have enough data to share with others "
Review Date: 26/09/2023
Size: 6.15W
Running for: 1 month
Expected return on investment: not sure on this question but it is estimated sola will, make up 59% of power usage.
Expected pay back period: 7.15 years
Comments on the installation: "they were great"
Comments on the system performance: "power powers saving as per the model indicated."
Review Date: 26/09/2023
Size: 5.74
Running for: 10 weeks
Expected return on investment: 13%
Expected pay back period: 8 yrs
Comments on the installation: "Very respectful. 1st class service. "
Comments on the system performance: "Producing more than predicted. "
Advice: "Batteries still too expensive. "
Review Date: 13/09/2023
Size: 5.46kW with a Tesla battery
Running for: Nearly a month - haven't had our first power bill that factors in the solar system yet.
Expected return on investment: Hard to calculate unless a time frame is set. Probably break even at 12 years. Thereafter low to no power bills. System might last 20-25 years. Maybe 50% but this is fairly unscientific and there are a lot of variables.
Expected pay back period: Between 10 and 15 years. System cost around $35,000. Our power bill was around $300 a month. Will have to hope we can put a fair amount into the grid to reduce the fixed charge on our bill.
Comments on the installation: "Installers were very tidy and respectful. Installation took about a day and a half with me doing some of the preparation (digging the trench for the cable from the ground mounted panels) and building the frame. I also filled in the trench and gave the installation guys some assistance."
Comments on the system performance: "Haven't got first bill from Mercury yet. Power production has been pleasantly surprising. We have been generating more than the house uses and fully charging the Tesla batttery, therefore sending some to the power co."
Advice: "I would encourage it. Especially if you can orient your panels to precisely face North and at the maximum sun harvest angle. Hopefully the buy back rate increases from power companies over time."
Review Date: 07/03/2023
Size: 8kW
Running for: 2.5 months
Expected pay back period: 8 years
Comments on the installation: "They were great, done in a day"
Comments on the system performance: "Performance is as expected. Power bill was $250/month, now $0 and that includes charging an electric car so no more petrol bills either"
Advice: "I have installed solar because I wanted to do my bit to limit global warming, not because the payback stacks up. "
Review Date: 04/03/2023
Size: 6.8kW
Running for: 2 weeks
Expected return on investment: 14%
Expected pay back period: 8 years + cost of finance
Comments on the installation: "Installed professionally, requested landscape panels to prevent leaf buildup and birds nesting in the support rails."
Comments on the system performance: "Has performed great, even survived an ex-cyclone. Our offpeak power (11am to 5pm) dropped lots despite hot water heating at this time, and total daily power is about half."
Advice: "Dont bother with batteries, but get a system with DC charging output so you have the most battery options if you choose to add them later when costs and technology improves."
Review Date: 12/02/2023
Size: 5kw
Running for: 1 month
Expected return on investment: Don't know not the cheapest but definetly best help information and service
Expected pay back period: 9-10 years
Comments on the installation: "Great, took 3 days due to rain half day"
Comments on the system performance: "More than thought but still getting used to it, still need to import power at times as no battery . We produce 2-5 times amount used but buy back 17c/kw whereas peak charges 30c /kw"
Advice: "Octopus great company to sign up with no hassle and did it within 2days. Check solar company communicates as over Christmas ball was dropped and we had to chase up compliance ."
Review Date: 07/02/2023
Size: 4.62kw
Running for: 3.25 Years
Expected return on investment: 10%
Expected pay back period: 10 Years
Comments on the installation: "Through website after Googling HB solar installers. His was only installer to climb onto roof, into ceiling, and inspect our power board."
Comments on the system performance: "Yes, it performed better than expected with an occasional monthly credit from power supplier."
Advice: "If you have funds sitting in your Bank returning 3%, invest in solar and the return is around 10%. If you can afford an EV electric vehicle, then the return on investment is around 15%.Sooner or later everyone will be driving an EV, so you will be installing solar to help NZs renewable energy production. Our system can produce 6000 kws p.a. And we use around half, while rest goes into NZ power grid."
Review Date: 29/01/2023
Size: 7.8kW
Running for: 2 months
Expected return on investment: Did not calculate this.
Expected pay back period: Did not consider this
Comments on the installation: "Installers were very polite and took the best part of 3 days."
Comments on the system performance: "It performs very well and although we haven't had it long it will definitely reduce our power bills."
Advice: "Regardless of monetary value of the investment I think there are other reasons to consider solar. Potential black outs are one reason, likely power price increases is another and finally I think that resale value of our property will be affected positively."
Review Date: 06/01/2023
Size: 4kW
Running for: 3 months
Expected return on investment: 9
Expected pay back period: 10
Comments on the installation: "Excellent team on time with everything up and running as planned."
Comments on the system performance: "Installed as daylight saving started so daylight hours were getting longer. On the best days the system generated 30kWh. On the worst day still more than 5kWh. So far I've halved my power bill even with the added power consumption brought about by charging my new EV!"
Advice: "With the energy supplier I signed with the solar buy back rate is 1 cent higher than the night rate I pay. This means my EV effectively cost nothing to run as I can charge my car using the night rate. I get to use all the excess power the system sends to the grid at at no extra cost. With my use profile there was no reason to add the cost of a system battery."
Review Date: 03/01/2023
Size: 4kW
Running for: 4 weeks
Expected return on investment: I'm not looking at my investment in terms of dollars although I plan to unify 2 meters so will save about $1200 by that alone, but my investment is a moral choice to reduce my footprint on the planet.
Expected pay back period: 10 years
Comments on the installation: "My installers where awesome; friendly, helpful and generally just good guys."
Comments on the system performance: "I had expected the battery storage to last longer but obviously I didn't ask the right questions. "
Advice: "Just do it, it is an awesome feeling knowing that you are doing something positive."
Review Date: 24/12/2022
Size: 8.5 kW
Running for: 2.5 months
Comments on the installation: "2 days "
Comments on the system performance: "Superb. 2.5MWH produced since switch on"
Advice: "Yes. If you are rural then ask for bird mesh to be installed to stop nesting beneath your panels."
Review Date: 26/11/2022
Size: 6kw
Running for: 6 weeks
Expected return on investment: 10
Expected pay back period: 10
Comments on the installation: "Took a few days and inverter took a while to arrive but install caused little hassle. They also did car charger and switch board upgrade."
Comments on the system performance: "Yes saved money. Power bills have dropped at the same time we now have electric car. The power supply is much more peaky between sun and cloudy than I expected but generally going as planned."
Advice: "It's a bit of fun seeing what your generating. It also means we can run clothes drier or aircon without thing too much about extra power use."
Review Date: 07/11/2022
Size: 11.7
Running for: 1 week
Expected return on investment: 10%
Expected pay back period: 10
Comments on the installation: "It took 5 days to get everything installed, though to be fair we installed two systems. They are yet to return to fix one of the roof penetrations as they went through a lap join which is guaranteed to leak to a custom flashing is to be made and installed to address this. I will not need to pay for the balance of the system until this work is completed (which is as it should be, so that is nice)."
Comments on the system performance: "It has produced roughly what I expected. I'm using SolCast to generate an expected output against which I can benchmark my output. So fair it's pretty good...."
Advice: "The process for installing solar is a major pain in the proverbial as the installation approach can be extremely drawn out. Once your panels are installed and commissioned they cannot be operated until they are "inspected" but the inspection cannot be booked until *after* the install is completed. If you engage a company that has their own (job independent) inspector this can be done immediately or with a day or two, otherwise there is a delay of a week or so for the request to get to the inspector and for them to call to make a time to do the checks, and that can then be 1 - 3 weeks out....so inspection can take as long as month from commissioning leaving your panels as an expensive roof ornament as you will need to pay for the completed installation eventhough you can't use them. In our case inspection took 2.5 weeks and the inspector was onsite for exactly 7 minutes, 37 seconds to check both systems. Then you get to the nightmare that is the meter change - there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON why this cannot be scheduled immediately upon paying your deposit and completed PRIOR to the panels even being installed as the meter works like a regular meter when the sun isn't shining. But no. This cannot be requested until AFTER the system is commissioned - so a delay to get the request from the installer to the power company, a further delay for the power company to call you to confirm the details, then a delay for the power company to pass it on to the meter company, an 8 wait for the metering company to call to make a time, and then the time they give you? Six weeks away! So from the point of commissioning to the export meter going in will be more than EIGHT weeks....which is hopeless. Silver lining is that Octopus will pay for your solar credits in the absence of a meter if you can prove your generated output....less self consumption obviously presumably based on historical consumption (in my case I can measure the returned energy exactly so this will be straightforward). Recommended changes: Inspection and meter change should be booked early and in the case of the meter done in advance; yes, in some cases the inspection will need to be rebooked and some customers may experience a delay, but that's better than every customer waiting weeks. As for the meter change...what a shambles. "
Review Date: 24/09/2022
Size: 8.58
Running for: 2 months
Expected return on investment: 5.3
Expected pay back period: 15 years
Comments on the installation: "Excellent. Value proposition. Professional, friendly and knowledgeable sales, installation and back up staff. Two weeks from signing contract to completed installation. Installation was done very professionally and property was left tidy. Very satisfied and will definitely recommend the company."
Comments on the system performance: "System performing delivering double the proposal power. Have saved $150 per month and this is in a particularly wet Winter. Cannot wait for clear weather to be constant."
Advice: "As the weather becomes more intense/severe in both Summer and Winter and we increasingly use our heating and cooling appliances, not only will it be increasingly costly, the power grid is going to come under pressure to deliver, so secure your supply by installing solar now before the rush."
Review Date: 22/09/2022
Size: 7kW
Running for: 1 week
Expected return on investment: ?
Expected pay back period: ?
Comments on the installation: "Installation is fine. Installation was long and protracted due to an out of town installer, Covid, supply issues, weather, and communication difficulties. "
Comments on the system performance: "System working well. Not had a power bill yet."
Advice: "Should have done this sooner."
Review Date: 04/08/2022
Size: 5.6
Running for: 10 weeks
Expected return on investment: 12
Expected pay back period: 8
Comments on the installation: "Fantastic service from all, completed in two days"
Comments on the system performance: "Excellent"
Review Date: 27/07/2022
Size: 4.8kw
Running for: 1 month
Expected return on investment: 5%
Expected pay back period: 11yrs
Comments on the installation: "Yes very respectful. Shipping delay for inverter meant the installation was done in two visits a month apart but this wasn't caused by the installing company, more a reflection of the times with supply issues everywhere."
Comments on the system performance: "Saved about $60 on my monthly power bill in first month but this was mid-June to mid-July so output from the solar would be at its lowest for the year. Saving was expected for this time of year but hoping for more output as the seasons change."
Advice: "You need ot have load which can be used during the period of output from the panels. Hot water is a good example - fit a timer so that the hot water cylinder is only on during periods of possible solar output. Spa pools and under-floor heating are other examples of load which can be scheduled to run during periods of the day when solar is likely to be operating."
Review Date: 15/07/2022
Size: 6.2
Running for: 8 weeks
Expected return on investment: 8%
Expected pay back period: 12 years
Comments on the installation: "Yes they were pretty good, took a few days "
Comments on the system performance: "All seems to be working well however they decided to install the panels at 90 degrees compared to the design spec as it was easier for them, in hindsight I wish I hadn’t let them do it as it has resulted in more shading impact which has reduced performance."
Advice: "Batteries are overpriced but would add value to the system"
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