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Quote from Ecofuture, any advice

I'm close to going ahead with a quote from North-east installer Ecofuture. £17.2k for a 7.74kWp 18-panel (9+9 east-west) installation, plus a GivEnergy All-In-One and Gateway (13.5 kWh storage with whole-home backup). Scaffolding (inc an up-and-over build due to lack of rear access) and bird proofing included. MCS, Hies ticked, company appears legit, I've checked their Companies House listing, visited their offices etc.
Any input/thoughts/warnings before going ahead?

Pete Rhodes
14th December 2023
ECOFUTURE WEBSITE
ECOFUTURE Business Listing
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I would say that's about 5k to high

Pete Stephens

Interesting, any idea why I might be getting such high quotes? I had nine quotes done for different specs, the only ones £5k cheaper than this were for smaller arrays (6.1kWp) and smaller batteries (5.6kWh).
Also, this is just under the £1200/kWp + £600/kWh guide price I found on this page, are those figures out of date now?

Pete Rhodes

Very top end of pricing i think. What inverter are they specifying

Jeremy Rollinson

That is a hybrid inverter and you only need a string inverter. Unless you are adding batteries to it it is unnecessary and expensive. It is also limiting - I would probably go 6kW inverter to maximise summer export potential. You could save money going Solax or similar for the pv inverter.

Jeremy Rollinson

So there are basically two reasons, though I know this hybrid inverter is a couple of hundred pounds more than a plain string inverter. Reason 1 is to keep everything GivEnergy to play more nicely together (especially with their future interoperability plans). Reason 2 is to allow more storage to be installed there in the future. For a fairly small price difference these seem worthwhile features

Peter Rhodes

From a quick google it looks like your inverter is a grand more than a Solis 6k string inverter. I also think you’ve increased your system price substantially by keeping within a specific brand ecosystem rather than working out what you want it to do and going from there (as I have, but there are costs and limitations associated with that).

Paul Frazer

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The inverter is less than £1000 so it can't be £1000 more than any alternative. You might be right that at all-GivEnergy system may be more expensive, but thet are reasons I like the brand and their offerings, and they aren't hugely more expensive than alternatives

Peter Rhodes

Seems quite high, I’d recommend getting some like for like quotations from other local Giv installers to ensure the pricing is competitive

Mark Berry

Thank you Mark. Based on the four other quotes for GivEnergy equipment, this is competitive

Peter Rhodes

ok fair enough! There are some pinned posts in this group which cover what you need to check. Also make sure you pay your deposit or at least part of it on a credit card

Mark Berry

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This is for a 5kW GivEnergy Gen3 inverter. I have quotes from nine different installers (though not all for the same setup) and this is competitive, though obviously high (between the up-and-over scaffolding required and the All-in-One). Is this really that high? The guide price of £1200/kWp solar + £600/kWh storage says this should be £17,338 so it's basically bang on.
The cheapest comparable quote I got was a touch under £17k but didn't take into account the need to take the scaffolding over the house

Peter Rhodes

430w panels are £100.00 each +/- Givenergy kit is £ 5250.00 +/- and these are online prices not trade (quick google) It seems expensive to me. You’re in the NE not Home Counties.

Andy Peach

Do you have a site for that GivEnergy kit at £5250? The best price I found with a quick Google is £5988 for the AiO, not including the inverter (another £1348)

Peter Rhodes

Andy Peach

Not the solar inverter. It is essentially an AC-coupled battery, so it has an inverter for its own batteries. The solar inverter is a separate piece of kit

Peter Rhodes

The kit does look pretty good value at that price point Peter. I paid around £ 6400.00 for 15kWh of self build battery and an 8kw Sunsynk inverter, self installed

Andy Peach

Ah yes, thank you, I was forgetting about the VAT, so yes it's true, the inverter, AIO and gateway can be had for around £6300 total. Still, with the other quotes being in the same region, what's the alternative? A self-install?

Peter Rhodes

personally I (and others) think that’s expensive for the install you’ve described. I’d search this page and look for other installers to obtain quotes from, it’s a laborious task but it’s better than throwing hard earned cash about.

Andy Peach

I've had quotes from 9 installers at this point, and they were all consistent with this pricing. I have pages and pages of notes, spreadsheets etc, but I haven't seen any sign of anyone reputable offering a significantly lower price

Peter Rhodes

price wise it seems a little high, especially as prices are dropping. However part of that might be the extended scaffolding 🤔
There's a few companies with similar names on companies house, what's their company number. Also have you looked them up on the MCS database

Peter Gummage

have looked them up on MCS, and they are company #13484086. The scaffolding needing to be built up-and-over added £850 to the quote

Peter Rhodes

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the company is relatively new (3 years old) and the directors have 2 similarly named companies. Make sure that all paperwork is with the same company, that you get the insurance backed guarantee (again look them up on HIES) which you should get with a deposit and if at all possible pay part with credit card for section 75 protection

Peter Gummage

Thank you for the guidance. They are on HIES (already checked), and though I noted the other companies and the fact they moved from nearby, having visited their office and met some of the staff and seen some of the equipment in person, I was reassured that they're legit. They use their own guys entirely (their own full-time roofer etc) and there's a free cancellation after the installer visit where the electrician and roofer visit, if I want

Peter Rhodes

Pay your deposit by Credit card, check contract on terms of final payment before or after scaffolding goes down.

Saj Uldin

We're asked quite often if we can introduce them to one of our other customers for feedback, which we're happy to do and the majority of our customers are always happy for us to share their details. This could be something you request for extra comfort.

Ryan Cassidy

I used Heron Electrical based in Wetherby (I'm near York), and I was very happy with them. They handled my DNO request which can GREATLY affect what you can actually install, so don't put too much time/thought into the design (like I did) only to find your DNO response undermines it.

Mike Goldbere

General question: there have been a lot of responses saying this is too high a price, but it's just below the £1200/kWp + £600/kWh guideline I've seen on this sub (which gives £17,388), even though this proposed system includes some premium features like whole-home backup, huge battery-output inverter power, etc. Can anyone say why this is? Are those guideline prices out of date? Or am I missing something?

Peter Rhodes

recently prices have dropped massively. Now is the time to buy.
Springwell Electrical Ltd have dropped prices due to the cost of panels and batteries falling.
The price you are at is around 4k too high depending on the scaffolding as you say.
Obviously bigger companies have bigger overheads but 4k per install seems excessive.

Liam Bland

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