ᐅ Solar panels unavailable – Additional charges or cancellation possible?
Created on: 17 Jul 2020 12:49
K
kati1337
Hello!
We are currently in the middle of building our house, and our photovoltaic system is scheduled to be installed soon. Today, the company responsible for this, hired by our construction firm, called me.
We had already included the photovoltaic system in the original contract offer with our building contract. In hindsight, it was much too expensive. At the time, we didn’t know better / we naïvely didn’t compare prices because we wanted everything “from one source,” as we’re not experts and were hesitant to assign trades separately. We have a contract price of €9,280 gross for 4.2 kWp (kilowatt peak). (I know, stop laughing.)
The company said on the phone that the offer is from late 2019 and that the modules in that capacity are no longer available. He offered to use modules with higher output. We would then pay an additional €600 for 4.55 kWp instead of 4.2 kWp. The alternative would be to remove one module so that the kWp matches the original offer again. However, that would look bad because we have a manor-style gable, and then one side would have 7 modules and the other side 6.
I said that I think this is too much extra money to invest and that I find the system very expensive anyway. From our point of view, this is frustrating. Our contract included a drawing showing that we would get 14 modules with x kWp for price y. I don’t really understand why the unavailability of these 14 modules should be my problem now, and why I should either pay extra or accept worse aesthetics.
We did some calculations together, and he said we could split the difference, which would cost €300 extra, but then we would get modules matching the roof color and a bit more output than before. I told him on the phone that we could do that, but have not signed anything yet.
What would you do?
Part of me would like to say that we should just cancel the expensive photovoltaic system since they can’t deliver what we agreed in the contract. But I don’t know the legal situation / if that is even possible. Some preparatory work has already been done, and cables have been run to the attic.
We are currently in the middle of building our house, and our photovoltaic system is scheduled to be installed soon. Today, the company responsible for this, hired by our construction firm, called me.
We had already included the photovoltaic system in the original contract offer with our building contract. In hindsight, it was much too expensive. At the time, we didn’t know better / we naïvely didn’t compare prices because we wanted everything “from one source,” as we’re not experts and were hesitant to assign trades separately. We have a contract price of €9,280 gross for 4.2 kWp (kilowatt peak). (I know, stop laughing.)
The company said on the phone that the offer is from late 2019 and that the modules in that capacity are no longer available. He offered to use modules with higher output. We would then pay an additional €600 for 4.55 kWp instead of 4.2 kWp. The alternative would be to remove one module so that the kWp matches the original offer again. However, that would look bad because we have a manor-style gable, and then one side would have 7 modules and the other side 6.
I said that I think this is too much extra money to invest and that I find the system very expensive anyway. From our point of view, this is frustrating. Our contract included a drawing showing that we would get 14 modules with x kWp for price y. I don’t really understand why the unavailability of these 14 modules should be my problem now, and why I should either pay extra or accept worse aesthetics.
We did some calculations together, and he said we could split the difference, which would cost €300 extra, but then we would get modules matching the roof color and a bit more output than before. I told him on the phone that we could do that, but have not signed anything yet.
What would you do?
Part of me would like to say that we should just cancel the expensive photovoltaic system since they can’t deliver what we agreed in the contract. But I don’t know the legal situation / if that is even possible. Some preparatory work has already been done, and cables have been run to the attic.
Chiloe schrieb:
Jinko Solar is the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. What, in your opinion, defines a reputable manufacturer?The one with the best marketing department
Today, I found this in the utility room:
I assume the two meters were planned for us. Unfortunately, I can’t reach anyone from the construction company or the electrician right now, as they are all on company holiday. Once work resumes at the beginning of August, the meters are supposed to be installed immediately so that the air-to-water heat pump can be commissioned afterwards. Therefore, I can’t ask any further questions about the exact plan at the moment.
In the contract, I also found that we have an add-on package for the heat pump and photovoltaic system, which states:
ISG web in connection with Sunny Homemanager and Smart Energy meter as an interface to the photovoltaic system including EMI software.
Can I deduce anything from this?
I’m worried that the photovoltaic electricity can only be used for the air-to-water heat pump, while the rest is fed into the grid. I definitely do not want that. The heat pump’s estimated annual consumption is maybe 2000-3000 kWh, hopefully even less. Our household electricity consumption was about 6000 kWh in the last period. We will probably reduce that in the new house, but I expect it to remain around 4-5 k kWh. Therefore, it is very important to me that the wiring is done so we can use the photovoltaic electricity for everything. I would prefer to do without the second meter for the air-to-water heat pump.
I don’t know if the tariff is worthwhile. I also can’t calculate it because too many parameters of the billing are unclear to me.
I assume the two meters were planned for us. Unfortunately, I can’t reach anyone from the construction company or the electrician right now, as they are all on company holiday. Once work resumes at the beginning of August, the meters are supposed to be installed immediately so that the air-to-water heat pump can be commissioned afterwards. Therefore, I can’t ask any further questions about the exact plan at the moment.
In the contract, I also found that we have an add-on package for the heat pump and photovoltaic system, which states:
ISG web in connection with Sunny Homemanager and Smart Energy meter as an interface to the photovoltaic system including EMI software.
Can I deduce anything from this?
I’m worried that the photovoltaic electricity can only be used for the air-to-water heat pump, while the rest is fed into the grid. I definitely do not want that. The heat pump’s estimated annual consumption is maybe 2000-3000 kWh, hopefully even less. Our household electricity consumption was about 6000 kWh in the last period. We will probably reduce that in the new house, but I expect it to remain around 4-5 k kWh. Therefore, it is very important to me that the wiring is done so we can use the photovoltaic electricity for everything. I would prefer to do without the second meter for the air-to-water heat pump.
I don’t know if the tariff is worthwhile. I also can’t calculate it because too many parameters of the billing are unclear to me.
The meter cabinet will be the standard model. For example, I have three meter slots planned. One day when I was on the construction site, the electrician’s team was working. Normally, I would have had to separately commission the general contractor for a second meter or the preparation for the heat pump. Of course, I didn’t do that. They probably would have done it anyway, but when I said there would only be one meter, they didn’t take any further action. So, I guess you can’t really deduce anything from that.
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