More and more homes are installing photovoltaic panels to save on their electricity bill and enjoy greater energy dependence. Another advantage is the incentives and state aid for its implementation. This is the case of Sergio, who joined the photovoltaic installations a year ago. However, despite the aforementioned advantages, it has not been able to reduce its electricity bill.
In an interview on the program ‘Herrera en COPE’, he explained that the initial investment cost him about 13,000 euros and he has only managed to save 250 “in one year,” he says. He estimates that it will take between 15 and 20 years to recover the disbursement. His testimony comes at a time when thousands of households value self-consumption in the face of instability in energy prices.
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An expensive project with a long payback
In the interview, Sergio reported that the investment he made was around 13,000 euros on average, considering all the components of the system. After a year of operation, he assured that the balance is far from what he was initially promised.
“I do not recommend them, I have saved 250 euros in a year,” he added. According to him, this difference with respect to commercial forecasts has been decisive in questioning the convenience of the installation. During his speech, he insisted that the initial estimates spoke of a rapid recovery of investment, something that “has not been fulfilled at all,” he assures.
The experts’ analysis: the fall in the price of surpluses
In the economic section of the COPE program, Professor Fernando Trías de Bes has explained the reasons that are slowing down the expansion of self-consumption. He recalled that profitability depends on direct savings on the bill and the sale of surplus energy to the network. However, this second pillar has weakened significantly.
The expert has pointed out that in 2022, during the energy crisis, “per megawatt hour was paid at 200 euros”, while last spring “it cost 0”. This variation fully affects domestic installations, which produce most of the energy during hours of low consumption, such as the morning hours. Trías de Bes himself, who also has license plates, has acknowledged that his amortization forecast has gone from 7 to 20 years, a figure that reflects the current uncertainty.
When can it be more profitable
Despite the discouragement of many owners, the professor has pointed out the scenarios in which the investment may be more interesting, such as having an electric car or diesel heating systems, which increases direct self-consumption and reduces dependence on the grid. “My car is electric, I charge it with the sun,” he explained during the interview.
Another element that determines performance is the installation of domestic batteries. According to the expert, it is a system that if it is “minimally good” costs between 3,000 and 5,000 euros, has a limited useful life and hardly has any tax deductions, which further delays the economic return.
The challenge of neighborhood communities
Added to the economic difficulties are administrative obstacles, especially in shared facilities. Pello Mendida, representative of the General Council of Associations of Property Administrators, has pointed out that the “burdensome documentation” required by community contracts forces installation companies to add “a lot of processing costs”, which increases the final cost “almost 20%” compared to an industrial installation.
This increase in cost, together with the current amortization times, complicates the advance of collective self-consumption in housing blocks.