BEING green is all about saving money, says Gill Anlezark as she proudly shows off the new photovoltaic (PV) panels fitted to the roof of her Salisbury home.

Gill and her husband Jimmy Walker already have solar thermal panels fitted to their roof, which for the past four years have provided them with lots of hot water produced by the sun.

When they heard that FITs were being introduced in February by the government, they looked at the costs involved to turn their home into a mini power station, and generating their own electricity from the sun. Their house is especially suitable as the roof has a sunny, south facing aspect, and is not overlooked or shadowed in any way.

“The panels cost £9,500 to install and we were advised to have as many panels as possible. It worked out at about £1,000 a panel, but we got a £2,500 grant towards the total cost, which worked out at around £7,000 in total, which I think is quite reasonable,” says Gill.

If this seems a lot of money, it is important to understand how FITs work.

Anyone fitting a PV system to their existing home will initially be paid 41.3 pence per kilowatt-hour generated. This amount should be enough to reward households with up to £700 in the first year of installation, according to the Energy Saving Trust, as well as a saving on electricity bills by using your own energy. Any surplus is exported at three pence per kilowatt-hour. Tariffs are paid for 25 years for solar systems and are inflation linked.

Gill is working on the assumption that the payback time for their system will be 15 years receiving £500 a year in payback, but it is very early days to give an accurate figure.

“It is all about economics. We intend to stay in this house for that length of time so will benefit from the payback. It is good to be as green as possible and not to use up what you don’t need to use, and this system gives us this. We are not interested in consumerism,” adds Gill.

Gill and Jimmy did not need planning consent as they are not in a conservation area, but householders who are or who live in a listed building, will need to check with the planning department first.

But they hope that householders like them look at this energy saving option seriously: “As well as saving money, green energy will also stimulate more green related jobs. And if the planet gets saved too, that’s a bonus,” says Gill, whose final word on her home mini power station relates to the new meter: “It goes backwards. Great entertainment value.”

n Further information on FITs is available on the Energy Saving Trust’s website at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk.

Green Living is published monthly and the next feature will appear in the Journal on June 17. If you have any green themed stories or news items, please email anne.morris@salisburyjournal.co.uk.