The new finance programme is being launched by Caplor Energy in conjunction with PV manufacturer Sharp Solar. The company says the scheme will allow homeowners to install PV systems without paying for the installation upfront but instead payback a loan at a much more competitive rate that a personal loan from the bank.
Business development manager, Jamie Baldwin, said: “We think this could be a real game changer. Research within the industry shows that the upfront cost is the biggest barrier to the uptake of solar energy systems here in the UK. Our deal with Sharp will mean that homeowners will be able to fund the installation through a loan, and then pay that loan back in regular monthly payments. Crucially, the system will be the homeowners from day one so they will receive all the feed-in-tariff payments as well as significant energy savings on their bills.”
The Accelerated Payment scheme is to be run by Sharp under their existing partnership with Hitachi Finance. Homeowners can chose to pay the loan back – typically at 7.9 percent APR – over a three to ten year period.
Caplor says that the financial benefits of installing a domestic PV system will offset the monthly loan costs, and is expected to be worth more annually than the loan costs by the end of the loan repayment term.