The company describes SolarLoan as an unsecured dedicated consumer loan of up to £50,000 at an APR of 7.9 per cent. Although it is paid back monthly like any other personal loan, typically over a ten year period, Engensa claims that most families will receive more through than Feed-in Tariff than their loan repayments.
Toby Derbyshire, of Engensa, said that there are several factors which differentiate the SolarLoan from other ‘Free Solar’ schemes where homeowners also face no upfront costs.
He added: “Unlike traditional ‘Rent-a-Roof’ or ‘Free Solar’ schemes, when homeowners go solar with SolarLoan, the system will be the homeowner’s property outright from day one. As such, it is an investment in their property, and avoids any requirements for mortgage consent.
“This means too that the homeowner will be eligible to collect the government Feed-in Tariff payments, which are not available when homeowners go solar through ‘Rent-a-Roof’ schemes.”
SolarLoan is available from 01 August to homeowners south of Birmingham and will be available nationwide 1 October 2012.