Solar panel boom is a bust, complain householders

THOUSANDS of householders who took out loans to fund solar panel installations have complained to the watchdog that they are not bringing in the promised returns.

Sales of solar panels rose sharply a decade ago as small firms chased generous government subsidies encouraging solar power. About a million homes are now equipped with the devices.

However, the Financial Ombudsman Service has received more than 2,000 complaints from individuals disappointed that the returns from their panels are not enough.

Residents were paid for energy that they did not use by selling them back to the grid, but Brian Thompson, from Gateshead, told the BBC his panels would not pay him enough in 20 years to pay off his 10-year loan.

Barclays Partner Finance, part of the wider banking group, sold financing for solar panels between 2011 and 2015. The company has set aside £38.5mil- lion, part of which is to fund payouts to panel owners.

Mr Thompson said he had taken out a loan for more than £10,000 with Barclays after being told by a firm called PV Solar UK that the panels would provide money towards his pension.

However, he claimed the payments were not as high as he had been told, meaning he had to dip into his savings.

Tony Walch, from Bolton, took out a loan of more than £15,000 after being approached by a firm called Myplanet. He also said the income did not cover the loan and that they had actually cost him as much as £500 a year.

Robert Skillen, of PV Solar UK, said Mr Thompson’s panels would make him money when approached by the BBC, but declined to be interviewed.

Mark Bonifacio, the director of nowdefunct Myplanet, said the calculations had been made using a specific methodology, but the performance of the systems was impossible to predict.