Company offering solar systems at no cost

Generous feed-in tariffs for homeowners buying solar panels run out this month, but in a last minute rush for customers, one company is opening doors to those who could not previously afford them.

Companies have been finding innovative ways to make panels more affordable to those who cannot afford to hand over thousands of dollars upfront.

One such company is Express Solar, which is offering an entire solar system at no cost.

“We actually install the whole system free of charge,” operator Jake Cummings said.

“We retail the energy that it produces back to the customer.”

The company gets a cut of the power produced, which reduces over 15 years.

Home owners in low socioeconomic areas and housing trust tenants have been the biggest takers.

The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has warned those looking at taking up such offers to consider them carefully.

“They will work for different customers in different ways and householders need to make sure they do their homework,” Kane Thornton from the CEC said.

Frank Zotti's electricity bills had been going through the roof until he made the switch last month.

“I got my own power station up there now,” he said.

“I'm saving about $2000 a year.”

About 140,000 South Australian households have taken up the South Australian Government’s feed in tariff scheme, which finishes at the end of the month.

It is being funded by all electricity users, costing the average consumer $80 a year.

While solar companies have warned the end of the tariff could see some go bust, the Clean Energy Council said the future of solar power was still bright.

“There will be a slowdown in the uptake of solar, but the outlook is very strong,” Mr Thornton said.

“The cost of solar power is going down while the cost of electricity is going up.”

Those who signed up for solar between July 2008 and September 2011 will earn 44 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity fed back to the grid, and that will continue until 2028.

Those customers who signed up from October 2011 will receive 16 cents per kilowatt hour until September 2016.

But anyone who signs up from next month will not receive a tariff.

Express Solar is the company offering to install a system for free if a customer signs up to a plan.

They can be contacted via email at info@expresssolar.com.au.