When a local Chelmsford resident decided to pursue the governments Feed In Tariff in 2011, he was looking forward to generating his own free clean electricity, lowering his energy bills and most of all 20 years of guaranteed Feed in Tariff payments from the government.

However, in his haste the gentleman selected a company that have now ceased to trade to perform his installation. When things weren’t working correctly he called Carmichael Browns, an established engineer, to see what we could do to help.  After visiting our new client and examining his installation, we weren’t at all surprised to discover the original contractors were no longer available to help or even trading.

His Solar panels had been installed with what appeared to be no consideration for the angle of the roof or the roof structure. The panels had also been erected at different angles causing them to shade large amounts of each other and rendering them almost useless. In addition to that the panels had been mounted on an incorrect base system with no ballast to hold them in place securely, this is not only poor workmanship but also extremely dangerous as a large gust of wind could cause the panels to fly off the roof and cause alarming amounts of damage to properties or even injury to people in the area.

The customer was only made aware of the extent and severity of his problems following an enquiry as to the amount of energy his system should be producing as his meter was reading far less than had been predicted to him.  After attempting several times to contact the original installer with no luck, he contacted Carmichael Browns to come and shed some light on the situation.  When our technical experts arrived with the customer he was astounded that the installation had generated anything considering the poor installation, not to mention that the SMA inverter was still set to be operational with the  German power grid!  Astounding.

The standard of work was well below average and serves as clear evidence of how vital it is that homeowners research their choice of installer before engaging anyone to install renewable energy on their property.

Unfortunately for our customer the money that he lost in potential payments from the Feed in Tariff and the subsequent cost involved in having his system reinstalled and set up correctly had outweighed the initial savings on his install.  In fact it would have been much cheaper in the first place to have asked for recommendations and select a reputable, experienced and MCS approved installer first time.

If you, like many others, are considering the installation of a renewable energy system, Carmichael Browns recommends that the first step is to make enquiries with friends and relatives for recommendations of companies that have done great work for them in the past. Much like hiring a plumber or a decorator, a reliable and experienced installer will have a good reputation between those who have previously dealt with them. We also recommend that the homeowners carry out as much of their own research as they can, this is made especially easy with the internet, enabling you to find further reviews, check company credentials and workmanship from past jobs.

Nothing says more than a recommendation from a client regarding our reliability and level of workmanship. We have completed many installations for several generations of families and several houses along the same street following recommendations from happy customers.

Several of our customers are also very happy to act as ambassadors for us and demonstrate their PV systems to potential new customers.  What more can a company ask for!