Did Santa bring you any Solar Panels?

Admittedly not the first Christmas gift idea to spring to mind, but with the energy bill savings and feed-in tariff payments, you could just be able to splash out a little bit more next Christmas.

Whilst some homeowners install solar panels to aid the environment, others will be quite happy just to see a reduction in their energy bills.

Last Summer saw a wave of companies offering free installations in exchange for keeping the revenues generated by the feed-in tariff for themselves, whilst the homeowner simply benefitted from lower energy bills. However, despite an estimated 10,000 installations overall in 2010, there are many more homes that whilst they may not meet the criteria for a free installation, could certainly reap huge rewards from their own installation.

Solar Panel Quoter can give you an instant online price guide for your own solar panel installation without any salesmen having to call on you first.

And with the Renewable Heat Incentive set to come live later this year, you'll also be able to apply for a generation tariff for hot water solar panels, similar to the current feed-in tariff for photovoltaic (electricity generating) solar panels.

photo credit: bart fields