Changes since 1st April (no it's not an April fools message!) means that it is now potentially more attractive for people to generate their own power.
why? because, in line with practice elsewhere in Europe, UK now awards feed-in tariffs (FITs) to self power generators - basically you get paid a tax free, index linked incentive for generating electricity for your own home and reducing your load on the national grid.
So is ther new scheme financially attractive? Estimates suggest, as an example, if you install a 10ft x 10ft grid of photovoltaics, it will cost you upwards of £10k. You could earn from FIts about £900, plus the savings you make on your electricity bills. In simple terms this puts payback in the 10 - 15 year range.
Property sector experts advise that such installations have negligible impact on house price, so no recovery option is likely when the house is sold by increased pricing, although it is likely to be, increasingly a nice to have - similar to where central heating was maybe 25+ years ago - so could facilitate a sale, even if it didn't increase the value.
So is it worthwhile? In purely financial terms, with a payback of >10 years, thats a judgement call you have to make. the main motivation is more likely to be a passion for green or carbon neutral issues, rather than financial and if that is your motivation, then the FIts will certainly sweeten the burden of your beliefs.
Finally a couple of practicalities to bear in mind. In most cases installation of green power doesn't require planning permission, but always check with your local authority to make sure. Secondly, to qualify for the FITs, the installation must be made by a registered installer - so competent DIY won't neccessarily deliver the benefits.
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