Changing supplier when you have feed-in tariff

notken

Sorry if this has been asked before. I'm not on these forums much and a search didn't turn up anything obvious (and too many threads to read through individually!)

I was on a capped tariff with Scottish Power, and 1 April signed up for FIT for my PV panels. Scottish Power have been very slow and a bit disorganised with the FIT, so I still haven't been paid anything yet. They asked for a meter reading for the export meter last week, so hopefully the first payment is coming soon.

Anyway, I want to consider my options, and assuming Scottish Power are no longer the cheapest option and I change supplier, what happens with FIT? Does that remain with them? Does that get transferred to the new supplier too? And if it does, is it the same case of giving a final meter reading to SP and that same one to the new supplier, and hoping/expecting SP to pay me the final amount on that reading? Is it likely that they're going to be much harder to get money from than they are to make sure they get paid!?

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Steve

rhiwfield

I think the contract for the FITs and the contract for electricity supply are different so you can prob move your supply from Scottish Power without affecting your FIT plan.

Not sure but I think you are able to select a separate utility also for the export content of your FIT plan but I didnt bother.

Had my first FIT payment last week, my utility was also a bit disorganised and underpaid me due to them inputting the wrong opening meter read, but I've no doubt this will be sorted soon

cherry-picker

As far as I'm aware your electricity deal with a FIT is completely portable. The key is to shop around for the cheapest import tariff. As the export tariffs are regulated and subsidised based on the generation capacity and type of renewable technology deployed you should be guaranteed a similar price for your exported energy between suppliers.
It's usual for both import and export requirements to be handled by a single supplier due to industry practises associated with balancing and settlements.

notken

Thanks for the info so far. I suppose what I'm hoping for is reassurance that Scottish Power are legally obliged to pay my the FIT up to the point I leave, so that I don't have to chase for it (too hard). If there is a fight for it, or they refuse to pay, then obviously any saving I hope to make on changing supplier is going to be hugely outweighed by what they haven't paid me!

I can't find any advice online, so maybe very few people have changed supplier since having a feed-in tariff. If I do find a new supplier in the next few days I'll be sure to keep this thread updated for anyone coming after me.

Scottish_Power

Hi notken

If you send any queries you have to our micro generation team they will be able to confirm our position. Hope this helps.

[EMAIL="microgen@scottishpower.com"]microgen@scottishpower.com[/EMAIL]

Kind Regards

Colin @ ScottishPower

notken

Hi Colin. Thanks. I did contact the MicroGen dept at Scottish Power yesterday afternoon, but no reply yet.

For reference, I'm looking at moving to Ovo's 100% green electricity tariff. They don't actually have FIT but have assured me that I can transfer supplier, but keep my FIT with Scottish Power (which I'm happy to do). It's this that I've asked MicroGen@SP about. I'll update with what they have to say, when they say it.

notken

Heard back from Scottish Power's Microgen people yesterday (after a friendly email to chase up!) and they replied to confirm that my changing of supplier does not automatically change FIT contract. There's also no requirement for me to move my FIT even though I've changed supplier.

So I've started the transfer to OVO's 100% Green Tariff and leaving my FIT with Scottish Power, which suits me down to the ground - assuming they do actually pay up soon!

zantos

Going a little off subject here BUT as I believe rhiwfield has actually received a payment, does anybody know when these should be paid and also would the law allow "offsetting" payments due against electricity company's bills?

I had a bill from EDF for £193 in June and calculate my bill to them to be £293, At present I calculate I owe them since June £89-75 and they will owe me £160. This all seems very biased against the "generator" in that we are expected to pay quickly (or by direct debit) yet the electricity companys are (I believe) working on a 90 day payment scheme for what is basically the same product. I have considered offering EDF the same discount they continually try on me by asking them to pay by direct debit !

notken

I guess my earlier answer shows that in fact our buying energy and them buying it back from us is totally separate, and falls under separate contracts.

I think that FIT says they should be getting meter readings every quarter and paying us within a month of getting that reading (from memory). This is pretty much how the energy companies worked with us before Direct Debit - quarterly bills that needed settling within the month. As you say, we now get a 'discount' for paying by direct debit (or, probably, anyone who doesn't is penalised, but we'll call it a 'discount' for the sake of argument).

I'm sure the energy companies are a bit slow at the moment. It seems as if FIT came in a little too quickly for their liking. Hopefully things will improve, but we'll always be running a credit account for them.

As someone who freelanced for 10 years, and the average wait for payment being three months, it frustrated me when I thought about how much interest such slow payment cost me over that period. I think it's going to be the same with FIT. Our cost benefit calculations probably assumed payment without a six month wait between paying for the panels and getting the first payment for the energy, but it's still a pretty generous scheme, I think, so I'll just live with it.

Having said that, if I haven't received payment from SP by the end of August, I will be chasing vociferously!

zantos

Well I got fed up hanging around for EDF to sort out FIT payments and found I could get a better tarrif with Npower. That's when things get sticky. According to Npower there is NO procedure in place to transfer FIT payments between suppliers and legislation is supposed to be in place sometime in October to clarify this, so stuck with EDF. Thought I would check this out with another supplier so chose Britich Gas, the ones with the lovely adverts on our television screens! Their answer was that they don't even make FIT payments yet so couldn't help!!!
I know things move slowly but for a scheme that came into force nearly six months ago this does seem a little extreme - still waiting hopefully for a payment of about £293 from EDF.

notken

Yeah, does seem a shambles! Perhaps I should consider myself lucky that I did get payment late August from Scottish Power, and a statement showing how they reached their calculation a few days later.

So hopefully they'll remind me to give them a new meter reading late October for the next quarter. I'm sure I'll remember to if they don't!