which electric tariff to use with solar panels

thenudeone

growltiger wrote: »

How does it work to have a different FIT supplier to your energy(electricity) supplier? Why would you do that? Was it a deliberate decision on your part?
The PV solar panel installer will help me fill in the FIT forms etc. - do I need to have a converstaion with him ie comments read from forum - I think he would just automatically make an application to my present supplier ie npower. Altho I've noticed comments on this forum about some (elec) suppliers being quicker than others to set FIT up.

You will have to sign the FIT application form even if your PV installer fills it in for you, so if you don't like the recommendation you don't have to accept it. Your PV installer will provide you with a blue MCS certificate, You can use that to sign up to whoever you like.

I decided to go with Good Energy because I wanted to support a specialist renewable electricity company (rather than a begrudging tag-on to a mainstream utility company) and because research suggested their service was better, which is probably not surprising as a specialist in that field. The application was done 100% online and I received confirmation within about 10 days.

macman

Only the larger suppliers (basically the big 6) have to operate a FIT's scheme. The smaller suppliers can opt in or out, and don't have to take on your FITs if you're not their supply customer. So if for whatever reason you wanted to have your supply with a smaller company who were not opted in, you'd have to use one of the big 6 to get your FITs.
For example, I used to be an Ecotricity customer and received FITs from them. I am now with EDF, so Ecotricity will no longer handle my FITs, and I am in the process of transferring my FIT's reg to EDF.

noncom_2

keith_r59 wrote: »

I'm not aware that any of the energy suppliers will actually do this as they all appear to keep their billing and FIT payment systems separate, with many of them only prepared to issue cheques :mad: for the FITs.

I'm with Ecotricity, and they will do this. Unfortunately, as their billing system seems a little unsophisticated at the moment, they couldn't also credit it against our Green Gas account with them.

Rather than have a very large surplus build up on the electricity account each year, which I'd have to request manually to be paid out to me when I wanted, I opted to pay both accounts by Variable Direct Debit, and the FITs come direct to my Bank account quarterly.

macman

I frequently asked Ecotricity why the couldn't credit my FITs against my electricity account, or at least pay by BAC's instead of by cheque. Only on my closing bill was it finally shown as a credit.

noncom_2

Interesting.... they actually emailed me recently to suggest that instead of paying a fixed Direct Debit, they could apply the FIT as a credit and then take any deficit (which there would probably never be) as a Variable DD. I would have had to request a payment of any surplus FIT manually each time I wanted it, and as I said it wasn't possible to credit it to the Gas account also, so I opted for the system I described above.

I guess they must have changed something in their billing system. They're a small but growing company, and so far my experience of their customer service has been exemplory.

keith_r59

I have just gone on to the Ecotricity site to compare energy prices and you certainly pay a premium for going green. :eek:

I think I will stick with my current supplier (npower) and FIT provider (E.on).

macman

Ecotricity charge the same rate as your regional provider's Standard tariff-so no premium. For all people on Standard tariff (the majority) the price would be the same. What they don't do is compete with the big 6 on discounted or fixed tariffs.

noncom_2

Yes, you do pay a premium for going green.... why would you expect not to???

If continuing to burn fossil fuels wasn't significantly cheaper than making the massive investment needed for renewables, then no-one would still be doing it, governments wouldn't have to legislate to force companies to plan future clean energy supplies etc

Ecotricity, (according to their website) spend over 71% of the money received from bills on building new sources of renewable energy in the UK. The best of the Big 6 spends less than 5%.

In my opinion, the price I pay now for dealing with a genuinely forward looking green energy company like Ecotricity is far smaller than the price we will all pay in the future for ignoring the issue and continuing to pretend we can use cheap dirty electricity for ever.

That's a political stance, of course, and one I don't expect everyone to agree with. It is part of a wider ethical approach my family adopts to consumerism, involving Fair Trade and recycling among others.

We are of course lucky that we can afford to pay a tariff which is not the cheapest. Having said that, we do not have subscription TV, smartphones costing £20+ per month, foreign holidays except very occasionally etc etc, so it really is more about attitude and priorities than income.

keith_r59

noncom wrote: »

Yes, you do pay a premium for going green.... why would you expect not to???

I didn't expect not to, just stating how expensive it was when compared to the major suppliers.

Maybe that is why it has so few customers.

keith_r59

macman wrote: »

Ecotricity charge the same rate as your regional provider's Standard tariff-so no premium. For all people on Standard tariff (the majority) the price would be the same. What they don't do is compete with the big 6 on discounted or fixed tariffs.

Who uses the standard tariff any more? Ecotricity is over a third more expensive than the tariff I am on so I think you would have to be seriously 'green' to want to use them.