Solar energy - Feed-in Tariff payment delays - your experiences?

Fred56

I have to make a contribution if only to put another boot into EON. I made a FiT application back in February and EON still has not processed it. Every time I have called to speak to them they are looking for excuses to disqualify the application. They have a menu of questions and trawl through them looking for escape routes.
They are now trying to make a meal out of the name of the house. It's a new build and we have given it a name now we live there - properly registered through the local authority (it was actually registered in April 2011 but the Royal Mail move at glacial speed so is only now showing on their database). When the house was under construction we could only us the postcode and reference to the plot. On advice from EON we made sure the application used exactly the same reference as the MPAN record. Now EON is making an issue out of it claiming the MCS certificate is invalid. They also tried to make an issue out the fact that I moved from a temporary address to the new house.
My MCS registered PV supplier says EON is to be avoided and cites many problems and constant delays.
The message is clear. Do not select EON as your FiT supplier. Go to an honest and efficient company.

KenS

sly_dog_jonah wrote: »

BACS remittance advice email received from EDF last night (for reading dated 25/6, submitted 26/6).

I also received a BACS remittance advice email from EDF last night for a reading submitted on 25/6.

The_Green_Hornet

Fred56 wrote: »

The message is clear. Do not select EON as your FiT supplier. Go to an honest and efficient company.

Have you tried using EON's formal complaints procedure?

http://www.eonenergy.com/At-Home/Contact/Complaint/

Other posters have reported that once they have done so their problems have been resolved in an honest and efficient manner.

John_Pierpoint

Fred56 wrote: »

EON are now trying to make a meal out of the name of the house. It's a new build and we have given it a name now we live there - properly registered through the local authority (it was actually registered in April 2011 but the Royal Mail move at glacial speed so is only now showing on their database). .

Is EON trying to claim that you have a built in system rather than a retro fit?

[I think the powers that be are aiming for a situation where the builder packs the house with well designed and tight fitted insulation and then it is tested as part of the commissioning process. At this point if it fails to achieve its design figures the builder will be told "[I]We won't ask you to pull it down and start again, if you now fit it with PV and thus achieve the required figures[/I]".]

Fred56

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Is EON trying to claim that you have a built in system rather than a retro fit?

[I think the powers that be are aiming for a situation where the builder packs the house with well designed and tight fitted insulation and then it is tested as part of the commissioning process. At this point if it fails to achieve its design figures the builder will be told "[I]We won't ask you to pull it down and start again, if you now fit it with PV and thus achieve the required figures[/I]".]

Hi John

We declared it as new build because we are honest. At the time the FiT rate was lower on new build. I have never understood quite why as the only difference is the we made sure we fitted the panels while the scaffold was still in place.

Ref the thing in your signature. No, we exceeded the design performance. I designed the building but increased the insulation depth and materials during the build. We achieved a much better air leakage rate than the design rate put in by the SAP assessor. had a preliminary air leakage test before boarding the house, the result was about 2.5 m3/m2/hr. By identifying problem areas we reduced air leakage to 1.3 m3/m2/hr on the final test. A (94) rated on the 2010 SAP. It's my house, my money so it's in my interests to get it right. I am using a normal combi boiler for heat and hot water but have the PV to pull down the DER - C4SH level 4 is mandatory here. PV is the only fancy bit of technology - no overpriced tapes and membranes, no daft MHRV. Lots of sensibly priced insulation no faddy stuff like sheepwool or hemp. Good building standards and attention to detail.

Fred56

The_Green_Hornet wrote: »

Have you tried using EON's formal complaints procedure?

http://www.eonenergy.com/At-Home/Contact/Complaint/

Other posters have reported that once they have done so their problems have been resolved in an honest and efficient manner.

I seem to be in that now. I was getting nowhere and then I emailed the big boss. Instant responses. They are still trying to make out my MCS cert is not valid. It's tosh. My PV supplier has been through this with them before and EON lost when it got to the regulator.

John_Pierpoint

Fred56 wrote: »

Hi John

We declared it as new build because we are honest. At the time the FiT rate was lower on new build. I have never understood quite why as the only difference is the we made sure we fitted the panels while the scaffold was still in place.

Ref the thing in your signature. No, we exceeded the design performance. I designed the building but increased the insulation depth and materials during the build. We achieved a much better air leakage rate than the design rate put in by the SAP assessor. had a preliminary air leakage test before boarding the house, the result was about 2.5 m3/m2/hr. By identifying problem areas we reduced air leakage to 1.3 m3/m2/hr on the final test. A (94) rated on the 2010 SAP. It's my house, my money so it's in my interests to get it right. I am using a normal combi boiler for heat and hot water but have the PV to pull down the DER - C4SH level 4 is mandatory here. PV is the only fancy bit of technology - no overpriced tapes and membranes, no daft MHRV. Lots of sensibly priced insulation no faddy stuff like sheepwool or hemp. Good building standards and attention to detail.

Hi Fred,

It is nice to meet someone who seems to understand the situation and
has practical experience of its effects.

If you trace back my postings, you will see I had to rush to meet the (new) deadlines - not just because halving the FiT would have put me right back to the situation in March 2010, when I rejected the idea, but mainly because the requirement to meet energy class "C" (now alleviated to "D") before being allowed to install, would have been difficult and time consuming.

My technical knowledge, I was proud to say, was perhaps 6 weeks ahead of the Daily Mail journalist who coined the term (?) "Conservatory Tax" - perhaps he nicked the idea off a Money Saving Expert posting.

I am particularly concerned by the bureaucracy and subdivision of labour that has enabled the employment of muppets within the system.
The model seems to be:
The muppet in the sales department finds the lead.
The "advisor" (commission driven salesman) bamboozles the ill educated "home owner".
The "surveyor" calls to double check that the salesman, has taken on something profitable for the firm and technically possible..
The installation team, plus the "expert" person, (who has completed a short training scheme) deliver the job.
The "expert" completes voluminous amounts of paperwork and signs off the job.
The government bureaucrats have a complete set of data "tick boxes".

Nobody in the system understands the full picture, there appears to be little if any checking of the effectiveness of the outputs,
nobody has ultimate responsibility and a desire to improve the situation.

This article, written in response to the Daily Mail expose of another stealth tax, has comments added from probable "home owners" that demonstrate their depth of understanding.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/businessandecology/energyefficiency/9202836/The-Green-Deal-feels-the-heat.html#disqus_thread

The following links, which would be funny if they were not so sad, demonstrate the level of independent thinking by those within the delivery system:

How to read a meter:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3191844

The wonderful world of heat recovery:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2959648

mickyduck

Hi I am now receiving a FIT statement almost every day by post informing me that I am not due a FIT payment... quite right Im not based on the readings they are quoting.

John_Pierpoint

Does this sound familiar to anyone who has been caught up in the computerisation of an existing cobbled together system?

EG
Vehicle licensing at Swansea.
HMRC income tax system.

mickyduck

Meter reading submitted 14 July, paper statement received Sat 28 July, payment in bank FRIDAY 27 JULY...... less than two weeks from FIT reading.
Well done let all us Eon customers hope this is not a one off!