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

jkpaul

Approaching my 3rd reading date I've only recently received the (split) statement for the March / April / May period. That was all very well but a bit of a surprise as I hadn't received (nor actually missed) the first one from Nov / Dec / Jan - I wasn't expecting it.

I've requested it for the (somewhat busy) E.ON FiT team but still haven't had it.

The reason for my post was that I realised that others might be in the same boat - having not received statements but not knowing they were missing.

So if you're contracted to E.ON for FiT payments:

• Have you had any statements?
• Have you had all your relevant statements?

jkpaul

This is a question I posted before in the middle of a different discussion, but still wonder - has anyone taken the plunge due to supplier switch or disgust with the FiT payments record and actually changed the FiT company?

I'd be interested to know as if E.ON haven't improved significantly by the time our 1 year anniversary comes up (22-11-12) then I'm pretty keen to look at Scottish Power, seemingly the best performing (or least complained about!) company on this board at least!

AlbertHall

jkpaul wrote: »

Approaching my 3rd reading date I've only recently received the (split) statement for the March / April / May period. That was all very well but a bit of a surprise as I hadn't received (nor actually missed) the first one from Nov / Dec / Jan - I wasn't expecting it.

I've requested it for the (somewhat busy) E.ON FiT team but still haven't had it.

The reason for my post was that I realised that others might be in the same boat - having not received statements but not knowing they were missing.

So if you're contracted to E.ON for FiT payments:

• Have you had any statements?
• Have you had all your relevant statements?

I've received statements from E.ON after requesting them, and now have at last received all payments to date. Latest reading went in last week, which they said should take 5 working days to process. Will see.

In the meantime I have asked the Office for Fair Trading to look at the E.ON FIT contract, asking if it is an unfair contract because the 3 months cited is meaningless. They responded quite quickly saying I should contact OFGEM. I asked them to reconsider, not wishing to be sent round the houses as it was not peculiar to E.ON as an energy company - but they stuck to their decision. So over a month ago I wrote to OFGEM and have heard nothing, so rang them last week. Was told (without me supplying any details) that it could have been received, and could be being considered, but they didn't send acknowledgements. Then said that it should be the Energy Ombudsman that I wrote to, but also supplied me the FiTCompliance email address for OFGEM, so I wrote again asking to acknowledgment - which I don't yet have.

So it looks like I am indeed being sent round the houses. Anyone got experience of the maze?

The_Green_Hornet

AlbertHall wrote: »

I've received statements from E.ON after requesting them, and now have at last received all payments to date. Latest reading went in last week, which they said should take 5 working days to process. Will see.

In the meantime I have asked the Office for Fair Trading to look at the E.ON FIT contract, asking if it is an unfair contract because the 3 months cited is meaningless. They responded quite quickly saying I should contact OFGEM. I asked them to reconsider, not wishing to be sent round the houses as it was not peculiar to E.ON as an energy company - but they stuck to their decision. So over a month ago I wrote to OFGEM and have heard nothing, so rang them last week. Was told (without me supplying any details) that it could have been received, and could be being considered, but they didn't send acknowledgements. Then said that it should be the Energy Ombudsman that I wrote to, but also supplied me the FiTCompliance email address for OFGEM, so I wrote again asking to acknowledgment - which I don't yet have.

So it looks like I am indeed being sent round the houses. Anyone got experience of the maze?

According to the Department of Energy & Climate Change web site, the dispute resolution process for feed-in tariff complaints is as follows:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/meeting-energy-demand/renewable-energy/5946-dispute-resolution-processes-for-feedin-tariff-co.pdf

Step 1 - Contact your FITs Licensee (the supplier who pays you the FIT payment) in the first instance and go through their standard complaints procedure

https://www.eonenergy.com/About-eon/Standards-of-Service/complaints-form

Step 2 - If a mutually agreeable outcome hasn't been reached after 8 weeks of the complaint being lodged you may refer your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/complain-now-energy.html

So I suggest that you contact the Energy Ombudsman however whether they will be interested in the wording of a FIT plan terms & conditions is another matter altogether.

AlbertHall

The_Green_Hornet wrote: »

According to the Department of Energy & Climate Change web site, the dispute resolution process for feed-in tariff complaints is as follows:

Step 1 - Contact your FITs Licensee (the supplier who pays you the FIT payment) in the first instance and go through their standard complaints procedure

Step 2 - If a mutually agreeable outcome hasn't been reached after 8 weeks of the complaint being lodged you may refer your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman

So I suggest that you contact the Energy Ombudsman however whether they will be interested in the wording of a FIT plan terms & conditions is another matter altogether.

Thanks. I had hoped to make it plain that it is the 'another matter altogether' wording of the FIT contract that I'm wishing to seek a ruling on, having been satisfied that payments are made and are forthcoming.

I'm looking to prevent this delay of payments in future, so had taken it up with the Directors' Office at E.ON, who effectively agreed that the mention of a 3 month period in the contract meant nothing (only that it became 'due', not that payment was made). Advice anyone? Anyone taken that aspect up with any of these worthy bodies?

The_Green_Hornet

AlbertHall wrote: »

Thanks. I had hoped to make it plain that it is the 'another matter altogether' wording of the FIT contract that I'm wishing to seek a ruling on, having been satisfied that payments are made and are forthcoming.

I'm looking to prevent this delay of payments in future, so had taken it up with the Directors' Office at E.ON, who effectively agreed that the mention of a 3 month period in the contract meant nothing (only that it became 'due', not that payment was made). Advice anyone? Anyone taken that aspect up with any of these worthy bodies?

To be fair I think that E.ON are also 'looking to prevent this delay of payments in the future' by implementing a new computerised system so I don't really know what you are trying to achieve here.

If your ultimate aim is to get the wording of E.ON's FIT terms and conditions changed (which incidentally you agreed to when you initially signed up to them) then I suspect you will need to make a legal challenge.

I wish you luck with your endeavours.

Dave_Fowler

I received the following information, by email, from the EDF FITs team on 4th August.

"With regards to our telephone number, it is as below: 0800 404 9087. We have taken the decision recently to close the telephone line at 5pm so we can focus our resources on clearing the backlog of feed in tariff applications that have built up since December 2011. This is a temporary measure to ensure that all generators receive a Statement of Terms without any further delay, once cleared our customer service advisors will be available to talk to until 8pm."

It would appear they are still trying to clear the backlog since December!

AlbertHall

The_Green_Hornet wrote: »

To be fair I think that E.ON are also 'looking to prevent this delay of payments in the future' by implementing a new computerised system so I don't really know what you are trying to achieve here.

If your ultimate aim is to get the wording of E.ON's FIT terms and conditions changed (which incidentally you agreed to when you initially signed up to them) then I suspect you will need to make a legal challenge.

I wish you luck with your endeavours.

Because of E.ON's interpretation of their expression in the T&Cs 'Payments due' not meaning payments made/paid there is no guarantee in the future. So a degree of certainty is what I'm hoping for, for myself and anyone else on the EON FIT scheme. Perhaps there will be another change in their administrative systems - who knows! I'm not sure there is any incentive or reason for E.ON to avoid this mess-up in future as presumably there is some benefit in holding on to all those payments due, apart from the negligible bad press.

I wonder if anyone else who signed up for the T&Cs realised that when 3 months was mentioned as payment being due, that it didn't mean that at all, or anything in fact. Hence the enquiry to OFGEM and OFT acting for us innocent consumers.

nithon

My solar panels were installed and commissioned by 16/11/2011. Relevant Feed in tarriff paperwork submitted to British Gas on 26/11/2012 and sent First class mail (pity it wasnt recorded mail). Heard nothing, was told by Installer that I wouldnt hear anything for 6 months so waited to early 05/2012 and was horrified to find that BG had no record of my original paperwork and were not willing to backdate. Tried speaking with a senior manager and just got the party line. I approached Ofgem and they seemed optimistic of back dated payments but received a letter today from them saying they had been in touch with British Gas and were closing my case. No explanation. I have incidently re submitted my original claim and a new claim to meet the 01/08/2012 deadline. Where do I go from here? Do I have a legal case?

KevinG

Hi nithon and welcome.

I think your installer was foolish to tell you that and that you should have made a particular effort to check the status of your registration before the March deadline to ensure that you got the higher FiT rate. Personally, because at that time the deadline was still believed to be December, I'd have been phoning them every day to see if they'd got it! I'm sorry, but unless you at least have some evidence that you posted it (did you not get a certificate of posting? - These are free) I think you are going to have a hard time with this one.