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

orrery

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

... perhaps I should try submitting a reading at the end of the month and see what happens?

I now take readings from the inverter and the generation meter (I photograph it) on the last day of every month and log them on the spreadsheet, with the delta between the two. Using this, and the fact that the inverter reading is logged every few minutes, I can calculate the generation meter reading for any time of any day in the past. I haven't quite got it to do so in the future yet, but I'm working on it.

nobby1963

Hi All,
Just to say I submitted my latest meter reading last Monday online to EDF & the money is pending now for hitting my bank account tomorrow .
Happy with that.
Supringly for us this reading equated to £30 more for the exact same quarter last year .
Cheers .....Nobby ( sunny Devon ).

paulfromskeg

Hi


On the past three occasions I have submitted my readings to EDF I have had queries regarding them. The first time, someone just turned up at my house to check my meter. I do not object to this but I was away any my partner did not know if this was a dodgy person wanting access to my house.


The second time, I received an email with a form to fill in explaining why my reading was so high... I explained that it had been sunny, and then received my payment ok.


This month I put in my reading on 1st March, then today received an email stating the reading was higher than expected and I should put in another reading.


Is this normal, as it is getting a bit irritating having to justify the reading. Surely EDF should have meteorological data that they can use to see if it has been sunnier, and should take this into account rather than having to bother the people who are generating the power.


To have an occasional check is ok, but three times running is a bit much...


What experience have other people had in this respect?


Thanks


Paul

sly_dog_jonah

Hi Paul,

EDF are our FiT provider too but have only come to check the generation meter once, despite our annual generation consistently beating the SAP estimate on our MCS certificate by some margin.

Maybe sending them a photo of the generation meter would appease them?

orrery

paulfromskeg wrote: »

The second time, I received an email with a form to fill in explaining why my reading was so high... I explained that it had been sunny, and then received my payment ok. reading. Surely EDF should have meteorological data that they can use to see if it has been sunnier, and should take this into account...

I've had a meter reading, but that was just routine. I've also had the "explain why it so high" request as well.

I just replied that "that was the meter reading" and asked if they would they like a photograph of it. They just paid.

Next time I'm going to send them a long paper on photon impact and speculate on sunspot activity.

nobby1963

Hi paulfromskeg,

I too am with EDF and all I can say is I have had 3 or 4 occasions where after entering my meter reading online have been asked via an immediate message if I was sure my meter was correct and then to explain why it was ' higher than expected '.
I called EDF the first time to ask how I was supposed to know the answer & that if they wanted proof then it was no problem to send a pic of the meter. They just said not to worry, if I was sure the reading was correct and that there was no obvious reason why the reading was high eg the previous quarter was read at the beginning of them month where the reading was requested and this was read at the end of the month requested or perhaps comparing one years reading of the same quarter with the current one and this years one was particularly sunny etc.
As for the visit to read the meter I have been told it is a ' government ' requirement that the meter readings are physically checked by the FIT payer at least once every two years and that the visit initially must be an unannounced one ( to deter fraud perhaps ? ) I was told that this is now more vigorously enforced now since a clampdown at the end of last year.

Cheers......Nobby.

sly_dog_jonah

Submitted our March meter reading to EDF on Sunday night at 10pm. Got PDF BACS remittance email at 1.30pm yesterday (Monday), so expecting payment either tomorrow or Thursday.

I think the only way they could be faster would be if they sent the payment via Faster Payments instead of BACS.

Well done EDF :beer:

orrery

nobby1963 wrote: »

They just said not to worry, if I was sure the reading was correct and that there was no obvious reason why the reading was high eg the previous quarter was read at the beginning of them month where the reading was requested and this was read at the end of the month requested or perhaps comparing one years reading of the same quarter with the current one and this years one was particularly sunny etc.

So why don't they ask for the reading to be confirmed, instead of asking such a daft question?

As for all the other stuff, they know when the meter was read (you have to enter that) and they know the weather and solar activity during the period. Why ask us?

ChopperST

Hi everyone,

Just submitted our first meter read to NPower. Sent yesterday and received a statement via return of email this morning. It doesn't detail exactly when we will get paid.

Whats people's experiences on here to the average time Npower usually take?

Thanks in anticipation.

Mister_G

ChopperST wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Just submitted our first meter read to NPower. Sent yesterday and received a statement via return of email this morning. It doesn't detail exactly when we will get paid.

Whats people's experiences on here to the average time Npower usually take?

Thanks in anticipation.

I've been with npower for FiTs since May 2011, as they were my electricity supplier at the time. They were a bit erratic with the payments in the early days, but their new automated on-line system seems pretty good. The quarterly payment is usually in my bank account within 2 weeks of me submitting a meter reading.