Solar PV transfers - easy?

cfw1994

We are in the 4th year of owning a solar PV system.
In that time we have remained with Eon, and the Solar PV payments are made direct and promptly.
Eon have fairly rubbish gas + elec rates at the moment, so we are considering switching. In theory we can save over £300 by moving to Extra Energy or First Utility or similar.
I know there are some horror stories here, but I know the Big 6 also have their share....I will assess that risk!

What I am interested in is whether anyone has experienced moving their Solar PV FIT payments with the elec&gas. I believe we would *have* to move that as well (or could we leave it with Eon?!)

Any good or bad tales to share, any hints on how fast or slow they are to pay (Eon are pretty quick, I have to say, but have only just moved to an online system to enter meter readings.....4 years of sending them emails with them !)....questions to ask these smaller suppliers to show they understand Solar PV FIT payments!

Also curious about whether it is wise to take just the "normal" 1 year fix, or whether the wisdom suggests paying £200 pa more for a 2 year deal makes sense....

Thank you!

unsure

CFW,
That's not correct. Your FITT contract can stay with the original power company even if you move supplier- in fact I think it may have to do so unless the rules have changed.
We still get our Fitt payment though NPower even though we have moved supply company twice since. I believe the big six get paid by govt for administering the FITT scheme so they probably don't want customers going elsewhere.

cfw1994

Brilliant answer, and actually just confirmed by eDF (another possible destination for us!) - so I will leave it where it is for the time being at least (if it ain't broke, don't fix it!!)

Thank you!

tunnel

You can move your FiT supplier if you want, but why you'd move from one that pays out rather quickly to another that(like mine) can take up to 2 months to pay is beyond me.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hi cfw1994

Thought I'd pop on and confirm what unsure has posted.

Customers with us for both FIT and their import supply don't have to take their FIT with them if they move their import supply.

Sorry for the delay setting up an online FIT facility. This is something we've been working on for quite a time and only recently launched. It's early days yet and we're still looking to improve the services offered.

At the moment, as well as entering meter readings, you can look at your statements and see the generation history.

If you haven't already, you'll need to register your FIT account number before you can use the new online FIT screens.

Hope this is of interest cfw1994.

Malc[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

cfw1994

Thanks for the "official" confirmation!
I had registered online....but the system was playing up & still didn't let me post numbers: I ended up emailing it as usual, not a problem (we have been doing that for almost 4 years, and the payments are always prompt, thanks!)

Just to be clear, I wasn't looking to move the solar FIT away from Eon, just wasn't sure it was allowed to stay: now all clear!

A shame the normal energy rates are rather uncompetitive right now, we have been customers for a few years, but I understand that isn't in your control: we will be saving about £200 a year moving elsewhere, so it needs to be done!

Thanks again.

Andy_WSM

cfw1994 wrote: »

A shame the normal energy rates are rather uncompetitive right now, we have been customers for a few years, but I understand that isn't in your control: we will be saving about £200 a year moving elsewhere, so it needs to be done!

Thanks again.

I am in exactly the same boat. A happy Eon customer, but the new rates are too hard to swallow now my fix has come to an end and I've actually found a supplier cheaper than my last year at Eon has been. So no increase in bills, a decrease for a change!

I also have Eon as my FIT supplier and have had no problem with my switch as the 2 accounts are kept entirely separate.

Shame Eon, if your rates improve I'd definitely move back next year. In all the years I have been with you I haven't got a bad word to say.

macman

If you are already registered with a supplier who is part of the compulsory FITs scheme, as are all the Big 6, then there is no point in moving it whatsoever.
It's only the smaller suppliers who may refuse to handle your FITs once you are no longer supplied by them.

cfw1994

Just appears that E.ON have done a "Energy Switch" deal with This Is Money - they have a new 12-month 'collective' rate that actually beats ALL the others!

However...it is only available to those who registered for the next 14 days. Maybe I need to call them to see if they want us to remain a customer (feel free to drop in any thoughts here Malc ;-)

If not, then for another £30pa we could take a rate with eDF that takes it to Feb 2016. Quite tempting to lock that second winter.....

thx for the replies

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

cfw1994 wrote: »

Thanks for the "official" confirmation!
I had registered online....but the system was playing up & still didn't let me post numbers: I ended up emailing it as usual, not a problem (we have been doing that for almost 4 years, and the payments are always prompt, thanks!)

Just to be clear, I wasn't looking to move the solar FIT away from Eon, just wasn't sure it was allowed to stay: now all clear!

A shame the normal energy rates are rather uncompetitive right now, we have been customers for a few years, but I understand that isn't in your control: we will be saving about £200 a year moving elsewhere, so it needs to be done!

Thanks again.

Morning cfw1994

Glad the FIT arrangement's clearer now and sorry for the difficulties giving us your meter readings online. We've had a few technical hitches since we launched.

These have been sorted now so you'll be able to pop future readings online.

cfw1994 wrote: »

Just appears that E.ON have done a "Energy Switch" deal with This Is Money - they have a new 12-month 'collective' rate that actually beats ALL the others!

However...it is only available to those who registered for the next 14 days. Maybe I need to call them to see if they want us to remain a customer (feel free to drop in any thoughts here Malc ;-)

If not, then for another £30pa we could take a rate with eDF that takes it to Feb 2016. Quite tempting to lock that second winter.....

thx for the replies

The arrangement we have with 'This is Money' is a Collective Switch scheme. Thought it might help if I post a bit of information about this.

Collective switching is when a third party puts together a group of people and negotiates a standalone deal with an energy supplier.

Ours comes as either a dual fuel or electric only tariff and has the same discounts/rewards as our one year fixed product.

As a standalone tariff, it doesn't have our Price Alert option. This is because there won't be any new versions launched in the future through us.

The tariff was offered through the web broker, Energyhelpline, who ran the scheme. Only customers who signed up for the collective switch can change to this tariff.

For customers who signed up, it's available from 8 September 14 for 3 weeks.

Customers with a query about the scheme will need to go to the site they registered through and they'll manage their needs.

After the initial switch, though, all customer service queries will be dealt with by us in the usual way.

Hope this is of interest cfw1994. Let me know if you need any more information as will be happy to help.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Andy_WSM wrote: »

I am in exactly the same boat. A happy Eon customer, but the new rates are too hard to swallow now my fix has come to an end and I've actually found a supplier cheaper than my last year at Eon has been. So no increase in bills, a decrease for a change!

I also have Eon as my FIT supplier and have had no problem with my switch as the 2 accounts are kept entirely separate.

Shame Eon, if your rates improve I'd definitely move back next year. In all the years I have been with you I haven't got a bad word to say.

Sorry you're leaving us for your imported energy Andy but glad we looked after you ok whilst you were with us.

Thanks for the kind comments. They're really appreciated.

Malc