Moving to a home with solar panels

Speddar

We are moving to a home with solar panels and are having the FIT (with SSE) transferred over to us when we move. However, in our existing property, we have electricity and gas supplied through British Gas. Forgive me if I sound obtuse, but does the FIT account with SSE mean we have to have all electricity supplied via SSE or can we have British Gas supply us with electricity and the solar panel energy generation and associated payments still remain with SSE? (trying to keep the move as simple as possible)

Misslayed

I was with Eon when my panels were fitted, I have switched twice now and back to Eon, but my FIT payments have always stayed with Eon. I could have transferred my FIT account each time I switched, but there was no advantage. The payments are the same.

Speddar

Thanks Misslayed. So it's entirely possible for me just to carry over both my gas and electricity with British Gas and still keep the FIT payments via SSE? I'm planning on doing some proper research once we've moved to see if we need to switch energy suppliers for a better rate, but for the ease of the move want as much to remain the same as possible. We've never had solar panels before so its a complete mystery!

mmmmikey

Hi - the FIT agreement is completely separate from the electricty supply agreement so you can change electricity supplier as often as you want without ever involving the FIT provider.

ajbell

Do you know when the panels were first registered as it affects how much you get.

Speddar

Thanks mmmmikey - I suspected as much but no-one at British Gas seemed to know what the situation was when I called! This makes life a lot easier as I can now just switch over. ajbell - The panels were installed in 2011 so I don't think the payments as as high as they might have been should they have been installed earlier.

Misslayed

Speddar wrote: »

Thanks Misslayed. So it's entirely possible for me just to carry over both my gas and electricity with British Gas and still keep the FIT payments via SSE? I'm planning on doing some proper research once we've moved to see if we need to switch energy suppliers for a better rate, but for the ease of the move want as much to remain the same as possible. We've never had solar panels before so its a complete mystery!

Yup!

There are lots of very helpful threads on the boards to help you get the best value from your panels.

ajbell

In 2011 the payments were very high, I got mine installed in 2015 and the payments cover my entire dual fuel bill each year.
How many panel/kwp do you have? I think you will do very well out of it.

ajbell

In 2011 the FIT payment was around 46p per kwh.

Speddar

We've got 16 4kwp south facing panels and I've just checked the paperwork and we will be getting a generation tariff of 43.3 p/kWh eligible for 25 years from 2011 so that sounds pretty good from what you are saying. Happy Days

ASavvyBuyer

Although your FIT contract can stay with SSE, you usually can't move your supply contract for gas & electric with your house move.

When you move in, you will be on a deemed contract with the current supplier, for gas & electric, to that property. You need to register with them and provide meter readings on the day of completion. After that, you can initiate a switch to another supplier. You will probably end up paying the deemed supplier for a few weeks while the switch completes.

Make sure your solicitor/conveyancer checks all the documents for the transfer of the FIT payments. There have been some cases where they have not been checked and fully transferred.

There is a lot of information & advice on getting the best from Solar PV on the Green & Ethical Board