Social Energy/Octopus FIT

nicwood

Hi All,
Just wondering what other peoples experiences have been like with the above companies. I've had a look through the forums and can't see much other than some early comments on Social Energy from about a year ago. 

We've got a 5.2kw system with storage and signed up to Social Energy as the supplier when we had it installed. They use the battery for 'grid trading' but I've struggled to find much detail on whether we are getting a good return based on what's generated/traded. Our bills do seem cheaper but I don't know whether we'd be better off scrapping the trading and just going with someone like Octopus who just pay us directly for what we feed into the grid. The trading apparently generates 'credits' which then go towards the bill but I'm not sure if it's directly linked to any solar generation or not (if anyone has any real detail on it then that'd help as the stuff I have found on their website is quite limited). 

I have wifi monitors on both the PV inverter and battery inverter so I can see exactly what is being generated and stored but can't really see any correlation between that and our electricity bill from Social Energy. 

Thanks,
Nic

Essmum

Hi..I don't have any experience with either of the above companies but used to work on the FIT team of another supplier.
You can change your FIT  to any supplier that provides it..Octopus were not offering FIT to people who didnt have their electricity with them..I'm not sure if that's changed.
Tbh one of the most frequent complaints we had was that customers were not seeing the huge reductions in their bills that they were promised by their installers. 
You can change your FIT to any supplier and the payment will be the same..if you're looking to change look at the FIT reviews for the company as some suppliers pay very quickly whilst others make you wait 6-8 weeks.
When was your system installed? As to be eligible for FIT payments the  installation needed to be completed by 31/03/19..if not you would only be eligible for export payments.

bristolleedsfan

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https://octopus.energy/outgoing/

Essmum

I've just had a quick look at Social Energy website..they say they arent a FIT supplier.Do you own your solar panels? If they were installed before 31/03/19 they should have been registered with a FIT supplier for you to receive the FIT payments. 
Unfortunately the date to register for FIT has now passed (31/03/20) so the only benefit will be slightly cheaper energy bills and small payments from the SEG scheme for export. 

nicwood

No, they weren't installed until about September last year, just before VAT went up, so we're limited on options. The main reason I went for the setup I did was the fact that the supplier we went with ended up installing it all for significantly less than I could get hold of the panels/battery for from anywhere I looked. 
I haven't really been able to work out Social Energy as I understand the principle but not how they calculate what reduction to pay you based on generation and 'grid trading' using the battery. The Octopus option is much simpler but given that they're now paying people to take energy off their hands at certain times of the day, I'm not sure how long it will all last for. 

MWT

nicwood said:

 The Octopus option is much simpler but given that they're now paying people to take energy off their hands at certain times of the day, I'm not sure how long it will all last for.

It is relatively rare for those negative pricing periods to occur, and they are usually only for very short periods.

Recent experience has not been typical so don't use that as any guide for the future. It is just the result of a general reduction in demand due to many industry/business shut-downs combines with some high wind and strong sunshine driving the renewable generation volume up.

In general wind is the major influence.

UnclaimedEnergy

If your panels weren't installed until Sep 19 then they wouldn't be available for the FiT scheme due to it closing to new entrants 31st March 19 (unless pre-accredited). 

Now the smart export guarantee scheme is live, you have more options than you would have done before: https://www.solarguide.co.uk/smart-export-guarantee-comparison#/

Social Energy still offers the best rate
Octopus energy you can choose between Outgoing Fixed and Agile - which would remove the risk of negative pricing if you go fixed.

I don't think that Social Energy do anything especially clever - they just net off your export against the how much elec you use.

The benefit of moving to Octopus Energy should be that you'll have better rates on your import tariff.

davethesteam

My Experience with Octopus Feed in and Solar Panel Generating Tarifs.

In a word - DREADFUL.

I was with the Cooperative in Warwick for the above - truly great. Once I heard of the withdrawal of the Coop from the energy market, I contacted who was my new 'grid supplier' - Octopus ( I was with Engie who also were great but like Coop have withdrawn from the UK market).

Transfer over from Engie for my grid supply was pretty painless and I find the staff quite good, but nowhere as good as Engie.

Come solar panels - oh dear. I sent all my transfer paperwork from Coop to Octopus in Febrauary (recorded delivery snail mail - proof of delivery is in my possesion) and all I have had since then is false information (the latest being that as Octopus have not had my Fit info from Engie, they can do nothing to help!!).

I have had repeated promises of 'if there is anything we can do help......) but absolutely zilch apart from a notification a few months ago of FiT reference number.

So, if I get no satisfaction in the next 24 hours from head of FiT Operation (Shaun McHugh), looks like I will have to get OfGen involved...

davethesetam

davethesteam

Following my post in June re Octopus FiT.

No change there - submitted our reading in time for June 2020 quarter day, had acknowledgement they has received it - since then nothing. We should have had a statement advising of our income by now - just deathly silence - and ring the Octopus telephone number (no seperate line for FiT), there appears to be  no one who knows what the deviil I'm on about..

Another e.mail has been sent after being promised a call back from FiT team - I don't think I will hold my breath.

When will we get our money - goodness knows....

Davethesteam

davethesteam

Looks as if it's now sorted. In fairness to the FiT leader (Shaun McHugh), I think Octo bit off more than their systems could chew. I have been promised immediate payment of our gen and fit and their figures agree with mine. I do feel all efforts are now being made to correct their problems - Sept - Oct 2020 will be the proof of the pudding

stevecutbilll

Social energy do not allow you WiFi access to your battery or grid tie inverter, this is so you cannot adjust the settings on your own equipment. 

Reason, they take all your excess solar and pay you 5.6p kw they then charge your battery at 16p kw  and then watch them take it back at 5.6p. 

Watch your empty house with no electric usage actually run up a normal size bill !!

and you have no control over the equipment you bought so it’s actually useless !