Solar panels and cancellation of your FIT by Ofgem

jasee

jasee said:

gefnew said:

You could have a look through this and see if anything is relevant to your case.
Dispute resolution | Ofgem

Yes, that's a useful page, I think I will contact BEIS as the system doesn't seem to be workiing properly

I mean the FIT sytem, not 'my' system (my solar panels, that system is working fine

michaels

jasee said:

My panels were installed on the 18th March 2016. I was given a FIT and have been claiming for the electricty put back into the grid since then. On about the 18th of March 2022, I received a letter from Ofgem saying they were suspending my FIT and would cancel it as it appeared there was something wrong with my MCS certificate. Apparently 'something' was not right with it. I contacted REC, NAPID and MCS and eventually discovered that the installers had failed to renew their membership of REC just three days before the installation of my system! All this information was there at the time of the installation so it is not clear why Ofgem left it until March 2016 to inform me!

According to Ofgem there are about 51 consumers who have been suspended or had their FITs removed.

I have contacted MCS, REC, NAPID, MCS and Ofgem. They are like robots. They have a set of rules which apparently they must follow without exception. The system is based on the MCS certificate as some pround standard better MCS say  tthe  protection afforded by their consumer code is much better than consumer law, however it has left at least 50 consumers with, as far as I know, no hope of redress. The electricty companies must be happy just to take the electricity supplied to them through the meters!

If anyone who is in this situation contacts this site through this post, perhaps we as a group may be able to get something done

Perhaps name your original installation company?

Reed_Richards

michaels said:

Perhaps name your original installation company?

An internet search on the name of your original installation company is not going to find this thread so any of the other 51 customers looking for redress hasn't so much chance of finding this thread and getting in touch with you.   

jasee

QrizB said:

Sorry to hear about your problems.

Is your installer was still in business, you might have a case for breach of contract against them.

Without that, you're in a difficult situation since the installation they provided (apparently) doesn't qualify for a MCS Certificate or FIT.

jasee said:

Does anyone get any allowance after March 2019? I thought the FIT scheme has been stopped for personal, home, use?

You can claim SEG payments for exported electricity on a system, even without a fIT. The problem here is that the SEG supplier will also want a MCS Certificate.

Tthe original installer has gone out of business. I've rung a few installers and none seem to be able to inspect the system and verify that it is working properly, if that is what is required?

The only way I know of to get a valid MCS Certificate is from a MCS-certified installer. I'm sure they're all very busy now with full order books but you might find them more willing to help in the winter.

Well maybe I should try that, but meanwhile I'm giving my FIT electricity company electricity! According to my previuos bills that's about £1000 per year even at the very low rate that they've been giving me. AFAICT, I can't stop doing that, if I disconnect it, I don't think it'll work. So the fifty may be giving the electricity for which the elecricity company is not paying of about maybe £50,000 and which they're reselling at about 20 pence per kilowatt.

Anyhow, I've been looking at this another way. Surely under English Law  they have agreed to give my a payment for the electricity I've generated. It's a contract which they are going back on? All the MCS certification is important for (presumably) safety reasons, but it's got nothing to do with my agreement with them to generate electricity. And they have been paying me up till March. So their excuse that the MCS certificate is not valid has nothing to do with it. And it doesn't in pratice because they're still taking my electricity.

Reed_Richards

The question is, does the fact that it is now known that your installation lacks an MCS certificate give your FIT provider the right to discontinue their agreement.  They could certainly do that if you added more solar panels or, I think, if you removed some of them.  In effect your "certified" panels are no longer there, replaced by uncertified ones (even though they are the same panels).  Be careful you don't back yourself into a corner and your FIT provider starts asking you to pay back the money they wrongfully gave you in the past.  

My inverter (which appears to have some features not found on many other inverters) has a software control which allows me to limit my export power, down to zero if I wish.    

ispookie666

@jasee something does not add up. 
How big a system are we talking about? For you to receive £1000/yr fit payment for a system installed 2016, sounds like a massive system. 
I'm with @Reed_Richards on this, your FIT provider can request the monies to be paid back as it would be a breach of contract. 

Pulpdiction

I would suggest you have a contract by conduct, not the best link, but the fact that you, for 6 years have submitted a claim that have been paid and it was the intention of both parties to enter into the agreement then I would complain through OFGEM sighting this fact and that for 6 years it was fine.  You have not been given a reasonable period of time to rectify the issue, you have not been given any advice or acceptable way to rectify the issue and therefore you believe the contract should stand as it has been honored by the conduct of both parties.  I also think if you took this to small claims court then the court would view your case favorably.  

https://www.upcounsel.com/acceptance-by-conduct-contract-law

QrizB

jasee said:

Well maybe I should try that, but meanwhile I'm giving my FIT electricity company electricity! According to my previuos bills that's about £1000 per year even at the very low rate that they've been giving me. AFAICT, I can't stop doing that, if I disconnect it, I don't think it'll work. So the fifty may be giving the electricity for which the elecricity company is not paying of about maybe £50,000 and which they're reselling at about 20 pence per kilowatt.

That isn't how it works. Your FIT electricity company doesn't take ownership of your kilowatt-hours, they simply administer the scheme under which Ofgem / BEIS pay FIT owners for their generation.

Nobody is benefitting from £50k pa, you're just counteracting some of the transmission losses in the system and reducing everyone's bills by a fraction of a penny a year.

jasee

QrizB said:

jasee said:

Well maybe I should try that, but meanwhile I'm giving my FIT electricity company electricity! According to my previuos bills that's about £1000 per year even at the very low rate that they've been giving me. AFAICT, I can't stop doing that, if I disconnect it, I don't think it'll work. So the fifty may be giving the electricity for which the elecricity company is not paying of about maybe £50,000 and which they're reselling at about 20 pence per kilowatt.

That isn't how it works. Your FIT electricity company doesn't take ownership of your kilowatt-hours, they simply administer the scheme under which Ofgem / BEIS pay FIT owners for their generation.

Nobody is benefitting from £50k pa, you're just counteracting some of the transmission losses in the system and reducing everyone's bills by a fraction of a penny a year.

But I should get paid for that that is what I contracted to do

QrizB

jasee said:

QrizB said:

jasee said:

Well maybe I should try that, but meanwhile I'm giving my FIT electricity company electricity! According to my previuos bills that's about £1000 per year even at the very low rate that they've been giving me. AFAICT, I can't stop doing that, if I disconnect it, I don't think it'll work. So the fifty may be giving the electricity for which the elecricity company is not paying of about maybe £50,000 and which they're reselling at about 20 pence per kilowatt.

That isn't how it works. Your FIT electricity company doesn't take ownership of your kilowatt-hours, they simply administer the scheme under which Ofgem / BEIS pay FIT owners for their generation.

Nobody is benefitting from £50k pa, you're just counteracting some of the transmission losses in the system and reducing everyone's bills by a fraction of a penny a year.

But I should get paid for that that is what I contracted to do

Whether you should be paid or not was not the point I was replying to.

You seemed to think that your electricity company was somehow benefitting from your exported power, and that of the other 50 owners in the same position. They're not. The only person benefitting from your panels is you. Currently, even though you're not receiving a penny in FITs, you're still benefitting from use of your generated electricity during daylight hours.

What did your system cost you in 2016? How much have you received in FITs? How close to payback are you today?