FIT Deemed to Export or Opt Out

jewelleryjac

Hi
I’ve read a few threads on this already but can’t seem to find what I’m looking for. 

We were fortunate enough to have 15 PV  panels installed on our house before the government stopped their 25 year guaranteed index linked FIT payment scheme in Oct 2011. So we get around 60p per kWh back currently. 

We’ve just had a letter from Scottish Power (SP) telling us we need to move from Deemed (50%) to Metered Export which, given on average we use only around 30-40% of the energy we produce, is the right Tariff for us. 

I have a couple of questions: 

1. We had a smart meter installed by SP (the distributor) in 2017 and it appears from a letter we’ve just received that we (the generator) should have advised them (SP) of the installation date within 28 days of commissioning, so called the G83 or G98 process depending on installation date. (One wonders why we need to inform them when they were the ones who installed it??). Anyway, at the time we had no instruction to do this even though they state that “Th G98 process is the responsibility of the generator (us) and out with the control of SP. It is a regulatory requirement that microgeneration customers exporting to the grid must comply with”. 

We now realise, having been on a Deemed Export tariff that we’re probably considerably out of pocket (and have been since 2017) and should have been on a Metered Export tariff straight away. It’s taken them 5 years to tell us we should have completed documentation to get an “MPAN to be linked solely to the Export register of your smart meter”, something we feel was not made clear to us at the time. 

On top of all this, we’ve now been told they are withholding our FIT payment until we comply with this G98 process we knew nothing about when we had the smart meter installed. 

Has anyone experienced this? And should we be raising a complaint with SP about this? I expect it is difficult to say with certainty how much additional income we may have had if we’d been on the metered tariff, but we still feel we’ve been misinformed/uninformed and it has likely benefited financially SP since 2017. 

 
2. We despise SP and would happily Opt out and switch to any other provider if there was one but presume stopping FIT and moving to a SEG (to Octopus, Bulb etc) would be of no benefit because the rate is so much lower? 

ABrass

You don't need to use the same supplier to manage your FIT as your electricity and gas. You can switch another company. I wouldn't give up your FIT.

G98 is not relevant as your solar system and your smart meter predate G98. G98 only came to force in 2019.

Whatever the process was in 2011 I do not know for sure but probably G83 and MCS. It's worth checking your paperwork for a copy of your G83 and MCS certificates. You can ask your DNO for the G83 details of you can't find them.

As for the discrepancy, if you've got a smart meter you should have an export reading. That will show how much you've exported since the smart meter was put in, I'd guess the estimate for how many kWh you've been credited with will be in your FIT paperwork, see how far apart the numbers are.

jewelleryjac

Thanks ABrass, that’s helpful. 

We’ve been asked to do a Cummulative Export reading which is 4675 kWh below the Cummulative Import reading. By my calculations, if we’d been on the metered rate from installation in 2017, we’d be in the region of about £2500 better off! We do have all of our FIT readings so I’m away to do some number crunching although I’m presuming the readings are accurate so I probably don’t need to? 

We have our MCS certificate but no G83. Can you clarify DNO please so we can contact them. Thank you. 

 

ABrass

https://www.nationalgrid.com/electricity-transmission/contact-us/who-is-my-distribution-network-operator

jewelleryjac

Thanks. Our DNO is Scottish Power!!! See why we hate them?!! 

Exiled_Tyke

According to this and the latest Ofgem guidance which is linked from the webpage below, you can't be forced off deemed export if you don't want to be.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/ofgem_update_clarifies_deemed_export_tariff_and_storage_confusion

jewelleryjac

Thanks Exiled_Tyke, that’s also very helpful. It looks like Metered Export is going to be better for us as we generally use less than 50% of the energy we generate. But we’ll see what Scottish Power come back with! 

Exiled_Tyke

I think I'd be inclined to move to a FIT provider you can trust and then take it from there! 

zeupater

jewelleryjac said:

Thanks ABrass, that’s helpful. 

We’ve been asked to do a Cummulative Export reading which is 4675 kWh below the Cummulative Import reading. By my calculations, if we’d been on the metered rate from installation in 2017, we’d be in the region of about £2500 better off! We do have all of our FIT readings so I’m away to do some number crunching although I’m presuming the readings are accurate so I probably don’t need to? 

We have our MCS certificate but no G83. Can you clarify DNO please so we can contact them. Thank you. 

 

Hi

How do you calculate the ~" £2500 better off" ?? ....

Performing a quick sanity check, let's assume that your 2011 install is ~4kWp & had generated ~40MWh since then, at current values (simplified) the deemed would be around £850 (0.0425*40000/2), so between a meter change in 2017 & date would be ~5/11 of that, so ~£386 .... the difference between 50% deemed export that you've been paid & an actual 70% export proportion would be represented by ((386/5)*7), so ~£540 which, from this simplified calculation, is ~£154 difference, not ~£2500 ...

Curious

HTH - Z    

jewelleryjac

Zeupater, I don’t claim to be very good with numbers! All I know is that the difference in numbers totals 4675 kWh. I imagine your calculation is more accurate than mine as you seem to be clued up (your calculations are gobbledegook to me!). I made a simple calculation based on our FIT rate of between 50p and 60p per kWt (between 2017 and today) and applied that to the difference. I’m sure it’s highly inaccurate 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, after writing a strongly-worded email to them this morning, Scottish Power have been in touch to apologise for the letter we received saying it contains information which should not have been applied to us. Lots still to be followed up on…and we are somewhat astounded by the speed of their reply. Makes us suspicious!! 

QrizB

jewelleryjac said:

Zeupater, I don’t claim to be very good with numbers! All I know is that the difference in numbers totals 4675 kWh. I imagine your calculation is more accurate than mine as you seem to be clued up (your calculations are gobbledegook to me!). I made a simple calculation based on our FIT rate of between 50p and 60p per kWt (between 2017 and today) and applied that to the difference. I’m sure it’s highly inaccurate 🤷‍♀️

50-60p/kWh is your generation payment. You get paid that much for every kWh you generate whether you use it or export it.

Your export payment is more like 4p/kWh, which you're currently getting for 50% of your generation but where this could well be higher.

The value of 4675kWh is the difference between your import reading and your export reading, which in this context is meaningless.