Export mpan

hellosupernova

Can someone please explain how the energy company gets their export mpan number?

I have applied for Octopus agile outgoing export tariff and they keep coming back to me that there has been an issue with the DNO not having received the G98 paperwork so the export mpan requests keep being rejected.

I have sent Octopus the email that my solar installer received which confirms receipt of the G98 paperwork and it says that that is all that they provide as a response confirmation.

This has been going on since August. I don't seem to get anywhere by phoning customer services. They keep looking into it and saying the same thing.

The latest Octopus asked me to fo is email the DNO myself and send the G98 paperwork which I have done but after this I received another email from Octopus repeating the same thing about the G98 paperwork.

After this I phoned my DNO myself who is Scottish Power Energy Networks and they confirmed that the email that I have sent Octopus is all that is needed for Octopus to generate the export Mpan. I spoke to the power connection team.

Any help would be welcome as I am feeling lost as to where to go now.

70sbudgie

What size is your system? (Is your system big enough that it needs G99 instead of G98?) Did your DNO give you a reference number with your notification acceptance? It is possible that there is a difference between G98 receipt nd acceptance? I appreciate this all sounds a bit like clutching at straws, but something in the standard process seems to have gone awry. Identifying anything non standard would be a starting point.

Officer_Dibble

Presumably you have a DNO "approved" acceptance form? Surely the DNO wouldn't have approved it if they hadn't had the G98 acceptance through. I uploaded the DNO and G98 forms online and the Octopus SEG went through quite quickly, but I might just have hit lucky.

Also the Octopus Twitter DM staff seem quite clued up and willing to take ownership of particular cases, they might be a good place to try next.

hellosupernova

70sbudgie said:

What size is your system? (Is your system big enough that it needs G99 instead of G98?) Did your DNO give you a reference number with your notification acceptance? It is possible that there is a difference between G98 receipt nd acceptance? I appreciate this all sounds a bit like clutching at straws, but something in the standard process seems to have gone awry. Identifying anything non standard would be a starting point.

The system is 4kw. 

I have submitted to Octopus my MCS certificate, the G98 form and the email that my solar installer received from the DNO after sending them the G98.

The email that my installer received says the following (with my personal info removed):

Good afternoon,

Thank you for contacting SP Energy Networks and enclosing your G98 documents for "x" MPAN "x".

I can confirm this has been received and passed to the relevant department to update our systems.

Please be advised once we have confirmed receipt of these notifications, we do not send any further correspondence and we do not issue any certificates for these applications.

You will only hear from us now if there is any information missing from your notification.

Regards,

SP Energy Networks Contact Team
Lister Drive
Merseyside
L13 7HJ

The person from the connection team at the DNO said that the email above was the only confirmation needed for G98 installation.

I am not experienced in solar and associated technical things for it so you will need to bear with me.

I have requested for someone higher up from Octopus to call me about my application because I am frustrated at how I being passed around and asked to contact Scottish Power myself etc.

hellosupernova

Officer_Dibble said:

Presumably you have a DNO "approved" acceptance form? Surely the DNO wouldn't have approved it if they hadn't had the G98 acceptance through. I uploaded the DNO and G98 forms online and the Octopus SEG went through quite quickly, but I might just have hit lucky.

Also the Octopus Twitter DM staff seem quite clued up and willing to take ownership of particular cases, they might be a good place to try next.

The only thing my solar installer was provided with was a receipt email notification which is what I have sent to Octopus several times along with the G98 form and my MCS certificate.

When I spoke to the DNO they said that the email notification is all they send out for G98.

I might try twitter after this week if I don't get any calls back from Octopus about it.

I am an Octopus customer for gas and electric anyway so this was meant to be the easiest most logical option for exporting. I'm wondering if the fact that I chose agile outgoing has any bearing on why there are significant delays but there shouldn't be.

Raxiel

Doesn't seem like the problem is at your end in any way.

The G98 acknowledgement I got from my installer was received by email a couple of days after commissioning. It was formatted as letter from the DNO (Natonal Grid, formerly Western Power), as a PDF attachment. That was all I provided Octopus with and the MPAN was raised within 2 weeks of my application.

How did you provide their email to Octopus? I wonder if some automated part of their system is expecting an attachment. Perhaps print to pdf and then send that? (not that it should be necessary once a human gets involved at the other end)

hellosupernova

Raxiel said:

Doesn't seem like the problem is at your end in any way.

The G98 acknowledgement I got from my installer was received by email a couple of days after commissioning. It was formatted as letter from the DNO (Natonal Grid, formerly Western Power), as a PDF attachment. That was all I provided Octopus with and the MPAN was raised within 2 weeks of my application.

How did you provide their email to Octopus? I wonder if some automated part of their system is expecting an attachment. Perhaps print to pdf and then send that? (not that it should be necessary once a human gets involved at the other end)

I have emailed customer services whilst on the phone to them and they have confirmed receipt of needed paperwork. They have told me that the export mpan has beebn requested one minute, not enough info the next minute eg G98 form and DNO confirmation needed again, last update was it applied for again or the first time if I have a hunch on 29 Sept after all paperwork sent on my end. Two weeks later I call again and it gets looked into and again please send G98 and DNO confirmation. Round in circles.

I am confident that the person I spoke to at Scottish Power was as unimpressed with having to deal with my call as I was in having to make it and he knew his stuff. My daily routine involves checking if my export mpan has moved one more step along the dots on my online account at this point. 

My inlaws are getting solar and will export so I might see how quick their export setup is as a comparison.

70sbudgie

Have you spoken to Octopus on the phone? I phoned this week (following unexpected bills) although I have read on here about recent issues with their customer service, they answered fairly quickly and seemed helpful. My issue isn't resilved yet, but there is a plan in place. 

hellosupernova

70sbudgie said:

Have you spoken to Octopus on the phone? I phoned this week (following unexpected bills) although I have read on here about recent issues with their customer service, they answered fairly quickly and seemed helpful. My issue isn't resilved yet, but there is a plan in place. 

Yes I have phoned customer services several times about my application with no result yet. Any other interactions I have had or queries have been dealt with promptly and professionally so this is why I am confused about this specific difficulty I am having with the export tariff.

hellosupernova

Update - the DNO replied to my email that Octopus asked me to send with my paperwork and finally they have confirmed an export mpan number for me. Thats another change to the story but hopefully this is the final chapter. I will update my post again once finalised in case it helps someone else in future. 

hellosupernova

Final update - Octopus have been sitting with the export mpan number since Tuesday this week when they were copied into the email confirmation from Scottish Energy Power Networks my DNO giving them it. I also forwarded the email to Octopus smart team and customer services as well

I have phoned customer services today and they have now finally confirmed exporting as of tomorrow. Phew.