New Solar Panels SEG

codo

We recently had some solar panels installed and would now like to sell back any energy we are not using. Is it a simple case of deciding who offers the best rate and then applying on their website?

Officer_Dibble

Octopus are way ahead of the others for their own customers at the moment (unless you've got a Tesla battery) - 15p/kWh. Otherwise you're looking at 6.3p or less, so weigh up if it's worth switching. You need various bits of paperwork that you should have had/be getting from your installer - most notably the G98 and MCS certificates. I think I uploaded copies of these to Octopus' website, I didn't need to send anything off.

There's an up to date (AFAIK) list of rates here:

https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/solar-panels/smart-export-guarantee

Let me know if you decide to switch to Octopus if you're not already with them, we can share £100 off our bills 

Screwdriva

I would recommend Outgoing Agile (vs. fixed)

codo

Thanks Officer_Dibble & Screwdriva we are with Sainsbury Energy at the moment. I have had a quick look at Octapus and we would be paying a lot more for our electricity so may not be wise to switch at the moment. I do believe we have all the documentation we require so I will have a look to see which company would offer the next best rate. 

Officer_Dibble

Excellent. British Gas at 6.4p looks like it might be the best deal then, especially as they'll be taking your account over from Sainsbury's soon.

Are you still on a fixed rate with Sainsbury then? Otherwise there should hardly be any difference between suppliers, they're all more or less on the EPG cap rate (approx 10p/kWh gas, 34p/kWh electricity, depending on region) apart from fancy tariffs like Octopus Tracker/Agile and overnight E7/car charging ones.

codo

We are on a variable rate with Sainsburys. I checked before Christmas and Octopus were more expensive and I don’t think we will be exporting a lot. I’ll have a look at Octopus rates again to see what the difference would be now

Alnat1

You will be surprised how much you will export over summer, make sure you get SEG payments set up as soon as possible.

1961Nick

codo said:

We are on a variable rate with Sainsburys. I checked before Christmas and Octopus were more expensive and I don’t think we will be exporting a lot. I’ll have a look at Octopus rates again to see what the difference would be now

The variable rate from Octopus is 34p/kWh & I'd be surprised is the Sainsbury variable rate was any different?

Petriix

codo said:

We are on a variable rate with Sainsburys. I checked before Christmas and Octopus were more expensive and I don’t think we will be exporting a lot. I’ll have a look at Octopus rates again to see what the difference would be now

The variable tariffs are basically the same across all suppliers. Octopus Agile is significantly cheaper than the variable rate at the moment. Plus there's a £50 switch bonus and the rather generous Savings Sessions. You'd be a lot better off... 

Nsar1

Can I sell to one company and buy from another? We are on a very good fixed price supply tariff with British Gas ending September but would ideally like to sell to the highest bidder.  Thanks in advance

Officer_Dibble

You can, but the best price (ignoring Tesla)  of 15p/kWh is for Octopus customers only. The next best rate is British Gas at 6.4p whether or not you're a customer. There's a table of rates (which also shows whether they're rates for customers only) linked above.