Joining Outgoing Octopus

jennifernil

We have PV panels from 2011, FIT paid by EDF with 50% deemed export.  Generation readings  are submitted every 3 months, the most recent on 24/06.

After getting a smart  meter last  November and moving to Octopus in May this year, we decided to apply for the Fixed Outgoing Octopus, but to leave our main  FIT payment with EDF .

We are now almost ready to switch over to Outgoing Octopus, it has taken a long time, but have been given no info on what will happen with payment for the export in the period before they take over.    We will have had 2 months of export at the 50% deemed rate, do we need to involve EDF and give readings?

[Deleted User]

Hi, I recently did exactly the same, leaving my FIT payment with EDF and moving to Octopus for metered export payments. In my case (and I assume it will be the same for you) on the day of the switch (which Octopus told me about) I had to email EDF with an export reading and ask them to make an amendment to the central FIT database. Octopus told me what I had to say in the email. EDF then sent me a final payment for the export for the part period, and Octopus started paying me for the export from the switch date onwards.

The_Green_Hornet

From my own experience when I moved to Outgoing I received the following action email from Octopus Energy:

Hello xxxxx,

Thanks for your patience whilst we’ve been working on your Outgoing application.

I have good news - your DNO has raised your export MPAN and we're almost ready to enrol it.

Before we can though, you'll need to send a FIT reading to your supplier and ask that they use it as your final deemed FIT export reading, in favour of a "negotiated" export tariff with Octopus. Please then forward on their confirmation that the FIT export payments have been ended - once the export status is updated on the CFR, we can enrol your export MPAN and commence the Outgoing tariff export payments. Until we’re made aware of this change, we will be unable to provide Outgoing credit.

Please note that there is likely to be a small gap in export payment whilst your MPAN is enrolled - you will still receive your FiT generation payment.

Love and Power,

xxx

I then had to liaise with my currently FIT provider, which in my case was E.ON Next, and give them an up-to-date generation meter reading (including photo) whereupon they asked me to sign a new contract before they updated the Central Feed-in Tariff Register and issued me with a final deemed export payment.

I forwarded on the E.ON Next email correspondence to Octopus and then they started Outgoing tariff export payments.

jennifernil

Thanks both!

Our communications from Octopus have been totally lacking so far in any detail as to what happens and what we need to do, so I have now e mailed them for more information, see what they come back with, will update this thread when I hear back.

jennifernil

Well, finally an update........and it is just one big mess!   This is going to be long.........

On 19th August we were informed by Octopus that they were now paying us for export, but with no confirmation of the tariff or what we should do about our current 50% deemed export payments from EDF.

Thinking there must be something we should be doing, as per Green Hornet's post, I e mailed them to check they had put us on the Fixed Outgoing tariff of 15p, and asking what we should do about EDF.

The eventual reply was basically that everything was fine and there was nothing to do.  We then saw that they had credited a payment to our account early this month for 15p per unit.  However we were not happy that our question as to what to do about our deemed export and EDF was ignored.   So I sent them another e mail asking that this question be addressed.   Meantime we received another export payment, and our monthly bill.

Yesterday we received another e mail from them........

" Apologies for the misinformation here - you are correct, you do need to contact your fit supplier before we can add in the export tariff.

You'll need to send a FIT reading to your supplier and ask that they use it as your final deemed FIT export reading, in favour of a "negotiated" export tariff with Octopus.

Please then forward on their confirmation that the FIT export payments have been ended - once the export status is updated on the CFR, we can commence the Outgoing tariff export payments. Until we’re made aware of this change, we will be unable to provide Outgoing credit. We have had to revoke what you have received so far as you are still receiving FIT export payments.

Please note that there is likely to be a small gap in export payment whilst your MPAN is enrolled - you will still receive your FiT generation payment. "

And the payments we had received were immediately taken back.   Meantime, thinking things were moving along, we had switched off our solar diverter and started using gas for our HW heating.

So, to try to sort this, my husband rang EDF to ask what information we should send them, emphasising that it was ONLY the export payments we wanted to move, and where we should send the info?    The person who answered, in the FIT department, said that this was far too complicated, and that the only thing to do was to move everything to Octopus.

So then I rang Octopus and spent a long time trying to get the person who answered to understand the problem.  He initially maintained that we could NOT have Fixed outgoing Octopus without giving up ALL our present FIT generation payments.   That we could move to Octopus, but would lose our current 25 year contract.  Now why would we want to do that!?

There was a lot of discussion, I am still not convinced the operative understood everything,  but he went off to speak to the elusive department who are supposed to be dealing with export payments.

The outcome was that according to them the misinformation referred to included being told that we can leave our generation payment with EDF.    And moreover that even if we could, we cannot have Fixed Outgoing and keep our current conditions with the high rate of FIT generation payments because "the government do not allow that".    

We can only have the much lower SEG rate.......where does it say that on their website?    There was no answer to that.

So I said we did not want that, cancel our application for Outgoing Octopus.   But no, they cannot do that either, they claim they  have already taken over our export payments and we would need to contact EDF and ask them to take them back!   

So my husband rang EDF again and spoke to a different person who looked up our account and told him that there was nothing there saying that our export payments had been moved to Octopus, how could they be when we had not requested that.   So she asked if we wanted to keep to our current contract with them and when he confirmed that she told him that she would contact 

jennifernil

Sorry, trying to edit.....

she told him that she would check it all out with some other department and if she did not come back to us then we could take it that nothing had happened and things would continue as before.

We are hoping that will be the case, but I do not have a good feeling!

Does anyone know if ANYTHING  Octopus have said is correct?    Are we not allowed the fixed outgoing tariff?     Can they have highjacked our export just like that?