Octopus Solar Panels quote REJECTED

oap71

Made an enquiry to have Solar panels fitted to my conventional northern mid terrace. But they rejected to quote as we have slates and NOT clay tiles.

Taking a lead from the railways, the wrong leaves on the line 

Note we have pitched roof, no spray foam insulation,  we have single phase 240v supply and no existing solar power system

Perhaps it time to move contract and pay the £150 early cancellation

Extract of reply

As we scale up our solar offering, we are currently focusing on more standard property types; those with pitched roofs with standard clay tiles, no spray foam insulation, a single-phase supply and no existing solar system and/or home battery; from the information provided during your enquiry it looks like some of your property features fall outside of this, so we’re unable to help just now

Hoenir

Once the leaves are cleared the trains run again though. No need to replace the track. 

amanda1024

Octopus gave me a quote for solar, but then when I tried to take them up on it they said actually they couldn’t make their system work on my roof after all. It’s like with heat pumps - they’re starting with a one-size-fits-some cookie-cutter system, for now - don’t take it personally. You can either wait until they start getting more adventurous, or do what I did and get a few quotes from the many other solar installers out there - that doesn’t mean you have to switch away from Octopus!

MWT

Kenrw8 said:

Made an enquiry to have Solar panels fitted to my conventional northern mid terrace. But they rejected to quote as we have slates and NOT clay tiles.

Just go get a quote from a specialist who is equipped to handle a slate roof installation.

It will not be as cheap as an install on standard clay roof tiles, but it can certainly be done, just not by the sort of teams Octopus are using.

No need to change your electricity supplier, just your solar PV supplier...

oap71

Just got another email from Octopus

Oops, we sent an email by mistake!

Hi there,

 

Well, this is awkward. We had a small system glitch last night, which meant that you received an email about a solar system. This was a mistake and we apologise for any confusion!

Please disregard that email and don’t worry - you don't need to do anything and it doesn’t impact any past or ongoing enquiries you may have made. If you have any questions, please drop a note to solar@octopus.energy.

MWT

Kenrw8 said:

Please disregard that email and don’t worry - you don't need to do anything and it doesn’t impact any past or ongoing enquiries you may have made. If you have any questions, please drop a note to solar@octopus.energy.

It may not have been the right e-mail, but the slates may still be a problem and it is always worth having a second quote so I'd get started on that anyway even if only as a comparison...

TheElectricCow

The Octopus solar install FAQs prior to obtaining a quote state they can't currently install on slate. Odd that they've backtracked on their email confirming as much though, would certainly be interesting if they offer to complete the install despite this.

mmmmikey

TheElectricCow said:

The Octopus solar install FAQs prior to obtaining a quote state they can't currently install on slate. Odd that they've backtracked on their email confirming as much though, would certainly be interesting if they offer to complete the install despite this.

I made an enquiry and got the "sorry we're only doing simple stuff at the moment" email reply when I enquired a few months ago. I got the same email today and the apology as mentioned above. I don't think they're backtracking as much as apologising for sending the same email again.

oap71

To all Octopus have now actually confirmed they don't fit solar panels on a slate roof

Grizzlebeard

If demand excedes what they are able to handle they're going to pick the "low hanging fruit".

I don't know if it's because slates are easily damaged in the install process, require special methods and skills or something different altogether.

This is unfortunate for you but makes business sense as a rationing strategy..

It happens across all industries.

Good luck.

Netexporter

A nail-sick slate roof could be a financial can of worms on a budget installation. I can understand why Octopus are steering clear of potentially tricky installations.

Incidentally, I also got a solar email from Octopus, the other day, and then an "oops" email the next.