Octopus Energy solar panel post-installation problems

Suebee42

Octopus Energy installed solar panels at my property on 24 February this year. Was told pre-installation that they would be contacting DNO, and then after installation applying for Export MPAN. This was supposed to take 2-4weeks. Contacted Octopus early April to get an update, to be told there was a problem their end - a document hadn't been sent. Said it would be sorted, would keep me updated (didnt happen!) and I would be compensated for electricity already going into grid. 

 Early May, still nothing. Sent various emails and phones throughout May and then made official complaint. Customer service so disjointed - passing me on to other teams to deal with,  replies where obvious my email hadn't been read, etc. Even sending email to Greg (CEO) didn't work - did i really think it would?!! I now have two Complaint Reference numbers for the same complaint!!. Last email I received a couple of days ago (from solar panel Aftersales and complaints) said it was an installation team problem who were going to deal with it - could have told them that since April and highlighted it in complaint email sent mid May, even stating which staff had been involved!

Mid -May, I also contacted DNO to find they had received no paperwork from Octopus regarding my property and, indeed, had no record of solar panels having been fitted!!  That's when I put in official complaint! 

Total nightmare and getting very stressful at lack of action on part of Octopus Energy. Their complaints system needs a complete overhaul. It's not fit for purpose - no one wants to take responsibility to get a problem sorted! Have they grown too big, are their staff trained properly? I've seen other posts on social media from people with similar problems, yet others have had a seamless process with no problems! 

Martin Lewis perhaps you need to re-assess your rating of Octopus Energy. I've never had problems with Energy supply, billing, etc but this problem with my solar panels is getting ridiculous! 

QrizB

Just to check, as you haven't mentioned, can you confirm that:

  your panela are working,

- your generation meter is clocking up the kWh,

- you have a smart meter, and

- the smart meter export register is recording your export?

If all those are happening, all the problems are administrative at Octopus's end.

Suebee42 said:

Total nightmare and getting very stressful at lack of action on part of Octopus Energy. Their complaints system needs a complete overhaul. It's not fit for purpose - no one wants to take responsibility to get a problem sorted! Have they grown too big, are their staff trained properly? I've seen other posts on social media from people with similar problems, yet others have had a seamless process with no problems! 

You're not the first to say this. Yes, they're much worse than they used to be and that's not helped by their experiments with AI assistants.

Suebee42

Yes, I have a smart meter, and yes the panels are working. Nothing on smart meter about exporting electricity. I have the Enphase app on my phone that shows how much energy is being exported and have received monthly reports for March and April (and soon May!) showing total exported. Quite a lot with all this sunny weather! 

I know where the problem lies, thank you.🙂 Octopus haven't even applied for a G98 with DNO so system hasn't even been signed off by DNO. No one in Octopus mentioned I should receive correspondence from my DNO about this otherwise I would have been chasing it up earlier! And no Export MPAN been applied for/issued.

debitcardmayhem

Your electricity meter should still be recording your export, albeit you don’t have an MPAN so it won’t show up on Octopus app/web site. You can check on the meter to see how much it thinks you have exported. 

They Octopus really should be able to have sorted this out in mid March , have you tried X/twitter ? they are much more on the ball than the call centre 
Keep us posted

MWT

Suebee42 said:

Nothing on smart meter about exporting electricity. 

You will not see any record of your export on the IHD (you may see an indication that it is exporting when it is actually happening), but the smart meter itself will be recording the export and you should be able to see that on the meter, even without an export MPAN 

born_again

Suebee42 said:

Octopus Energy installed solar panels at my property on 24 February this year. Was told pre-installation that they would be contacting DNO, and then after installation applying for Export MPAN. This was supposed to take 2-4weeks. Contacted Octopus early April to get an update, to be told there was a problem their end - a document hadn't been sent. Said it would be sorted, would keep me updated (didnt happen!) and I would be compensated for electricity already going into grid. 

 Early May, still nothing. Sent various emails and phones throughout May and then made official complaint. Customer service so disjointed - passing me on to other teams to deal with,  replies where obvious my email hadn't been read, etc. Even sending email to Greg (CEO) didn't work - did i really think it would?!! I now have two Complaint Reference numbers for the same complaint!!. Last email I received a couple of days ago (from solar panel Aftersales and complaints) said it was an installation team problem who were going to deal with it - could have told them that since April and highlighted it in complaint email sent mid May, even stating which staff had been involved!

Mid -May, I also contacted DNO to find they had received no paperwork from Octopus regarding my property and, indeed, had no record of solar panels having been fitted!!  That's when I put in official complaint! 

Total nightmare and getting very stressful at lack of action on part of Octopus Energy. Their complaints system needs a complete overhaul. It's not fit for purpose - no one wants to take responsibility to get a problem sorted! Have they grown too big, are their staff trained properly? I've seen other posts on social media from people with similar problems, yet others have had a seamless process with no problems! 

Martin Lewis perhaps you need to re-assess your rating of Octopus Energy. I've never had problems with Energy supply, billing, etc but this problem with my solar panels is getting ridiculous! 

Don't forget they have 8 weeks from starting the complaint to resolve. If not then you can take it to ombudsman.

Suebee42

Yes, am aware. That will be the next step!! Not sure how effective the ombudsman is!!  Thanks

Suebee42

debitcardmayhem said:

Your electricity meter should still be recording your export, albeit you don’t have an MPAN so it won’t show up on Octopus app/web site. You can check on the meter to see how much it thinks you have exported. 

They Octopus really should be able to have sorted this out in mid March , have you tried X/twitter ? they are much more on the ball than the call centre 
Keep us posted

Don't use X/Twitter but am tempted to sign up just to see if it helps. Have heard response is good. Recently put a review on Trust pilot.