EON FIT Tariff for Solar Panel Generation

deltadon123

I currently have solar panels and have always been on the EON Feed In Tariff, getting paid quarterly for the electricity I generate to the grid. Recently I was asked - as usual - to provide my meter reading so they could make the payment, but when I came to the meter it was completely blank! I let EON know and they said I would need to call out an engineer to have a look at it, this I did. The engineer was unable to come out for about 2 months, and this 2 months was over the recent hot period we've just had with full-on sunshine and temps over 30 degrees, needless to say we would have been duly supplying the grid with lots of nice energy! When the engineer finally came, he said the meter was dead and he would need to fit a new one, apparently 'they just do that sometimes!' After he had fitted the new one, I asked if they would obviously backdate their payment to include all the energy I had exported while the meter was down, because the new meter had obviously started again at zero. Their answer was no! Apparently I wont get anything for that period, as I can't provide a meter reading, because the meter was not working.
Is this right? Surely they would have a record of what we exported to the grid since our last successful meter reading?
I'm very sure that if it was the other way round, and I owed them money, they would absolutely be backdating it and making sure they got what they were owed!
Can anyone help? Should I be fighting for this, or is it just tough luck?
Many thanks!

Aylesbury_Duck

I'm no expert, but in the case where readings for consumption aren't available, I believe a supplier can charge the customer for estimated use based upon typical seasonal usage.  That's what would be reasonable here.  It might not match the very sunny days we had in May and June, but last year's feed-in would be broadly representative.

Ultimately, it comes down to your contract.  What does it say about this situation?  Anything?

QrizB

Assuming this is your solar generation meter, and not the export register of your smart meter, I think it's just tough luck (although you've been luckier than you might have been).

The generation meter is your property not EON's, and maintaining it is your responsibility, not theirs. So strictly speaking you should have called out a MCS-certified solar company and paid them to replace your generation meter. Getting it done by EON is a bonus and saved you maybe £200.

deltadon123

QrizB said:

Assuming this is your solar generation meter, and not the export register of your smart meter, I think it's just tough luck (although you've been luckier than you might have been).

The generation meter is your property not EON's, and maintaining it is your responsibility, not theirs. So strictly speaking you should have called out a MCS-certified solar company and paid them to replace your generation meter. Getting it done by EON is a bonus and saved you maybe £200.

Thanks for this, it's helpful. So I have basically just exported a load of energy for them totally free of charge? Just seems an unfair steal to me - it wasn't my fault that it took them 2 months to come out! They probably owe me about £250 based on the fact that through the summer months I would typically get back around £100/month from them.

QrizB

deltadon123 said:

Thanks for this, it's helpful. So I have basically just exported a load of energy for them totally free of charge? 

You've exported a load of energy, but no-one has benefitted from it. Not you, not EON. It'll just offset the system losses and make everyone's energy bills a fraction of a penny cheaper.

deltadon123 said:

Just seems an unfair steal to me - it wasn't my fault that it took them 2 months to come out!

As above , it's your generation meter. You could have called out a solar electrician and had it replaced sooner.

deltadon123 said:

They probably owe me about £250 based on the fact that through the summer months I would typically get back around £100/month from them.

I've also got a FIT. I try to check my solar generation meter every couple of weeks, just in case of this sort of problem.

vic_sf49

It depends which meter you're on about.

I have a meter that shows what I've generated, and I give that reading to EDF for my FIT generation payment. That is the house side of all my "normal" meters, so will be my responsibility. 

I also read the export screen of my smets2 electric meter (my "normal" electric meter on the wall), and get paid for Metered Export via Octopus. (This is a smart meter, so I'm really just checking Octopus have it correct, and that my meter hasn't gone into dumb mode.)

So if it's this latter one, then yes, I'd expect to lose some income, as Octopus can only fix it as and when they have engineers available for a meter swap. 

Reed_Richards

If you are on the FIT you get paid exactly the same if you export no electricity or all the electricity you generate, because the standard payments are based on what you generate.  Unfortunately your generation meter failed and unless Eon also installed your solar PV system it wasn't their job to replace the failed meter.  So you lost money in your FIT payments but got a free replacement generation meter by way of compensation.