FIT Payment Delays

[brightasaspark]

Hi - i passed over my generation meter reading to SSE on 2nd Jan 14 and to date no payment into my bank account.
I called the SSE FIT team a couple of weeks ago and they stated that they were currently processing readings passed over on 4th Dec 13.
Has there been a sudden surge in installations creating a back log of FIT payment calculations or is this another case of companies holding onto their cash for as long as they can.
All FIT generation readings passed over to SSE prior to this latest one have always been processed within 2/3 weeks, so I wonder what's going on.

Are your experiences with SSE or your own FIT company the same. Thought I would get some feedback before starting to make "noises"

Thanks

 

[provr6]

Mines due in 2 weeks so Ill let you know. Have had to oan on past occassions and they then put it through.

A engineer turned up for the first time in 2 years to do a meter reading. I wasnt in and when I called to make an appointment they said there was a backlog. They better not use that as a reason not to pay.

 

[mdovey]

Well, I submitted my reading on the 1st Jan (again SSE), and got a confirmation e-mail, but I've not received payment yet.

I've found that payments can be sporadic - sometimes taking months after the reading, sometimes less than a week!

Matthew

 

[phsci]

Engineer? Meter reader, surely?

 

[Worcester]

Put our meter reading in late to Good Energy, so didn't expect to get it paid this quarter, yet ye hah - in the bank today (They asked for it no later than 22nd Dec, I put it in on the 30th Dec) 6-8 weeks is normal
We also had a guy come read one of the meters just in the new year (2nd / 3rd Jan), guess he'll be back later to read the others (we've got more than one).

 

[brightasaspark]

Update on this thread I started recently.

I decided to email SSE with a complaint inasmuch I hadn't received a confirmation email re the generation meter reading submitted on 1st Jan. Or more importantly a payment.
I received an email dated 19th Feb confirming my reading received. Payment actually went into my bank g account on 24th Feb.
I consider the 8 week delay as unacceptable and possibly this could have been longer had I not complained. Perhaps not an issue when the payment is relatively small but certainly so when the spring and summer months returns can be in region of £600 for three months.
Pity there is not a league table of payment delays on the web as this might prompt new installs to consider their options more carefully when choosing a FIT provider. I guess the majority simply approach their electrical supply company thinking this is the best way forward like I did.

 

[7029 dave]

And what about the customers that won't allow you to read their fit meter?, I would hold back payment till they do!!.

 

[Worcester]

Well, you can always switch your FiT provider at any time it your not happy

How is this for transparency: FIT payment process | Good Energy

and here's the form for you : http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/media/W...dXQ/GEY1.118_SwitchingFITprovider_Form_06.pdf

here's their generic page: Join the Feed-in Tariff | Good Energy

So if you're not happy take your business elsewhere - they get paid around £45 per year per installation that is signed up to them, go on - switch now

 

[brightasaspark]

Thanks Worcester for the info.

Reading through the information regarding the chain of events from submitting FIT reading to payment being typically 6 weeks basically underpins the SSE timescale albeit they took 8 weeks.

They must have changed their process perhaps because typically all payments used to be received within 4 weeks. I therefore assume the payments were made from their own funds rather than waiting on the funds to come via OFGEM?

Thanks again for the info - I will see what happens re the quarter ending 31st March before deciding to make a switch.

 

[oldsalty]

Thanks Worcester for the info.

Reading through the information regarding the chain of events from submitting FIT reading to payment being typically 6 weeks basically underpins the SSE timescale albeit they took 8 weeks.

They must have changed their process perhaps because typically all payments used to be received within 4 weeks. I therefore assume the payments were made from their own funds rather than waiting on the funds to come via OFGEM?

Thanks again for the info - I will see what happens re the quarter ending 31st March before deciding to make a switch.

The cynic in me doubts they are using their 'own' money. More likely to be part of the 400 million they have in their accounts because they don't bother returning overpayments to their rightful owner. Nice work if you can get it!

 

[jason121]

Submitted mine two weeks ago got paid this week by EON

 

[TedM]

From a cash-flow point of view the FiT payments do come from the suppliers own cash. There is a quarterly process (called levelisation) that settles intra-supplier FiT payments, across all suppliers, where payments are made or received based on the market share of each supplier vs their FiT bills. It takes about 6 weeks after the end of a quarter to settle this.

It's obviously in the suppliers' interests to delay FiT payments to customers for as long as possible to maximise their cash-flow position.

 

[Worcester]

Thanks TedM, companies like Good Energy - which are very high purchasers of renewable energy, and have lots of FiT only customers, would probably be in a negative cash flow situation because of that - I would strongly suspect that they will be one of the companies receiving cash from the big six, and so be a net beneficiary of the levelisation process, so it is definitely in their interests to pay after that date.
The big six? they just sit on the cash and lend it on the overnight market ... (cynic in me :crazy

 

[TedM]

Good Energy have about 10% of FiT contracts so have to find £70 million or so a year. As they have such a tiny market share of supply almost all of that has to come from the levelisation process administered by OFGEM.

 

[SRE]

We have 3 systems with 3 utilities. EDF & EON pay within days of submission, Good Energy 8 weeks every time most likely because of the levelisation process. Although Good Energy are always pleasant on the phone every customer we've sent to them has had horrendous problems, compared to other utilities who have put the submissions through without any issues. I love the GE ethos but they're not easy to deal with.