Posted by: @jennyross

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Has anyone had any better luck with another provider?

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Absolutely. No surprises that it's Octopus.

We had our solar panels installed back in December, and what with a hiatus in the installer's documentation and in UK Power Networks' commissioning processes it took several abortive attempts to get our export MPAN. However, Octopus themselves were very supportive and approachable and played their part as well as one could expect. In the end we started exporting in early March.

Perhaps more importantly, instead of relying on a fixed export unit rate we are exporting under Octopus' agile tariff which has consistently and dramatically outperformed the fixed rate. I've just looked up Scottish Power's SEG rate and it's 5.5p per kWh (as opposed to Octopus' rate of 7.5p per kWh fixed), but under the agile Octopus Outgoing tariff I can't see a day when our half-hourly price has gone below 10p per kWh and it's regularly been around 20p. During August it has been averaging (over the daylight hours when we're generating) around 40-45p per kWh. Obviously, with an agile tariff the price you're paid can go down as well as up but whilst the energy prices are so high the difference between agile and fixed rates is so marked it makes little sense in my opinion to go with any of the fixed tariffs on the market.

Just to put this into context, we have a 6.5 kWp installation and a 6kW battery so every day we cream off the first few kWh to fill the battery, prioritise our own use during the day and then export the rest. Last month (3rd July to 2nd August) we were credited £95 for our exports. The previous month we were credited £63 and £75 the month before that. In contrast we've been charged around £30 per month for our summer months usage.

I can't make a recommendation for you since I don't know your wider situation, or what sort of agile rates you'd get in Scotland where there's much more plentiful renewable energy, but moving to Octopus certainly has plenty of appeal and so should at least be investigated in greater depth.

@majordennisbloodnok thanks for your comprehensive reply. Very helpful. Interesting to hear about the Agile rate for Octopus. We are fully electric (no gas), wth ASHP and about 5.9 kWp solar installation. We are awaiting delivery and installation of a Tesla battery - it is a year's wait I believe. The fact that Scotland has so much more renewable energy seem to have no effect whatsoever on the price we pay for energy. We are currently on a fixed rate 30p/kWh and we paid £40 in June and £40 in July for our electricity - which would have been greater had we not had a good summer and day usage often drew from our Solar PVs. I've sent off an application to Octopus so let's see how we get on. Thanks again.

So - this is real head banging stuff and clearly the Energy Companies don't want customers to apply for the SEG otherwise why would they make it so difficult to apply?

Octopus requires the following:

• • A confirmation letter or email from your Distribution Network Operator (DNO) explaining that they’ve been notified regarding your installation. (Your Distribution Network Operator has to be informed and agree to a microgeneration system (including battery storage) being connected - usually your MCS registered installer will have done this through a G59, G83, G98 or G99. Your DNO should then have sent back a letter or email to confirm they received and processed the notification form.)
     

Posted by: @jennyross

So - this is real head banging stuff and clearly the Energy Companies don't want customers to apply for the SEG otherwise why would they make it so difficult to apply?

Octopus requires the following:

• • A confirmation letter or email from your Distribution Network Operator (DNO) explaining that they’ve been notified regarding your installation. (Your Distribution Network Operator has to be informed and agree to a microgeneration system (including battery storage) being connected - usually your MCS registered installer will have done this through a G59, G83, G98 or G99. Your DNO should then have sent back a letter or email to confirm they received and processed the notification form.)
     

My installer says he sent the G99 Form to Scottish Power Energy Networks (my DNO) back in May but there was no confirmation. He said in 10 years of doing this he has never had an acknowledgement but that Octopus should confirm the registration with Ofgem. Octopus says that I must get an acknowledgement from SPEN.

How do I resolve this??

Oh, this rings bells. Getting the DNO to acknowledge the paperwork and provide an export MPAN was the single biggest headache we had to contend with too. Unfortunately, none of the energy suppliers - Octopus or competitors - can do anything much to help here because it’s a red tape issue between you, your installer and the DNO. You have every reason to feel frustrated.

If your installer has done what he should, he will have the G99 form he filled in and submitted available to give to you along with any associated paperwork (e.g. copies of the emails sent to and received from the DNO). In fact, you are entitled to all that gumph, so I’d push for it irrespective.

If you look at the G99 form or even a blank one downloadable from the MCS website you will see it states that the DNO should confirm the installation can proceed. That means either your installer has an acknowledgement from the DNO or he shouldn’t have actually done the installing. If the former, that’s the document Octopus need. If the latter, that’s a bigger issue and I’m not clued up enough to say how it should be resolved; perhaps others here can comment.

@majordennisbloodnok thank you for your help. My installer assured me that the Form had been sent to the DNO so I'll just have to wrest a copy off him.

I'm off on holiday today to recover from all of this (!) and I'll pick it up in a week's time. 

Quick update.... it turns out that the G99 Form was in fact never sent in by my installer (don't ask!). It was sent to SPEN last week and they acknowledged it the same day. I forwarded the acknowledgement to Octopus and received a reply from them a day later to say that all was in order and the process to obtain an external MPAN could now take place. 

I am still waiting to hear from Scottish Power - three unanswered emails and 10 weeks later............ however - I no longer care....

Posted by: @jennyross

Quick update.... it turns out that the G99 Form was in fact never sent in by my installer (don't ask!). It was sent to SPEN last week and they acknowledged it the same day. I forwarded the acknowledgement to Octopus and received a reply from them a day later to say that all was in order and the process to obtain an external MPAN could now take place. 

I am still waiting to hear from Scottish Power - three unanswered emails and 10 weeks later............ however - I no longer care....

As you say, I won't ask. I will, however, sit in the corner and mutter to myself in a curmudgeonly manner, bemoaning tradespeople who say one thing but do another until they're found out. Think Dastardly and Muttley when the pigeon gets away again.

😀  I'd just like to celebrate on this page our final progression to getting the SEG - yesterday in fact. We started the process in June. I'm sure that most people don't have the sort of trouble we had signing up - but we're there at long last. I have to say that the Octopus staff were actually very helpful most of the time. The length of time resulted largely from miscommunication between our installer and our Energy Network. But we've arrived. We're on the 4.1p/kWh export rate - which I know isn't high but we're also still on Octopus Go - at 30p/kWh and 7.5p/kWh night time - but we may make the price of a cup of coffee over the winter months here in Scotland. Who knows?