[Peirpoint]

Tried again today. More knowledgable staff member. Took my FIT solar generation reading. Told me straight away that my payment would be £137.61, which sounds about right as this quarter has been pretty sunny. But then says Octopus do not automatically pay you this fee in to your bank account as Bulb used to do very reliably for the past 4 years.

Instead Octopus will send me out a statement by email confirming my reading and payment value. I then have to CALL them and request a "refund" to get this FIT payment! Sounds a bit fishy to me! As a call can take 10-30 minutes to get through to somebody at Octopus. And there will not be a FIT meter reading box on my newly set up account page.

Instead, they will send me the quarterly email requesting the reading after which I have to CALL them and give the reading. Sounds positively last century. Seems very odd as Octopus seem to be the tech and renewable energy leaders in the UK market. But making me jump through hoops to get my own money...

I would move the FIT provider to British Gas if my provider came out with that as an idea.
British Gas send an email to you to remind you to submit, you wait a few days so the number of days between reads is sufficient (I always do on last day of month). You then click a link from the email which opens up a simple page where you provide your meter details and your reading.
A week or so later the money arrives in the nominated bank account.

HTH,

Gaz

 

[MarkyM]

And that is exactly how my previous Bulb set up went with the FIT payments. All very straightforward and reliable.
I have had issues with Octopus in the past which ended with me taking them to court last year. It was not an issue with Octopus per se, but another energy company-Avro Energy, one of the ones that went bust , but did so owing me hundreds of pounds of credit money. But all of those Avro customers were taken over by Octopus so it meant eventually taking them to court and they (Octopus) tried every single stalling & delaying and confounding tactic to delay payment,re-asking for evidence, even after the Ombudsman had already found in my favour. So it is totally ironic that I find myself having to deal with them again. After taking over Bulbs’ old customers. But this is only for the FIT payment and not for my Electricity & Gas supply. No matter how good they are thought of on here, they can be just as money grabbing and cut throat as some other terrible companies. In my opinion. Pretty much par for the course in the UK at the moment. If you are happy with your Energy company, be thankful. It is when problems arise, with things like non working Smart Meters, then you see how good or not they are.