[glider51]

Does anyone (with a recent OLEV grant installed EV charger) know or remember how the grant payment gets made?

Should I expect a cheque in the post?
Do they pay it to my bank account?
Do they send it to my electrician (I hope not)?

Any clues welcome, we just realised we are 5 months from the point of charger install and can not remember seeing the grant payment

Jeremy
(40kw leaf, 130 mile range at 60mph in Econ)

 

[h8ten]

AFAIK it is direct to the installer, that is what it was for me in September last year.

 

[sammyzak]

Depending on who you go with they typically give you the money off at initial purchase (providing you meet the requirements of the grant). The installer would then get that money back after sending the OLEV application on.

That was always my understanding anyway.

 

[EricM]

Depending on who you go with they typically give you the money off at initial purchase (providing you meet the requirements of the grant). The installer would then get that money back after sending the OLEV application on.

That was always my understanding anyway.

That's how it worked for me - although it was 5 years ago so not exactly 'recent'

 

[proddick]

The only way to get the domestic OLEV grant off an approved charging point is for it be deducted off the cost by an approved installer. You should have received an invoice from the installer showing the cost with the grant deducted.

Full details on the scheme at link below

Grant schemes for electric vehicle charging infrastructure

OLEV grant schemes for the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure: guidance and application forms.

www.gov.uk

 

[Paul M]

Registered installers should quote you the price you pay which includes the grant reduction, as they claim the OLEV grant themselves.

 

[freddym]

In Scotland the EST grant if granted has to be claimed by the installer.

Sorry a bit off topic.

 

[Trevor Larkum]

As per the other comments, the grant is only available to registered installers like ourselves. We deduct it from the invoice on the assumption that we will eventually get the money back from OLEV. Given that seems to take about 6 months, and requires you to jump through a lot of hoops, I understand why some installers chose not to bother. It is very unclear what happens if OLEV say no, in theory I guess we would have to chase the householder retrospectively for the money.

 

[Paul M]

I contacted a few local sparkies to get quotes asking if they were OLEV registered. One wasn't, one said they'd stopped doing them as it wasn't worth while, and one quoted about £1500 more than the cheapest!

I ended up going with one of the companies suggested by Ohme. They did the job, then I paid them and I complained about the cosmetic mess and they came and tidied things up.

 

[glider51]

... the grant is only available to registered installers like ourselves.
Thanks, I've confirmed this with my sparky now, in that he owes us the grant, and his position is he will refund it when it gets paid to him...

We deduct it from the invoice on the assumption that we will eventually get the money back from OLEV. Given that seems to take about 6 months

This is insane (that the installers have to wait "6 months").
Say a sparky does 4 installs a week (and some other regular work)
That's £2000 a week OLEV owes them, which is, £52,000 after six months.
Really! How many small businesses can have £52k outstanding. The government/ OLEV people should be shot.
If this country wants to go electric it needs to make sure the sparkys who can do the work don't go out of business waiting for the money

GRRRR

 

[dk6780]

Thanks, I've confirmed this with my sparky now, in that he owes us the grant, and his position is he will refund it when it gets paid to him...

That's against the terms of the OLEV grant.

Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme Guidance for customers: March 2020 Page 9
Q2 Do I have to pay upfront and claim it back?
The authorised chargepoint installer will claim the 75% (capped at £350) on your behalf. They must not charge customers for the grant in advance of payment being made by OLEV.

I can understand that some Sparky's doing this admin at their normal hourly rate without cheap admin back up don't like this and the up to 6 months wait, but those are the terms. It is their choice whether to be part of it.

 

[glider51]

>That's against the terms of the OLEV grant.

That's a really good point for anyone who has had their charging point installed since 1st of April, and sadly the 2020 update drops the contribution from £500 to £350

The guide from before 1st April 2020

Customer guidance: Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme version 2.2

Eligibility information for customers wishing to participate in the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) from May 2018.

webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Has Q2 as:
"Q2 Do I have to pay upfront and claim it back? The authorised chargepoint installer will claim the 75% (capped at £500) on your behalf. How the remaining cost is to be met should be agreed with your installer prior to installation. In any event, you should satisfy yourself whether you are expected to pay the remaining cost, and if not who will be paying for it, before the installation takes place. The grant will only be paid in arrears (i.e. once installation is complete)."

Which leaves it open, as happened for me, for the Sparky to claim the monies and eventually refund it to the customer (me)

That is a really good spot (Q2 in the 2020 guidance) and I feel sorry for the people who are doing this work and waiting on the grant to come though given how long it appears to be taking.

 

[dk6780]

I feel sorry for the people who are doing this work and waiting on the grant to come though given how long it appears to be taking.

It's no doubt fine for the large companies such as PodPoint and Chargemaster with their big corporate backers, but hard for the small businesses. On the other hand, I wonder how many people have lost out on their grants with Installers phoenixing their companies before paying out?

 

[Trevor Larkum]

Really! How many small businesses can have £52k outstanding. The government/ OLEV people should be shot.
If this country wants to go electric it needs to make sure the sparkys who can do the work don't go out of business waiting for the money

Agreed. It reminds me of Einstein's comment that humans can't understand the exponential function. What's the betting at budget time each year at DVLA they get enough people to administrate the grants for the coming year based on how many grant applications they got the previous year.