Impressed now the weather has improved

Had the system installed in Jan, had some teething issues with a failed dongle in Feb and they had some issues with lost days in Mar. 4kw+5.2kwh battery.

So April & May were the first months that I was actually able to compile a full months data, only missing 6-10hrs due to drop outs and so forth. There was also the firmware update that forced a battery recalibration at 5pm to skew the data for May.

But here's a few charts for you... unit rate at the moment is still 15.93p thanks to a fixed rate tariff that comes to an end in Sept. That's protected us. We've not setup a SEG as it's not worth it for a few pennies... I worked it out and for 6 months it would be around £23. We'll get it sorted properly when we switch providers in Sept.

Last 2 months bills have been in the region of £50 for both gas and electric, inc standing charges and VAT. We're almost gas free in the house now, just heating and hot water and heating won't be needed again until Oct/Nov time.

Eon... are still being arseholes though. Tried raising our DD, so I tried to lower it again... We're paying £75 a month... they put it up 13%. Refused to let me lower it more than 10%, so now we're paying £76 and just gaining credit each month... Which is now at £1300... Enough to cover the bills for 12 months without paying a single penny... and it's not based on the previous years usage because the house stood empty for the better part of 10 months since the owners moved. I tried to lower it again this month and they refused to let me go below £76 with over £1300 credit on the account.

Only reason I've not told them to shove it... fixed rate until Sept... they'll be told to shove it then. 🙂

Anomnomnomaly We'll get it sorted properly when we switch providers in Sept.

Don't wait, start it now with any supplier, you can move to wherever you want in September. It'll take ages the first time you apply as the energy supplier will have to ask the DNO for an export MPAN. Once you have that, you can swap quite quickly.

Anomnomnomaly Tried raising our DD, so I tried to lower it again... We're paying £75 a month... they put it up 13%. Refused to let me lower it more than 10%,

We had the same with EDF, so we just waited until the PV had been in for a year (the contract said the DD wouldn't change until the anniversary of the tariff start). They tried to up ours but I phoned and spoke very nicely to a chap who turned out to be very sensible. He could see our historic consumption. I was able to tell him how much we forecast to use annually. They refunded the balance and started a new £35pm DD. I was keen to stay with them because of the 4.5p/kWh off-peak EV tariff, but wanted direct debits that reflected our actual consumption.

According to Martin Lewis, this month of the year should be around the lowest for the level of credit on your energy account.

If the credit is more than 2 times the monthly DD then you can request a refund of the excess credit over that amount, and the supplier must pay you within around 10 days.

I just got £185.00 back from Octopus Energy using this method.

We've actually build up £1772 of credit with Octopus, so we've put the DD down to £1 per month just to keep the DD ticking over. Ok, the interest rate is non-existent, but it was still "money in the bank" 😃

Will EOn/ let you switch to a "variable" direct debit. This is what I have with Octopus, and each month they just take a direct debit for what you have actually used. With solar - you can build up credit over the summer to go towards your winter bills but actually don't pay a thing. Last month I generated enough on solar export to pay the teeny tiny bit of electric imported - the standing charge for both gas and electric and the small amount of gas I used, so didn't actually pay Octopus a penny!
But other forum users are right - do a Martin Lewis and get your money back - then stick it in a 6/9 month fixed savings account - at least you'd be getting interest not EOn.

Karen I was under the impression you could only receive a refund if moving from that provider. I'm going to see what our credit is doing in the autumn as we'll have a years worth of PV data to work out what the required amount will be then suck our money back from Octopus.

MarkyG82 as long as your supplier has up to date meter readings, and can see that your current payment is too high you can request a refund. It's up to them if they give you it

Cdent I think that if you explain your circumstances to the energy supplier such that they can see that your summer consumption is extremely low and you can forecast your winter consumption with confidence, they should be able to set your DD to a reasonable value. They have a duty of care to ensure that if you're struggling to pay, that come the winter, you've at least got some credit to help you to budget.

Pre-PV I had a bad experience with one energy company who just wasn't listening to me explaining that we had removed E7 storage heaters and replaced them with an oil central heating system and they had changed the dual rate meter to a smart meter on a single tariff. The more I tried to explain that they were overcharging us, the higher the DD went. They raised it three or four times during the call from the £75pm that we had originally been paying (this was years ago), to the £125 they had told me it was going up to and then finally to £200pm. I realised that the more I failed to get my point across, the more I was coming across as a desperate customer unable to meet the monthly payments. My only route out was to swap to another provider who listened to the change to the heating system and dropped the DD to something much more sensible.

Anomnomnomaly What worked for me was an email to: hi@eonnext.com

"I had solar panels installed just over a month ago and I'm pleased to say that I have seen a significant reduction in my electricity bill. (Energy used has now stabilised and the May energy charge was £xx.xx v the previous non solar average of just over £xxx per month.

The benefit of the solar has benefited my energy bill this month leaving me with a healthy credit and, as I like stability in the monthly payments, I would like to propose that my monthly direct debit is reduced from the current £xxx.xx to £xxx.xx. This should allow my credit to build further over the summer months to buffer the winter usage and any solar shortfall."

In my case I asked for (and got) a reduction from £220 to £150 without argument.

If they then refuse to play nicely. Advise that you will invoke the Direct Debit Guarantee, ask for an immediate refund of the excess (which I would do even if they do play nicely), and then involve the ombudsman.