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Solar panel ‘buy back’ credits not receivedC/2008/2796
Mr D installed photo voltaic solar panels at his property in August 2007. He did this on the understanding that energy he produced, but didn’t use, would be shown as a ‘buy back credit’ on his account.
When he received his first bill in September 2007, there were no ‘buy back credits’ on it. The electricity retailer told him it would review the account and re-issue the bill, correctly. After a lengthy delay in getting an accurate and understandable bill from the
retailer, Mr D rang EWOV. Contacted by EWOV, the retailer said this particular situation was affecting all of its customers who’d installed solar panels in a similar format to Mr D’s. As a result of another case we were investigating — and a meeting we had with the retailer and the distributor — it was discovered that the retailer was using data provided by the distributor incorrectly.
Having realised this, the retailer advised that, to ensure the data was translated correctly in future, it would set up a specific team to handle the distributor’s data for customers with solar generation. The retailer also committed to reviewing all of Mr D’s previous bills and making the necessary adjustments. Mr D was satisfied with this result.
With more customers installing photo voltaic solar panels, it’s important for industry to be on the front foot in this area. Retailers and distributors’ billing systems need to operate efficiently and compatibly as new technologies are employed.
(This case was representative of the complaints we raised with the ESC in relation to systemic issue SI/2007/33.)
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