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Battery registration with central fit register (CFR)

  • March 27, 2024
  • 6 replies
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Back in December 23 I discovered that my FIT account with SSE had been transferred to OVO.  In subsequent correspondence relating to outstaning FIT payments due to me from SSE, I mentioned that I had had a battery installed here last Spring.  I was told that OVO would need to register it on the Central FIT Register and was asked for documentation to allow OVO to do this.

I was subsequently received a message on 4 January from OVO stating…

"Thank you for your email and submission of your battery schematic.

"We have reviewed your schematic and have determined that the installation of the battery should not affect your tariff. The battery does not charge directly from the grid and therefore you will remain eligible for metered generation and deemed export payments.

"I can confirm that the account has been updated and we have also updated the Central FiT Register (CFR) with Ofgem with this information."

However, Octopus, to whom I’m now in the process of transferring my FIT account to, say that my battery has not been added to the CFR.  I have emailed the OVO FIT Team to try to establish whether or not they did register my battery and to let me know what is going on.  However, all I ever receive is their standard reply “We are currently experiencing an extremely high volume of enquiries...”

Can anyone suggest where I should go next to get this resolved?

Best answer by waltyboy

Updated on 08/10/24 by Shads_OVO

Hi @Simon1953, this is very frustrating for you, as you are now due at least one quarter’s worth of FiT payments.

 

I presume we’re talking a storage battery here, linked to your PV panel generation? I wasn’t actually aware of any need to register such a battery with CFR, presumably someone at the OVO FiT team must at some stage have got worried not so much about your battery charging directly from the grid but rather A) exporting to the grid, and B) in particular presenting the possibility of somehow boosting or massaging in some ways your generation figures?


The “deemed export” bit sounds as though you are a regular domestic consumer with a “regular” array of solar panels which aren’t capable of exporting more than 16 Amps of power at any one time?

Although I have had my own small battery for a year or so now (which definitely does not export anything), with PV panels installed for eleven years now, I’m afraid, not having come across this problem before, I can’t actually suggest much beyond possibly approaching directly the CFR people themselves, if that is possible for a FiT recipient to do? 
 

Hopefully somebody on here more skilled with home generation directly linked with storage batteries and who is benefitting from FiT payments may jump in and help with more specific advice.

 

Given the increasing number of batteries associated nowadays with home PV (and even more so with wind) generation, take heart! You cannot be alone in having encountered this, and fortunately the battery itself has been judged not actually to be a problem for you, even given that for some reason at some stage it’s been judged necessary to register it…the very best of luck to you. 

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waltyboy
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  • March 27, 2024

Updated on 08/10/24 by Shads_OVO

Hi @Simon1953, this is very frustrating for you, as you are now due at least one quarter’s worth of FiT payments.

 

I presume we’re talking a storage battery here, linked to your PV panel generation? I wasn’t actually aware of any need to register such a battery with CFR, presumably someone at the OVO FiT team must at some stage have got worried not so much about your battery charging directly from the grid but rather A) exporting to the grid, and B) in particular presenting the possibility of somehow boosting or massaging in some ways your generation figures?


The “deemed export” bit sounds as though you are a regular domestic consumer with a “regular” array of solar panels which aren’t capable of exporting more than 16 Amps of power at any one time?

Although I have had my own small battery for a year or so now (which definitely does not export anything), with PV panels installed for eleven years now, I’m afraid, not having come across this problem before, I can’t actually suggest much beyond possibly approaching directly the CFR people themselves, if that is possible for a FiT recipient to do? 
 

Hopefully somebody on here more skilled with home generation directly linked with storage batteries and who is benefitting from FiT payments may jump in and help with more specific advice.

 

Given the increasing number of batteries associated nowadays with home PV (and even more so with wind) generation, take heart! You cannot be alone in having encountered this, and fortunately the battery itself has been judged not actually to be a problem for you, even given that for some reason at some stage it’s been judged necessary to register it…the very best of luck to you. 

Walt. 2013: 3.2kW PV East/West + Fronius IG, >23MWh (of which, to date end 2024, 18MWh exported). 2023: 2.4kWh LiFePo4 battery. 2024: Tadö wireless smart stat v3; Electriq split unit 2.6kW AAHP (“air conditioner”).
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  • Simon1953
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  • March 27, 2024

Thanks waltyboy.  No, I hadn’t been aware of the need to register my battery either!  Incidentally, Octopus need to know that the battery is registered before I can transfer my FIT account to them - so it’s not just an OVO ‘thing’.

I’m ignoring the bit about deemed export since for the past 13 years we’ve worked on the basis of actual export figures (as OVO also did when they finally paid me for the outstanding generation and export to the end of December).

My real problem is trying to get an actual answer from OVO.  If someone would just read my email and give me an answer, I could stop messaging them and they might have time to deal with some other poor person’s query.

My real urgency to get this matter resolved is to enable me to transfer from this hopeless company to one that responds to emails within a matter of hours - not months.

waltyboy
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  • March 27, 2024

Hi @Simon1953, come office hours tomorrow, I’m sure @Emmanuelle_OVO, or@Shads_OVO or @Chris_OVO will spot this thread and respond to you and help hurry things along between you and the relevant OVO team…frustrating that your FiT transfer to Octopus is hanging in the wind at the moment, but please do be assured that you won’t be ignored here, and any one of those excellent three OVO staff will come back to you.

 

We shall keep an eye out here on your behalf…hopefully you will feel able to have a relaxed evening and we’ll see what the morrow brings!

 

All the very best to you till then…

Walt. 2013: 3.2kW PV East/West + Fronius IG, >23MWh (of which, to date end 2024, 18MWh exported). 2023: 2.4kWh LiFePo4 battery. 2024: Tadö wireless smart stat v3; Electriq split unit 2.6kW AAHP (“air conditioner”).
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  • Simon1953
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  • March 27, 2024

Here’s hoping!

waltyboy
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Chris_OVO
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  • Chris_OVO
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  • March 28, 2024

Hi @Simon1953,

 

I’m really sorry for the issues you’ve been experiencing, that’s definitely not the experience we want for our customers.

 

I’m going to have our Forum_Support team reach out to you so they can help you further with this.

Look out for a private message here soon.

 

Renewable energy jokes never get old.
waltyboy
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  • Simon1953
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  • April 9, 2024

I guess the Bank Holiday hasn’t helped but the last contact I had from the Forum Support was 3 days ago when I received this:

“I have just sent another message asking for an update hopefully I should have some news to share with you soon! I will continue to monitor this for you and as soon as I have more information I will come back to you and let you know! I managed to find your original email with the schematics should they need them for any reason so I have hopefully everything we need to get this resolved.

“If you can bear with me a little longer I am trying to get this resolved for you as quickly as I can!”

My reply was this:

“OK, thanks.
“If you can get a reference or registration number from your colleagues, relating to the the registration on the Central FIT Register, maybe I can pass that on to Octopus for them to chase the CFR from their end as well...”

But so far nothing has arrived...

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