Good Energy

[Ted]

have a new website dedicated to home generation: http://www.goodenergygeneration.co.uk

[CeeBee]

have a new website dedicated to home generation: http://www.goodenergygeneration.co.uk

They say "Our award winning HomeGen scheme pays 15p for every unit of electricity generated - even the units you use on site. Our research shows this is the highest paying reward offered by any supplier in the UK.". Depends how you work it out, doesn't it. E.g. 28p/kWh exported from SSE/Southern Electric/Ebico works out better if you export nearly half (or more) of your generated electricity. Mind you, you can't blame them if Good Energy's 'research' failed to uncover this, as Southern Electric website still says 18p/kWh exported.

I do think that there should always be an added incentive to export the energy, otherwise you have no reason not to just waste it on-site (not that Good Energy customers are likely to be of the 'wasting' kind!).

I wonder if any suppliers are likely to comment (publicly) on FITs before their introduction? Presumably they've all got great interest in the consultation document, and its implications for their business.

[Rooster]

I notice that installers can become Good Energy Partners and receive a payment of either £20 or £500 for every customer they refer/sign up.

http://www.goodenergygeneration.co.uk/the-switch-room/generation-partners.aspx

[jango]

At least the price is going up that they paye, but do they sell it at?

[billt]

Yes, their website is completely useless when it comes to finding information.

However, Uswitch allows you to find their rates. In my area (npower) they want 13p per unit. Rather an eye watering increase over my current provider at 9.5p per unit!

[kristen]

I struggled to get information to help me make the switch on their site.

Can anyone guestimate whether the increase in rate would be balanced by the HotROC?

a) 11,600 day and 4,700 night units
b) a HotROCC on 180 x 58mm tubes

??

Perhaps I should go to the trouble of registering and everything just to be able to ask the question ...

[Paulh_Boats]

Also:

http://www.generateyourown.co.uk

[Paulh_Boats]

I emailed Good Energy about Feed In Tariffs. Here is their reply:

"Good Energy will be increasing its rates for Microgeneration in line with the proposed new rates for the Government Feed-in-Tariffs, when they come into force.

However, it is worth noting at this stage that the announcements made so far have not been confirmed, but those eligible for the new Microgeneration rates will receive the increase in payments for energy generated."

 

[RichieC]

Hi All

 Has anybody swapped over to good energy yet? I was wondering what there customer service is like?

 Also is there business model sustainable? Will people join them if they aren't the cheapest supplier?

 I'm looking to join the as I have 2 x 20 panels on a south facing roof, the only problem being I installed them myself so might (will) struggle to get an installation certificate.

Thanks

Rich

[StBarnabas]

Moved to GoodEnergy as of 24th Sept. So far so excellent. But will moan as appropriate...

[guydewdney]

moved to them a while ago. Cust Serv so far very good. Very little telephone waiting time, knowledgeable staff.

[StBarnabas]

a) Kristen etc have asked for more detail. Here is an attached table of good energy pricing I was sent recently.
b) I have been accepted for HotROCs though I am a bit puzzled by the letter

"I am happy to inform you that based upon what we 'deem' your solar thermal generation to be we will pay you £91.13 every year... Our prices are as follows 4.279p/kWh unit charge
10.994p/day standing charge"

Not sure I understand this "but better than a poke in the eye"

[chickensoup]

   Sean,
             Regarding your thermal solar, who or what provided you with a completion certificate, as the requirements state? I'm really interested in joining.

      chicken

[StBarnabas]

Hi chicken
never had a completion certificate. Seemed happy with photos so give it a go!

[Ivan]

Might be worth pointing out the pitfalls of signing up to a 'get paid 15p even if you use all the electricity' agreement for Solar PV.

I recently did some sums - over the last year, we've used around 6.5kWh/day of electricity, and as I work from home, Vicky isn't working and we've had pre-school children at home all year, our electricity usage during the day is as high, if not higher than any other time of day. For most of the summer (from May to about mid September I've had 1.2kWp of PV, which was only stepped up to 1.4kWp in the last few weeks.

Despite having a relatively small array, we've exported 65% of our generated electricity. If we were with Good Energy, we'd have been paid only 15p for this, whereas with npower (which certainly isn't the leading tariff), I am paid 9p/kWh for everything I generate regardless of whether it is exported or not, and a further 15p/kWh for what's exported.  Obviously, I'm much better off under the npower scheme.

For many people, their houses aren't in use during the day, so their daytime power loads are basically standby/fridges/freezers - which should be a fair bit lower than our daytime loads (computers, printers, telephones in use, kids watching 32" TV etc).

In short, being paid a fixed rate whether you use it or not works for very small PV arrays (ie under or near to your baseload power) or for larger PV arrays on wasteful households that have a constant high baseloads (computer servers, lots of plugged-in standby power appliances etc), however in most cases, you'll be considerably better off being paid for what you export with ROCs on total generation.