Whilst the majority of householders have had good service from their utility companies in obtaining the Feed in Tariff, a recent survey by Which? the consumer watchdog, has revealed that like with many of their services, some companies are better than others. There is a huge variance in the time taken for payments specified in contracts ? some seem to work to this and others pay as soon as payments can be processed.
The Which? Feed in Tariff research revealed a divergence in the contractual time allowed for payment as follows:
|
Company |
Maximum Payment Time [1] |
|
British Gas |
30 working days from receipt of meter read |
|
Npower |
60 days |
|
Scottish Power |
61 days |
|
EDF Energy |
90 days from end of meter read month |
|
SSE |
None specified |
|
Eon |
None specified |
|
[1] Specified in the contract, FiT Terms or Terms and Conditions |
|
The research also revealed that Eon was the worst in terms of customers having problems in getting their first payments through and Scottish Power was the best.
EnergyMyWay?s own experience backs this up: Richard Jones, Director in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire said:
?Sometimes getting the first payment through takes a while and it relies upon customers getting through promptly and correctly ? we work with all our customers, helping them fill in the necessary paperwork and checking it so that its right first time. Despite this some companies are much slower than others, and we tend to agree with the findings of the research in this regard.
We also find that customers that submit their meter readings by phone tend to receive their cheques or bank payments more quickly than those submitting their readings by post or even by email?.
