Energy Matters Forums

[conklinc]

Sawyer,

I am in the States at the moment, all our outlets, even the fridge, . . . are off. Just before we left we finally got verbal assurance that our PFIT application was approved and retro to the date of Schmart meter installation, which was Nov. 30th. I keep remembering what SolarDave said, about getting it confirmed in writing and not waiting until next Dec. to find out! With a 3.7kwh system, se should next around $600 for the two months we'll be gone.

You do indeed need to fill out a PFIT application and send it to your retailer who forwards it to your distributor who then notifies your retailer if you've been approved so they can notify you that you are approved. Is that a beaureaucratic runaround or what? Of course none of tht can even start to take place until the Schmart meter is installed, which is always the first headache in the process. It is nice to have the water and electricity Ombi around, but once you contact them you aren't supposed to talk to the distributor or the retailer anymore, and the Ombi in Vic is at least a month behind in following up on complaints.

When I get back to good old Oz, I'm busting down to the Origin headquarters wherever they are in Melbourne to try and get a written assurance that I am infact, on the PFIT. Ain't waiting til next Dec. to find out. Written assurance is the way to go, IMHO.

You should have a peak and off peak time. If you are a late bedtimer like me you can have the Luvly put the washing in and then you can press the button before you hit the hay, or do the laundry on weekends, which are offpeak times.

Good luck, let the LIST know when you get your Schmart meter and PFIT approval. My system was installed on 0ct 27th, Schmart meter installed on Nov. 30th, and PFIT verbal approval from Origin came on the 19th Dec.

[asweatman]

Okay, have to respond to this one, even if I feel a bit stupid.

Origin noted that they installed the smart meter on 7 October 2010 and we had to accept new fees from March 2011. I mistakenly assumed that this was not only for the electricity charges but would also be to maximise our feed in energy. Instead our fees increased but they only provided the basic 23.5 feed in tariff.

It was "our" responsibility to inform "them" that we wanted the 66 cent feed in rate. Buyer beware I presume.

Anyway the long and the short of this is that we were generating power at the following rates:

07 October 2010 - 05 April 2011 1797 kWh at $23.5 or $422.30 credit

then

05 April 2011 - 06 July 2011 448 kWh at $23.5 or $105.28 credit

Again I should have checked the rate, but presume Origin would do the "right" thing.

To our surprise I received a letter from Origin in August 2011 stating we should take advantage of feed in tariffs. This was the "first" time ever they had communicated this to us.

So if they had told us earlier, or at least note required us to DEMAND this our extra fees would have been a total of $1481.70 rather than the $527.58. That's almost $1,000!

When I confronted them on the phone why they waited so long to offer us the rate, they said "well, it is sometimes really expensive for users and we can't just change it" - my response was that we should be given the choice rather at the earliest possible opportunity rather than much later.

Overall very poor, hope others learn from this....

[conklinc]

We got our Schmart Meter 30th Nov. We bugged them several times a week about the PFIT and finally they
sent us an application. Took over a month. We were gone for the month of Jan and Feb. When we got back we tried and tried to get confirmation via phone and online, that we were, in fact on the PFIT. Never did get a reply from Origin. BUT, in March, we got our "bill."

$915.87 cr

Uh, never mind you efficient Origin office people.

PLB,

Curt Conklin
Langwarrin Vic

[cw nsw]

Uh, never mind you efficient Origin office people.

clearly you got the office people, rather than the orifice people - well done

[david.sudarmana]

I'd just like to chime in as I had similar experience with Origin. We live in Melbourne and We have been with Origin for a very long time, installed our PV system in April 2011. We already had the (not so) smart meter installed, so when the PV system went live, we could 'see' that electricity was being fed back to the grid. We asked the installers whether it is ok to leave the PV system on. They assured us that it was ok, but that they will send someone to 'certify' the installation as safe. A few days later someone came to check on the system and filled out some paperwork.
We left the PV system on while we had to wait for an inspector from Citipower to 'certify' the unit installation as 'safe' and 'compliant' to Citipower system. We had to chase up both Origin and Citipower for this to happen - in May 2011. I don't quite understand why we need two inspectors to certify the system safe.
In the meantime, we 'assumed' that everything should be ok as we have informed Origin of the PV installation. However, we did not get our next 'bill' when it was due (June 2011). So we rang Origin to find out what's happening. Origin told us that we have to sign up for the Feed in Tariff, and so we did, and still no 'bill' was received. In June 2011, someone from Citipower came and zeroed our (not so) smart meter readings, without informing us before hand that they were going to do this. Fortunately, I recorded the electricity and PV meters readings on a daily basis - thus knew when the Citipower devil came to zero the (not so) smart meter. In July we still haven't received any bills and when we rang Origin, they said we'll receive one in August. August arrived and went and still no bill. To cut the story short, we finally received a bill in October 2011.
When I went through the bill, Origin of course ignored the electricity we've been exporting from April to the time when Citipower came to 'certify' our PV system. When I queried them about this, they said that we were not exporting any electricity during that period. How can this be??? They must this we are stupid. I personally think that it is a collusion between the electricity generator and retailer - as both will gain 'free' electricity.
I think there could be better coordination between the seller/installer and the electricity distributor, so that there is no need to have two different people to certify the system safe on two different days. They should be able to coordinate for this to happen either on the same day the PV system is installed or at the latest the next day - as it is a matter of SAFETY - and people's lives could be at risk.
Aside from the 'free electricity', they also made mistakes with our electricity usage, where they claimed that we have used much more (around 180 kWh) more electricity in one of the charging periods. I explained this through an email and telephone call, and they said they would issue us another bill. When the revised bill arrived, it still had the same errors, the only difference was that they have added more charging period (from last bill to more recent time). I rang them again and they said that those were the readings they obtained from the distributor. I said that I don't accept their readings as I have daily meter readings and it was impossible for us to have used that much extra electricity - this time the 'solar' section of Origin pushed my queries back to the 'billing' section and I was promised another revised bill. I'm still waiting to receive one.

[asweatman]

More from Origin, if it wasn't so bad it would be funny...

They finally put us on PFIT after 5 phone calls and they restated our bill. But they only put the PFIT on the most recent bill (July 2011 - October 2011). But what they VERY kindly did was note that by putting the PFIT on it showed they had previously made mistakes on previous bills dating back 16 months (July 2010 - October 2011). There system was SO bad they sent us the same bill twice because they made two sets of mistakes! These new charges amounted to an additional $450 of energy costs, while the change to PFIT as applied to only the last 3 months gave us $100 credit. Therefore we have a "new" bill of $350 as a result of their errors. All applied retrospectively so no benefit just charges for previous periods.

They said that their "new" meter readings showed these errors and it was the fault of the meter reader making "assumptions".

After talking the Ombudsmen they said at most they can claim is 9 months retrospective. As Origin has repeatedly stated they would get their complaints department to call me they now have 5 days to contact me. They don't seem to respond to me, so perhaps Government agencies will have more luck.

Looking to install more solar panels so they don't get any more of my money in the future. They are the worst, don't believe the glossy brochures.

Happy to discuss in more detail if anyone wants more details.

[conklinc]

cw, David,

We were Stateside between May and end of Sept., so all our winter production went upgrid. We got a "bill" from Origin for $1332.85 credit. But Sept. came and went without a new bill. Two weeks ago my wife was on the phone, on hold with Origin for 182 minutes! A voice came on finally and they said they were "after hours" and that Origin would return the call the following Monday. LATE Tuesday afternoon they did call. Said they didn't know why we didn't get a bill. I asked what our credit amount was, they said they didn't know because they only had "raw data." They're cutting us a cheque for the $1332.85 credit as of June, but I'm more than a little worried about the credit from June through this month. What is the amount of that credit? Will we ever get it?

Trouble is, from what I hear, none of the other electricity retailers are any better. I feel like I'm living in Greece or Italy!

Stay tuned.

PLB,

Curt

[Downtoearth]

Hi,
Our problems with origin (I would not give them the honour of a capital letter) started with a demand for $5450.00. This was responded to with a phone call to origin. The nicely spoken female admitted that it seemed a bit excessive for a small home over a 180 day period. From there we were assured that it was under their control and we had nothing to worry about. We then waited for a reply, and waited and waited. Finally I gave in and phoned them again. No progress had been made on the issue. We were told then that we had been charged for all of the home's electricity consumption since it had been built. aparently it was because our digital meter had not been reset to zero at the start of our solar exports. They had somehow managed to send us several accounts of supposedly accurate meter readings (not estimates) before. After 59 days There was finally some action by them on our account They sent us a final demand for the $5,450 As you can guess, by this time all I could see was RED. The nice lady at origin was most apologetic after I told her that they were demanding money under false pretences. From there it was only another 6 days untill I received an account that cancelled the outstanding amount and provided us with an up to date account of $280 which we paid promptly. Total elapsed time was only 59 days, 5 telephone calls and untold hours. If I charged them by the hour I could make some serious money. Not bad for a crow eater.

[monkeypig]

does this sound familiar to anyone?
pfit tariff form sent in January 2011, Origin energy lost the form that was faxed to them
resent on the 15th July 2011, origin energy still paying 23.5 cent feed in tariff
January 2012 rang origin energy who apologized that we are unable to receive the pfit because of errors on their part as we have missed the cut off point.
Origin energy were telephoned numerous times during this time as all the bills had the lower feed in tariff.
We are currently dealing with the Victorian ombudsman, who told us today that we will not be getting the .66 cent pfit, regardless of having all our forms in on time. WTF
anyway to cut a long story short anyone interested in starting a class action against Origin Energy.
The very least we want from origin Energy is the PFIT
Origin Energy having been scamming people like us now for too long
pete

[conklinc]

Pete,
If you can prove to them that you sent the form back in January and that they admitted they lost it, you probably have a case, otherwise it is "He said, She said." OTH, if your system was up and running in January, common sense says that you would have applied for the P-FIT. Dunno what the courts would say about that!

I had trouble with Origin myself when I first applied for the P-FIT, I sent the wrong form in. It took
a long time to get it straightened out, . . . a lot of phone calls, a lot of waiting on the phone fruitlessly, but they finally got me set up for the P-FIT.

I doubt this is a situation wherein Origin is deliberately scamming people by "losing their papers." It is probably more a case of sloppyness and/or incompetence on some office worker.

I wish you luck in your efforts to gain the P-FIT. Remember, class action cases are usually picked up by attorneys for a share of what they win, in lieu of a per-hour fee. Usually it is 1/3 of everything you get awarded by the tribunal, sometimes it is more, up to 2/3, if it becomes protracted and goes into litigation. Take that into consideration.