A Solar PV installation journey

The FIT application needs to be filled in and submitted as quickly as possible after the commissioning of the system, and certainly within 5 days, and my supplier Firegrass pointed me in the right direction to get this done.

The application was made to SSE (Scottish & Southern Energy) and all the following information was available from their web site here:

• a useful summary pamphlet produced by DECC available for download here
• the SSE FIT Terms & Conditions downloadable from here, and
• the actual Application Form downloadable from here

A useful tip pointed out to me by Firegrass was that at the bottom of the Application Form there was a somewhat odd note that said:

"You will only be eligible to receive FIT payments from the commissioning date if you have provided a written request before this date"

So to avoid any doubt about not being entitled to FIT payments from the very start of service I sent an email to SSE on the 20th October, advising them that a new system would be commissioned on 25th October.

Filling in the Application Form after commissioning was straightforward enough but it needed to be accompanied by the completed MCS certificate, a proof of ownership declaration as well as a utility bill (for proof of identity).

Fortunately Firegrass supplied me by email with both the MCS certificate and a proof of ownership document as PDF documents, and I could also get a utility bill as a download from the supplier's web site, so all I had to do was scan the filled in Application Form and I was able to submit everything by email very promptly earlier this morning.

Later note: have just received (Monday 31st Oct) acknowledgement of receipt of the application from SSE - which says that they should process it within 4 weeks and then they will send out a contract for me to sign.