Minocales: Solar system owners are waiting for their money for months

Owners of private solar systems have to wait months for their feed -in tariff. Consumer advocates and network operators of several federal states reported significant problems in a survey by the German Press Agency.

“It is not uncommon over a year of delay. People don’t get their money,” said energy expert Claudia Kreft from the Thuringia Consumer Center. The reason is often mentioned in the high numbers of new facilities in recent years, but also technical problems for network operators.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Network Agency said that in most cases the payment flaps well and smoothly. However, there are sometimes delays because so many systems have been added in recent years. The Federal Network Agency is in exchange with the affected network operators.

From August the feed -in tariff will drop

If you reinstall a solar system, you get less money from August for the electricity that you feed on the network. Then state feed -in tariff drops by one percent. For small systems, it is still 7.94 cents per kilowatt hour if only part of the electricity generated goes into the public network. When fully feeded, it is 12.60 cents. The Federal Network Agency publishes the final new values on August 1.

Basically, operators of solar systems are entitled to a discount payments in feed -in tariffs to the 15th of each month, the Federal Network Agency said. If a network operator is in arrears, the right to default interest could arise. In the event of complaints, the network operators are first response points. In the event of a dispute, your claims could also be enforced in court.

Procedure against network operator Westnetz

According to the Federal Network Agency at Westnetz GmbH, increased complaints due to delays occur in the course of a larger IT change. A supervisory proceedings have now been opened against the operator, according to the spokeswoman. Westnetz is a subsidiary of Western energy and belongs to Eon. With around 175,000 kilometers of line length, it is Germany’s largest distribution network operator. The network area includes North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Lower Saxony.

A spokeswoman for West Netz spoke of longer processing times for some customers. The cause include the boom in renewable energies, but also problems with the digital changeover of customer systems. The situation should be improved as soon as possible, among other things, personnel have been increased.

Households have been waiting for their money since 2021

The consumer advice center in North Rhine-Westphalia has reported about 65 complaints since the beginning of the year. Almost all of them are referring to the west network. In extreme cases, households have been waiting for their money since 2021. Infidential communication was therefore criticized. In Rhineland-Palatinate, too, consumer advocates have a strong increase in symptoms.

In Thuringia, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hesse or Saarland, the consumer advice centers also repeatedly reported complaints. Various network operators are affected.

In Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, there are larger delays from the operator with the network. A company spokesman referred to the aftermath of an IT change. Most cases should be processed in the coming months. The remuneration will be paid retrospectively.