Griff Thomas, managing director for GTEC and heatly, backs a call from Which?, Nationwide and Energy UK to urgently review consumer protection for renewables upgrades.
Which?, Nationwide and Energy UK wrote an open letter to the Secretary of State, Claire Coutinho MP, expressing their concern for consumers upgrading their homes with renewable and energy efficiency measures. Describing a ‘confusing landscape of overlapping codes and schemes’, I have to say that I share their concerns.
Poor installs will only serve to hamper the road to net zero, leading to distrust in low carbon technologies and the people that install them. As identified in the letter, word of mouth from friends and family is still one of the most common influences on people’s decision making. One bad experience can have a wide knock-on effect.
This is not the first time this issue has been raised; in February, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) strongly recommended that the government got more involved in improving protection for consumers switching to renewables. The CMA noted inconsistent levels of financial protection and a lack of quality assurance, particularly for those consumers paying for upgrades themselves.
We now need to enter an era of standardisation; renewable technology is not ‘new’, Solar PV, heat pumps and electric vehicles are mainstream solutions that are growing in popularity at an exponential rate.
Installers need confidence in the competency schemes they sign-up to, they need to feel safe in the knowledge that they are supported and the technologies they install have also met stringent and standardised criteria. Consumers need confidence that the installers they choose to carry out low carbon upgrades are credible and skilled, and if things do go wrong, there are systems in place to protect their investment, with a buck that stops with an expert who will fix their problem quickly – even if the installer that did the works in the first-place ceases to trade.
Importantly, we need to stop viewing renewables as ‘other’, these technologies are building services, they are plumbed and wired-in, and must fall under the same banner as all other heating and electrical equipment. We do not want more bureaucracy, just better systems in place and when it comes to consumer protection, a focus on the bigger picture. Consumer protection is not just about protecting the investment of individuals.
An assurance that the sector and our government is committed to getting renewables and energy efficiency upgrades working as they should is essential for the path to net zero.