Window of opportunity for solar heating fraudsters

UK regulations for solar thermal installers may not be strong enough to weed out cowboy companies, experts say

Not all solar heating installers offer a credible service. Photograph: Rex Features

Following an undercover investigation in the May edition of Which? magazine, claiming that 10 out of 14 solar thermal installers exaggerated the technology's potential energy savings, experts are questioning the UK government's attempts to regulate the industry before a feed in tariff for renewable heat comes into place next year.

Consumer watchdog Which? asked 14 companies earlier this year to quote for the installation of a solar thermal system at a property in south-east England. The investigation revealed that a number of solar heating installers, such as Everest and Ideal Solar Energy, used high-pressure sales tactics and hugely over-stated the potential benefits of installing a solar thermal system.

An independent expert calculated the proposed system would cut 10% from the Which? household's annual gas bill. Ideal Solar Energy quoted savings of 50%, while Everest quoted a 43% cut. Everest also wildly exaggerated cost savings, claiming the homeowner would save £35,000 over 20 years.

The UK government's Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) says its quality assurance scheme for small-scale renewable energy, the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), will prevent false claims from being made when a renewable heat subsidy, the Renewable Heat Incentive, becomes available in April next year.

MCS accredited installers must be members of a consumer code of practice under the scheme. MCS also offers consumers routes for any complaints over pressure selling and "over promising" on likely outputs, according to DECC.

However experts in the solar industry question the robustness of the MCS installer accreditation and warn that cowboys will slip through the MCS's regulatory net.

Few customers would fall for a salesman who tries to sell a simple electric kettle for £700 with the promise that it'll cook all your meals and do your dishes

Chris Laughton, managing director of the Very Efficient Heating Company and a fellow of the Institute of Domestic heating and Environmental Engineers, claims the MCS accreditation is "predominantly a paperwork exercise". He points out that the MCS accreditation does not require the installer to have any specific professional qualifications.

One redeeming feature of the MCS scheme, according to Laughton, is that it provides a standard method for working out the average energy produced by a renewable technology, which if used properly should allow customers to get a accurate estimate of their energy generation potential plus or minus 15%.

Tobi Kellner, information officer at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, calls for the government to educate consumers about what to expect from solar heating. The MCS customer complaints system will not work, he says, if customers do not realise they've been duped.

"Few customers would fall for a salesman who tries to sell a simple electric kettle for £700 with the promise that it'll cook all your meals and do your dishes. But with solar water heating systems, many customers just don't know what's realistic in terms of price as well as benefits from the system."

In anticipation of the government's Renewable Heat Incentive scheme offering UK energy consumers financial incentives to generate renewable heat from 2011, Kellner says now would be the right time to roll out a government campaign explaining to people what to expect from the technology.

He explains, in simple terms, "a solar water heating system … costs £2,000 to £5,000 and you'll save £200 to £300 every year for 20 years."