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<p>The Department takes very seriously the issue of mis-selling.</p><p> </p><p>To
help improve quality and consumer confidence, the Government commissioned the independent
Each Home Counts review, led by Dr. Peter Bonfield, which published its findings in
December 2016. Implementation of Each Home Counts is being led by industry with the
support of Government, in line with the recommendations of the review. One of the
main recommendations from the Review was to establish a quality mark for retrofit
energy efficiency and renewable energy measures to help offer a clear and consistent
standard for consumers. Those businesses who wish to use the quality mark will need
to adhere to a customer charter and code of conduct which will ensure appropriate
levels of consumer protection including around mis-selling.</p><p> </p><p>The Department
has specific responsibilities for certain schemes and I set out below steps taken
to protect consumers in key areas.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Green Deal: </strong>The
Green Deal helps consumers make energy-saving improvements to their properties with
the cost repaid via the consumer’s electricity bill. There is an established process
for handling complaints. In the first instance, consumers should approach their Green
Deal Provider. Where the Green Deal Provider is unable to resolve the complaint satisfactorily,
the consumer may approach the Green Deal Ombudsman or for complaints relating to the
mis-selling of credit, the Financial Ombudsman Service. The consumer redress process
is set out in The Green Deal Framework (Disclosure, Acknowledgment, Redress etc.)
Regulations, and is supplemented by the Green Deal Code of Practice. Under certain
circumstances, where a consumer is not satisfied with the decision of the relevant
Ombudsman, the regulations also allow for cases to be referred to the Secretary of
State, who may impose reduction or cancellation of Green Deal plans.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Renewable
Heat Incentive and Feed-in Tariff: </strong>The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive
Scheme provides financial incentives to install renewable heating systems to support
the transition to low-carbon heating in the UK. The Feed-in Tariff scheme is a programme
designed to promote the uptake of small-scale renewable and low-carbon electricity
generation technologies. It is a key condition of both schemes that the renewable
energy technology product and the installer are certified to the standards of the
Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), a third party certification scheme. This
ensures that people who buy renewable energy systems and apply to these schemes are
covered by consumer protection schemes governing the quality and performance of the
products, as well as the quality of the installation and service they receive from
the installer.</p><p> </p><p>Installers are required to be a member of a Consumer
Code, backed by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, which covers advertising
and promotion, behaviour of sales staff, proposals, estimates and quotes, terms of
business, cancellation rights, deposits and prepayments, guarantees, maintenance and
service agreements and service and repair.</p><p> </p><p>Complaints about the installed
product, the installation, or the installer can be submitted to the MCS. A Complaint
Guidelines document is published on the Scheme’s website. Depending on the nature
of the complaint, it is then dealt with by the MCS Administrator, the relevant Certification
Body which certificated the product or the installer, or the Consumer Code of which
the installer is a member.</p><p> </p><p>Consumers not covered by the protections
above should contact their local Trading Standards.</p>
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