Government sets out new consumer protections to ‘hold retrofit industry to account’

The government said it will “ensure issues which resulted in flawed insulation under legacy government schemes are never allowed to happen again”.

An inquiry by the National Audit Office last year found that nearly all homes fitted with external wall insulation under the government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme are faulty and will require remediation.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee later expressed doubt that installers and guarantee providers will be able to cope with the number of claims brought by people who had botched retrofits carried out under the ECO4 scheme and Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS).

The government has said that from today, the Installation Assurance Authority will now cover the cost of repairs for insulation fitted under these schemes up to £25,000, up from £20,000. 

This includes cases where the original installer has gone bust, the government said.

It added: “The National Energy Foundation, a domestic energy charity, will also cover the cost of relevant repairs for some homes with defective ECO4 and GBIS solid wall insulation, where the installer has gone out of business and the guarantee was cancelled, fraudulent or missing.”

Since identifying issues with these schemes, the government said it has remediated more than 60% of faults flagged by on-site audits. 

The consultation also proposes new measures to strengthen the Energy Ombudsman, which will enable “faster and fairer compensation in the energy market”.

Consumers will be able to escalate their complaints to the ombudsman within a shorter timeframe, which the government said will cut waiting times by a month, to a maximum of 10 weeks.

The ombudsman will also have powers to fine companies if they do not comply with a ruling, and new measures will “clarify the route for consumers to go through the courts to hold suppliers to account as a last resort”.

“By stamping out bad practice and reforming the broken system inherited by the government, the plans aim to restore families’ trust in the retrofit industry and give them confidence that work will be completed to a high standard,” the government added.

Martin McCluskey, minister for energy consumers, said: “This government inherited a broken system that left too many people in homes damaged by work that lacked clear oversight, without support when things went wrong.

“That is why we promised to change that system and today we are setting out how we propose to do that.

“We are building a system that puts consumers first – holding companies to account while introducing better compensation and protections for customers.”

Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action and a Retrofit System Reform Advisory Panel member, said: “Strengthening consumer protections for home upgrades is an essential step towards homes that are more affordable to heat and that make people healthier.

“I welcome a reform agenda considered through the experiences of more vulnerable households with less market power and who stand to benefit most from government support.”