Home safe: giving consumers confidence to install low carbon technologies

Home safe: giving consumers confidence to install low carbon technologies [ 1.3 mb]

Most people who install low carbon technologies see genuine benefits and would recommend them to others. However, trust in net zero technologies is at risk of being damaged by the actions of rogue traders and poor quality installations. For the minority of consumers affected, these experiences can be devastating, and have a major knock-on effect, since people rely on friends and family as a major source of advice when looking into new technologies. Without action, consumer confidence could be undermined at a critical point, and put our net zero goals at risk.

Government can put an end to this, and ensure the long-term success of the net zero transition, by improving consumer protections and cracking down on rogue traders. This will give consumers confidence to engage with new technologies and prevent future scandals which could turn net zero into a political headache.

To achieve this, we want to make the consumer protections regime as simple as possible, and extend protections to all consumers who purchase net zero technologies. As well as longer term reforms that make consumer protections fit for the future, we have also identified a number of shorter-term measures that can improve outcomes for consumers in the here and now.