Advice issued on avoiding “misleading” heat pump and solar PV claims

The Competition and Markets Authority has published guidance to suppliers and installers of heat pumps, solar PV and insulation, advising them how to avoid misleading consumers on price and performance and thus not complying with the Consumer Protection Regulations.

The guidance Marketing Green Heating and Insulation Products warns that misleading information could bring enforcement action from the CMA or from Trading Standards authorities.

The CMA said the guidance document was published in response to evidence of misleading marketing it found last year. The principal areas were:  headline price information, including how some businesses advertise access to government funding; and claims that some businesses make on their website and other marketing channels about their products or services.

It warns:

Omitting or hiding information that consumers need to make informed choices, or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely way, for example, too late in the sales process, is likely to be a misleading omission under the CPRs where it causes or is likely to cause a consumer to take a different decision as a result.

It said the advice ‘sets out principles that businesses should adopt to make it more likely they stay on the right side of the law.’

One of the key areas of the advice is to ensure that the prices quoted by heat pump suppliers and installers include all applicable costs. It advises that the headline price is:

1. Accurate: it should be a realistic indication of what people are likely to pay for your products.
2. Comprehensive: it should include the cost of any enabling works, other products and/or interventions that most consumers are likely to need.
3. Honest: it must not mislead people about the likely cost.
4. Clear: any important qualifications should be presented clearly and prominently as close to the headline price as possible, so that a consumer can easily see them.
5. Careful in how you refer to access to government funding: you should be careful in how you present information about access to government funding as this could significantly influence a consumer’s assessment of the affordability of your products.
6. Open about the bundling of products: If you offer your products as part of a single package (bundle) of goods and services, you must not mislead consumers about the offer or the price of the bundle.

The CMA provides comprehensive guidance on these principles, along with a series of examples showing how consumers can be misled by headline cost claims and by exaggerations of performance, carbon reduction or efficiency.

It particularly stresses the importance of transparent and honest claims about the price.

The CMA warns:

You must not mislead a consumer about the likely cost. For example: By using a deceptively low headline price to attract consumers; by artificially inflating the standard or usual headline price to give a misleading impression that any stated reduction is a special offer, discount or deal; or by making a headline price claim and then qualifying it with an indication that additional, non-optional costs will be incurred.