About the author: Paul Hutchens is founder and director of Eco2Solar, which installs solar systems around the UK. First published on YouGen.

Solar hot water is intrinsically an ethical industry. We all want to save the planet don’t we? So we need to ensure that unscrupulous companies do not thrive and give us all a bad name!

When there is a chance of making a buck or two it will always attract the greedy and less scrupulous businesses. We are all familiar with the many products that have gained bad reputations: double glazing and timeshare are just two. These are quality products when marketed, sold and implemented professionally and ethically, but seemed to attract the wrong sort!

So here are some tips to avoid the solar panel cowboys and get a quality company to quote for your installation of solar panels.

1. As a minimum ensure that your installer is certified for the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). If they are not, show them the door straightaway; if for no other reason than you cannot claim any grants or Renewable Heat Incentives if they install a system for you.

2. Ensure that the company belongs to the Solar Trade Association or Renewable Energy Association (REA). They both have strict codes of conduct that not only relate to installation and system quality, but also the conduct of sales people when dealing with potential customers.

3. Make sure that you never, ever sign anything or part with any money or bank account/credit card details on a first meeting. Ensure that the company surveys the property thoroughly and then leaves. They should send through the quote for you to consider in your own time with no pressure. Beware particularly “special offers” to sign today – they are an unethical way of closing a sale and generally do not represent a real offer anyway; just an inducement to sign today.

4. Check that any claims made about performance or savings are backed up in writing and are based on governnment guidelines (e.g. Energy Savings Trust). If any figures are mentioned, make sure you ask what they are based on (they should be based on the government based SAP calculation or a recognised simulation tool such as Polysun or T Sol). If you are unsure about this rather technical are please get in touch paul@eco2solar.co.uk

5. Do not allow any sales person to stay in your home or premises for longer than you are comfortable; the REA recommend a maximum of 2 hours. It is a well known tactic to outstay your welcome so you sign something to get rid of the sales person. Do not be intimidated.

6. Last, but not least, remember that if you do sign anything or part with money, as an individual you always have a 7 day cancellation period if you are unhappy for any reason.

I hope that this will help you to avoid an unpleasant experience and allow you to make a rational decision whether you wish to install this cost effective and worthwhile technology in your home or business.

For more information about solar panels,  renewable energy  or to find a local supplier visit www.yougen.co.uk.

1. Find out how long they’ve been in the business.

2. Ask if they will subcontract any of the work out, and if so, to who.

3. Are they qualified electricians?

4. Ask for recommendations from previous installations – either find them on YouGen, or ask for names and contact numbers of previous customers and follow them up.

5. Make sure the quotation is comprehensive – it should itemise all the equipment.

6. Get companies to give an estimate of how much the system will generate (so far Stuart’s predictions for our system have been spot on).

7. Ask for advice on the size of the system, don’t be sold on a system on a standard size kit.

8. Ask what the benefits of the different modules is.

9. Get a really good feel for what the person’s like. Talk to them and make sure you feel they really understand what they are talking about, and are an engineer, not just a salesman.

10. Make sure they look at the fuse box and look at the structure of the roof.

And one addition from me: if you want to benefit from the feed-in tariff, then make sure you use an MCS accredited installer and product.

About the author: Cathy Debenham is founder of YouGen – renewable energy made easy. This was first published on the YouGen blog.

Ten of the companies misled researchers and some also used what can only be described as dodgy sales tactics. Only Southern Solar was “worthy of mention for its helpful and sensible approach”.

This is one of the issues that YouGen was set up to help people avoid. Both my father and uncle have been on the receiving end of just this sort of pushy solar salesman, who overquotes, offers discounts if you sign up today, claims too much for the product, and (in one case) lied about the availability of grants. They stay for hours, insist on your partner being there when you visit, and are almost impossible to evict from your house (unless, of course you sign on the dotted line).

While this does happen, there are also lots of good companies out there who spend time looking at each home, how the owners live in it, what their heat or hot water usage is, and what the best solution would be for them.

There are several ways that YouGen helps people avoid being a victim of cowboy sales (and it’s not just in the solar thermal sector – have a look at the comments section of this blog on heat pumps and you’ll see it’s happening there too).

• We provide simple, easy to understand information so that people know what they can expect from a system before they contact any installers.
• We invite people with renewable energy installed to rate the service of their installer on YouGen, so other people have help finding a good one. Installers listed on the site are encouraged to invite that feedback from all their customers.
• We’ve also got a guide to how to spot – and avoid – the solar cowboys (or sharks as we called them).

We also call on installers to up their game, and to help people to get the most appropriate technology for their home, even if that involves turning down a sale. Which? reports that the Office of Fair Trading received 1,000 complaints about the sector last year. Given that there are less than 100,000 installations in UK homes, and that the Low Carbon Buildings Programme has only paid out 6684 grants for domestic installations since April 2006, this is a scarily big number. One can only speculate that a lot of people have already been put off the whole idea.

I’m a great fan of solar thermal. We turned off our boiler last week, and are showering in solely solar heated water. If last year is any guide, we’ll only have to give in a boost a couple of times between now and the end of September. But, if solar thermal is going to become a mainstream way of heating water and homes, then people really need to be able to trust the companies that install it. And at the moment that’s a bit of a challenge.

First published on www.yougen.co.uk

“To be publicly recognised like this is a huge boost,” said Cathy Debenham, founder of YouGen. “I’d like to thank everyone who voted for us.” It was a nail-biting contest, as we were shortlised against two really good websites: The Guardian’s Ethical Living site, and My Zero Waste. It is a real honour to win.”

The Government’s announcement of financial incentives for people who want to install microgeneration technologies last week, makes websites like YouGen even more vital. “The Clean Energy Cashback (feed-in tariff) makes it likely that more and more people will be tempted to install solar panels or other types of renewable energy,” says Cathy. “More installers will enter the market too, making it harder to identify the good ones. This is where YouGen differs from most renewable energy websites – helping people find an installer they can trust is at the heart of what we do.”

Research by Oxford University’s Enviromental Change Institute and the Energy Saving Trust has  found that the newness of the market makes it difficult for potential buyers to assess what they are being offered by suppliers. YouGen aims to help people overcome that barrier.

We provide practical, down to earth information, in plain English,” adds Cathy. “This means that people have a good understanding of what to ask an installer. They can search for local companies on the site, and we encourage existing microgenerators to rate their supplier under five different criteria, to make it easy for others to choose an installer they can trust to do a good job. In a new market it’s often impossible to ask a friend for a recommendation. Getting one from the YouGen community is the next best thing.”

YouGen has also been vocal in championing early adopters of microgeneration whose income from microgeneration will fall when the feed-in tariffs start in April 2010. “They have been treated unfairly,” says Cathy. “These derisory rates throw all their payback calculations out. The pioneers will be left with even longer payback times, while watching those who played safe and waited getting a healthy return on their investment. We have done our best to give them a voice, and get their message heard.”