OFT Issues Call for Evidence

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT)has issued a Call for Evidence to understand whether the home insulation market is working well for consumers. The OFT is interested in hearingfrom manufacturers, distributors,trade bodies, consumer groupsand others, to understandwhether there are aspects of thismarket which may be restrictingthe entry of new competitors,limiting consumer choice orkeeping prices artificially high. The OFT has receivedsubmissions suggesting that themarket does not work as well asit should. One concern raised, for example, is that agreements between businesses at different levels of the supply chain can lead to competitors being unable to source as much insulation as they want, thus restricting supply to consumers. This call for evidence will help theOFT to get a clearer picture ofany problems in this market, andto determine whether further workin this area may be required. The OFT also has concerns about the high volume of consumer complaints in the market. Last year, the Consumer Direct advice service received nearly 3,000 complaints about solid and cavity wall insulation. Nisha Arora, Director in the OFT’s Services, Infrastructure and Public Markets Group, said: “The Government’s proposed Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation policies are likely to increase the take-up of energy efficiency measures, so it is important that we examine the home insulation market now to ensure that it is working well for consumers.”