OFT Report Turns Up The Heat On Home Insulation Market

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has published a report on the home insulation market which makes a number of recommend ation s to the Government and others to im prove consumer protection and encourage more competition and choice in the sector.

The OFT issued a call for evidence in April, triggered by the high level of consumer complaints about home insulation, and concerns that competition in the market may not be working well, with the aim of carrying out a quick review ahead of the introduction of the Government’s Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) policies.

During its evidence gathering, the OFT received complaints that some traders are not always installing the most suitable form of insulation – for example, by using inappropriate materials in houses that are susceptible to damp. It also found that people can find it difficult to obtain quick and effective redress when things go wrong.

In response to these findings, the OFT has recommended that the Government should ensure a single body has clear responsibility for longer-term monitoring of the quality of installations carried out under the ECO and Green Deal initiatives, and has also proposed changes to improve redress schemes. The OFT also found there are only a very small number of manufacturers supplying home insulation products, and received complaints about the length of time it can take for new products to be approved for use in the market.

To lower the barriers for manufacturers trying to develop innovative new products and encourage greater competition and choice in the market, the OFT has recommended that product certification bodies improve their certification processes. It is also encouraging architects, building control officers and other building project commissioners to be more open to specifying products from more than one UK product certification body.

The OFT has also reviewed almost 4,000 contacts made by consumers to Consumer Direct in 2011 and 2012. This has highlighted a number of recurring issues including the possible use of confusing and defective paperwork, potentially aggressive and misleading sales techniques and concerns over the quality of products and services.

OFT Director of Services, Infrastructure and Public Markets, Nisha Arora, said: “The home insulation sector is now worth some £700 million and it is important that people receive good quality, well-installed insulation that makes their homes more energy efficient. We hope that the recommendations in this report and our continuing work in this sector will encourage greater competition and choice and give consumers increased confidence to have insulation installed.”