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Not a day passes, it seems, when consumers are not told about the role they can play in cutting CO2 emission. But while consumers fret about the carbon footprint of their mange tout, the Government has put measures n place to cut carbon emissions created by domestic and commercial heating.

In an effort to catch up with countries such as Germany, where electricity generated privately can be sold back into the national grid, the Government introduced the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP), with grants for householders who install a wide variety of microgeneration and renewable technologies such as solar water heating.

But the decision to charge installers £1,800 to register with the Microgeneration Certification scheme (MCS), which replaced the Clear Skies and PV schemes and is a prerequisite to obtaining grant funding under the LCBP,  provoked anger when it was announced last summer.

There was resentment among solar installers at having to pay money to the Government's third-party administrator of the scheme, the Building Research Establishment (BRE), especially since the previous schemes were free.

That discontent has not dissipated with many installers complaining it is encouraging an unregulated industry and hindering growth in the sector.

The views of Peter Thom, managing director of Green Heat, are common among installers.

He says: “It's a disaster. We're repeatedly told the Government and the Energy Saving Trust and the BRE that if they expect installers to pay £1,800 then they are living in cloud cuckoo land and if they expect manufacturers to pay another three and a half grand to get their products accredited when they're already accredited to all the European and British standards then they are also living in cloud cuckoo land.

“The Government and the BRE have basically chosen to ignore the heating industry. Ministers are now saying 'look at all this money that's all going begging, no one's bothering to get it' but the reason they are not bothering is because it's such a nightmare to get access to it.

“The BRE just don't know how the industry works. The BRE actually said to me that the small installers should get together and work for bigger installer and get the work that way. It's just never going to work. It's not the way the industry is set up - there are many individual companies satisfying their customers’ needs and those needs include micro-generation.”

John Mortby, sales director of Powertech Solar, adds that he believes Government policy is hindering the solar thermal industry.

“The biggest problem that the UK renewable industry faces is a non-cohesive, stop-start Government policy that will not give a clear message to the general public that the UK believes in renewables and microgeneration.

“If solar was promoted properly with money from the Government, like it is in Germany, it would go like a rocket. The back end of that is that you've got the gas companies not wanting to lose volumes of gas sales and on the end of that is the VAT that the Government collects from gas sales.

“We are now over registered, we've got more people trying to get their fingers in the pie. We have more certification than anywhere else in the heating world and it's time that official bodies realised that this is a product that delivers.”

Mr Mortby argues that the MCS is outside the financial reach of most installers.
“I think that it's absolutely disgusting. CORGI registered heating engineers do not have to pay as much. You've got an industry that has been dragged up by the bootstraps by guys with passion and now we're being charged for it because it's mainstream.

“It's ruining the industry because one man band and two man bands can't afford it.
“Let's say that I'm in Dorset and I deliver to a client in Broadstairs, Kent and that client says the system doesn't work. BRE charges me £600 for one of its guys to go down and look at it. What if that client is wrong? Do I get my £600 back?”

Matt Hogan, managing director of Revolution Power, says: “It dampens the industry, is paperwork heavy and encourages the industry to be unregulated. The regulations for the microgeneration industry scheme are much harsher than something like CORGI.

“It has been so badly thought through on so many different levels it beggars belief. At least with the old scheme it was free to join. That said, I would not have so much of an issue with this scheme if it had decent grant levels.

“Solar power will have a positive impact on CO2 emissions and putting a scheme in place that negatively impacts the industry can only have one outcome.”

But the BRE disagrees with the views of many renewable installers. A spokesman says: “MCS is making good progress and the product scheme is now open. The installer scheme has attracted over 400 applicants and more than 30 certificates have already been issued. The product scheme has now been notified under the Technical Standards Directive (98/34/EC) and is now fully operational and the first assessments are being carried out this month.”

Building Research Establishment

Green Heat

Powertech Solar

Revolution Power