ASA Adjudication on Simplee Solar Ltd

Ad

A mailing for Simplee Solar stated "... Our ’Energy Watch’ team are currently looking for a limited number of households throughout the country to participate in our ‘Energy Watch’ programme to help raise awareness of the savings that our Solar Water Heating System can bring. Participating customers will qualify for a significant subsidy towards the cost of installation. To see how you could qualify for a subsidised Simplee Solar Water Heating System please complete and return the enclosed prepaid response card for a free no obligation explanation of the system, survey of your property and price quotation ... Interest free credit is also available (subject to status) for a limited period for qualifying customers …”.

Issue

The complainant, who had a solar panel installed at the "subsidised" rate but was unable to find out what the unsubsidised rate would have been, challenged whether the subsidy was genuine.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Simplee Solar asserted that they were the sole distributors of solar panels, in the UK, for their supplier based in Germany. They claimed the supplier provided them with a certain quantity of solar panels at a greatly reduced price. They said those subsidised solar panels were installed in the homes of customers who were participating in the Energy Watch programme and had agreed to monitor the performance of the Solar Water Heating System.  They did not confirm what the unsubsidised rate would have been or provide details of how many customers received a subsidy towards the cost of installation of the system and how many paid the full price for installation.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that the ad implied customers participating in the Energy Watch programme qualified for a subsidy towards the cost of installation of the system, whereas customers who were not participating in the Energy Watch programme would pay the full cost of installation of the system.  We noted Simplee Solars claim that their supplier provided them with a number of solar panels at a reduced rate, which enabled them to offer the panels to customers at a subsidised rate. Nevertheless, they did not provide us with evidence to substantiate the subsidised rate of installation for those who monitored the system and the unsubsidised rate for those who did not monitor it. We concluded that Simplee Solar had not demonstrated that the subsidy was genuine.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

We asked Simplee Solar to remove the sentence "Participating customers will qualify for a significant subsidy towards the cost of installation" and the word "subsidised" from the mailing. We also advised them to contact the CAP Copy Advice team for advice before distributing future similar ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)