ASA Adjudication on Solarking UK
Solarking UK
Southport Road
Eccleston
Chorley
Lancashire
PR7 6ES
Date:
15 February 2012
Media:
Radio
Sector:
Household
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A11-172952
Ad
A radio ad, for a supplier of solar photovoltaic systems, aired on 28 September 2011, featured a voice-over that stated, "You've heard the stories, energy prices rising week after week after week, so stop worrying and do something about it now. Generate your own electricity. Become energy-bill free. Help yourself and the environment. Make it happen with Solarkinguk.com. Solarkinguk.com are a national company, based right here in the North West, who will help you become energy-bill free and provide you with a guaranteed return on your investment for the next 25 years. Solarkinguk.com will even provide you with a three-year, zero per cent payment plan to help you become your own energy provider. So is your home suitable? Find out now at Solarkinguk.com."
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim "energy bill free" was misleading and could be substantiated, because they believed that the products and services available from Solarking would not enable an average home to cover its energy costs.
BCAP Code
Response
Solarking said the "energy-bill free" claim would not apply to all consumers. They acknowledged that consumers who had large gas and electricity bills or limited roof or ground space to install the solar panels may not be able to become energy-bill free. However, they said most consumers could become energy-bill free, provided they purchased a sufficiently sized system.
Solarking said the average annual electricity bill for UK consumers was £600 and that the average annual gas bill for UK consumers was £960. They said that those figures were based on the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) figures for consumers who paid by direct debit in 2011, which they had increased by 37% to show the worst case scenario.
Solarking said consumers would receive a Feed in Tariff (FIT) income, which they guaranteed, an export income and a saving on their bill. They believed in that context, consumers could become energy-bill free. Solarking also said they installed a central heating energy saver with every solar panel installation and said that could save consumers between 10 and 20% on their gas bill. However, they did not provide any evidence to support that.
GMG Radio believed the ad provided consumers with the opportunity to find out more about solar products. They also believed the response provided by Solarking was reasonable, accurate and substantiated the claims made within the ad. They therefore believed the ad was not likely to mislead.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted the ad stated "Become energy-bill free" and invited the listener to check whether their home was suitable. In that context, we considered that consumers were likely to interpret the ad to mean that all consumers, with suitable homes, would be able to become energy-bill free.
We noted that Solarking offered seven different sizes of system, which ranged from 1 kWp to 4 kWp. We also noted that by comparison to Solarking's figures for average annual electricity and gas consumption for UK consumers, only the two largest systems would offset those bills. We were therefore concerned that not all consumers, with suitable homes, would become energy-bill free and that to do so was dependent upon them purchasing a sufficiently sized system, which would incur significant installation costs.
We also noted Solarking's comments that they guaranteed the FIT income consumers would receive. We noted they provided a template of their quotation, which reaffirmed that. However, we were concerned that we had not seen any documentary evidence to demonstrate that the FIT income guarantee had been implemented. We were also concerned that we had not seen any documentary evidence to demonstrate that the average household could achieve the bill savings referred to in Solarking's calculations. We considered that to substantiate those savings, we would need to see specific studies which took into account the variable conditions consumers could experience.
We noted Solarking's comments that they also installed a central heating energy saver with every solar panel installation and said that could save consumers between 10 and 20% on their gas bill. However, they did not provide any evidence to support that.
Because we had not seen adequate documentary evidence to demonstrate that Solarking's products and services could enable an average household to become energy-bill free, we concluded that the ad was misleading and breached the Code.
The ad breached BCAP Code rules 3.1 and 3.2 (Misleading advertising), 3.9 (Substantiation) and 3.12 (Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. We told Solarking to ensure they held robust evidence to substantiate all claims in future.
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