Ad description
A circular for a solar panel installation, distributed in February 2012, stated "**LATEST NEWS - GOVERNMENT LOSE IN APPEAL COURT** 43.3P TARIFF IS BACK (FOR A VERY LIMITED TIME) ... HURRY! GET SOLAR PANELS BEFORE 3 MARCH DEADLINE ... High rate tariff ends 3 March 2012 so act quickly".
Issue
The complainant, who believed that the rate between 12 December 2011 and 3 March 2012 was currently subject to a government appeal to the supreme court, challenged whether the claim that the 43.3p tariff would be available for those who installed solar panels before 3 March 2012 was misleading.
Response
Beech Solar Ltd (Beech Solar) said their flyers included a disclaimer that stated "Government is seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court" and that other advertisers within the industry used similar claims with similar disclaimers. They submitted a statement from the Department of Energy & Climate Change, which they said showed current and future rates and indicated that uncertainty as to the rates would continue until the parliamentary process had completed. They also referred to a review on feed-in tariffs, from the Microgeneration Certificate Scheme (MCS), which provided an update on the subject and submitted a schedule which they said demonstrated that one of their clients had solar panels installed on 25 February 2012 at a confirmed rate of 43.3p/kWh.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted, as of February 2012, the rate between 12 December 2011 and 3 March 2012 was subject to a government appeal to the Supreme Court and would not be confirmed until the legal process has been completed. We also noted the schedule submitted indicated that, on 9 March 2012, one of Beech Solar's clients would receive a generation tariff of 43.3p/kWh from a UK energy supplier. We considered that the claim "**LATEST NEWS - GOVERNMENT LOSE IN APPEAL COURT** 43.3P TARIFF IS BACK (FOR A VERY LIMITED TIME) ... HURRY! GET SOLAR PANELS BEFORE 3 MARCH DEADLINE ..." implied that the 43.3p Tariff would be available to all consumers who installed solar panels before 3 March 2012. However, we understood from advice issued by the Energy Saving Trust that the tariff of 43.3p/kWh, for installations with an eligibility date between 12th December 2011 and 3rd March 2012, could not be guaranteed and that homeowners should plan on the basis that, at the very least, they would get 21p/kWh. Although we acknowledged the small print stated "Government is seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court", we considered this contradicted the impression given by the headline claim that the 43.3p tariff would definitely be available for installations before 3 March and therefore concluded that it was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.7
3.7
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation) and 3.9 (Qualification).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Beech Solar not to imply that the 43.3p tariff would be available to all installations before 3 March 2012 if that was not the case.
