Background
Summary of Council Decision:
Three issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A website for a thermodynamic water heating system, www.solarelectricitysystems.co.uk, seen on 5 August 2015, contained a video which stated "… you'll get free hot water and cut your energy bills by up to 50% ... The cash saved on your energy bills means the system could pay for itself in just over six years and will save you tens of thousands of pounds over the years ..."
Issue
The complainant, who had purchased the system and said he had only saved £10 on his energy bills in the three months since the system was installed, challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated:
1. "you'll get free hot water";
2. "cut your energy bills by up to 50%"; and
3. "The cash saved on your energy bills means the system could pay for itself in just over six years and will save you tens of thousands of pounds over the years".
Response
1., 2. & 3.
Solar Electricity Solutions Ltd explained that the savings claims had been based on a 12-month period and that was due to differing operating parameters, weather conditions and usages. They believed the three-month period referred to by the complainant was insufficient to give a true reflection of savings. They said they had installed nearly one thousand systems and had not received any other complaints. They provided a link to a website from the manufacturer which, they believed, confirmed how the savings were made.
Assessment
1., 2. & 3. Upheld
The ASA considered the substantiation provided by Solar Electricity Solutions. We noted that it was a web page that explained how the product worked and contained an illustration entitled "Consumption and savings: Distribution of consumption to different systems". However, the web page did not include any explanation of how the product provided "free hot water" or how the savings claims were calculated. Furthermore, we noted that the claims were unqualified. We therefore would have expected Solar Electricity Solutions to provide robust evidence to show that every customer would be able to receive free hot water, would have their energy bills cut by 50%, and that the money saved on their energy bills would effectively mean that the system would be paid for in just over six years and would save tens of thousands of pounds. Because we had not been provided with evidence to show that was the case, we concluded that the claims had not been substantiated and were 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. (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 3.11 3.11 Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product. (Exaggeration).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Solar Electricity Solutions Ltd to ensure that in future they did not make savings claims that they were unable to substantiate.
