Consumer Protection Panel: a critical friend to MCS
30 July 2024
The Consumer Protection Panel has been established as part of the redeveloped MCS, bringing together leading experts from across the consumer protection world to provide feedback on the Scheme.
Amanda Long, Independent Chair of the Consumer Protection Panel, explains what it is and why it’s so important:
As the former Director General of Consumers International and with a wealth of experience in the consumer protection landscape, I’m passionate about minimising consumer detriment. This is especially crucial in the renewables sector where the services and products being delivered to consumers are often new and something they aren’t familiar with.
What is the Consumer Protection Panel?
The best way to describe the role of the Consumer Protection Panel is as a ‘critical friend’ to MCS. We’ll be meeting approximately three times per year in an advisory capacity to provide constructive feedback on how the Scheme is performing with regards to consumer protection and experience. This is important because with the changes that MCS are making, it is aiming to place consumer protection at the heart the Scheme.
The Panel will therefore be challenging MCS on how well it is delivering on its Customer Commitment and the extent to which MCS is acting as a trusted, impartial intermediary to the public and industry. It will scrutinise and review how well MCS is engaging with consumers, and indeed engaging with certified installers who are, essentially, acting as MCS ambassadors to the public. Special attention will also be given to the delivery of services for consumers who are deemed ‘vulnerable’.
Feedback will be across the full range of issues relating to consumer protection, and, as the Panel Chair, I will be responsible for providing an annual independent report of the Panel’s findings to the MCS Foundation Board. Given the importance of transparency and accountability, the report will also be made public via the MCS website. Ultimately, the MCS Consumer Protection Panel is constituted to scrutinise and constructively challenge delivery of the consumer protection priorities of MCS, and therefore support in maintaining its integrity and value.
In convening the Panel I have been aiming at engaging independent consumer protection advocates and experienced voices from energy industries, who can bring a wealth of experience in consumer protection from both a national and international perspective. By bringing together panel participants from a wide array of backgrounds I am keen to ensure a diverse range of consumer advocacy viewpoints, which presents a great opportunity for cross-sector learning that will be crucial in challenging MCS on how it is delivering on its Customer Commitment.
It’s crucial to emphasise that Panel members are participating because of the experience they can bring and their commitment to consumer protection. Their participation in the panel is done so on an individual basis and not as representatives of their employers or associated organisations. Participation on the panel by any individual does not infer endorsement of MCS by the individual, their employer or associated organisation.
There will also be additional guests invited to join the Consumer Protection Panel throughout the year, to ensure voices with new perspectives continue to feed into the work we are doing.
Why does this matter?
Since MCS is operating in an industry that brings consumers into contact with technology they are not familiar with, absolute clarity is really important. This applies to regular communications throughout the customer journey, but also in signposting where they can go in the event of an issue or wanting to make a complaint. As part of its redeveloped Scheme, MCS is becoming a single point of complaints for consumers, so as a ‘critical friend’ we will be looking at how well it is working for them.
Decarbonising domestic heating is a critical part of the UK’s transition to net-zero, and consumer confidence in low-carbon technologies will be crucial to its success. This means building trust, not just in the technologies themselves, but also in the installers who are delivering them, and ultimately in MCS as the first port of call should anything go wrong.
Consumers want and need simplicity and fairness. Consider the size and importance of the investment a consumer is making when buying a heat pump, for example, not to mention the critical nature of what the products for this market deliver i.e. domestic heating, lighting and hot water – consumers must have a fair, fit for purpose and consistent experience in terms of the level of service they receive or products they buy. Consumer trust in home-grown energy products and services is vital for adoption of the technologies. To help make this happen in the micro-generation sector, it’s crucial that MCS puts consumer protection at the heart of its scheme.
For myself as Independent Chair of the MCS Consumer Protection Panel, I will be championing our role to critique MCS against this goal, providing constructive feedback and advice on how to keep consumers front of mind and support strong, effective consumer protection that minimises consumer detriment.