The Renewable Energy Consumer Code (RECC): Protections and Complaints

Buying solar panels, a heat pump or a biomass boiler is one of the largest purchases a household makes in the name of energy independence, and it is usually made on the strength of a sales visit and a performance estimate written by the company selling the system. The Renewable Energy Consumer Code (RECC) exists to govern exactly that transaction. It sets binding rules for its member firms on how they may sell, what they must put in writing, how much they can take as a deposit (no more than 25% of the contract price), and what must happen to your money and your guarantee if the firm fails¹.

RECC was formed in 2006 and is administered by Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd (REAL), a company whose sponsor is the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA), the trade body for the renewable energy industry³. The Code is approved under the Chartered Trading Standards Institute's Consumer Codes Approval Scheme, which means it has been assessed against core criteria for consumer protection established by CTSI⁴. If a member firm breaks the rules, RECC can audit it, convene a disciplinary hearing, and ultimately terminate its membership⁶.

The Code matters because it is the consumer-protection layer attached to the small-scale renewable sector, not a technical certification. It does not tell you whether a heat pump is well installed; that is the job of the Microgeneration Certification Scheme. What it does is govern the sale itself, from the first marketing contact through to after-sales service, and give you a complaints and arbitration route that costs you nothing to use⁷.

The Code's governing body and its foundations

The Renewable Energy Consumer Code was formed in 2006 and is administered by Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd, which developed the Code with its parent, the Renewable Energy Association, acting as scheme sponsor³. REAL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the REA, the trade association for the renewable energy industry, so the Code is an industry-run self-regulation scheme rather than a statutory regulator⁸. That is worth understanding from the outset: RECC has real disciplinary powers over its members, but it is not the law, and it is not an insurance company. Its own consumer guidance says so plainly: "Please note that RECC is not an insurance company. We are the administrator of the Renewable Energy Consumer Code."²

What gives the Code its standing is external approval. It is backed by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute as part of the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme, and the Code Administrator is assessed against core criteria established by CTSI to deliver high consumer protection standards⁴. The current version of the Code carries a publication date of 1 July 2026, and RECC notes that the Code has recently been amended, with a full list of amendments published alongside it¹¹. An earlier version, Version 8, was published on 5 July 2023 and is the version named in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme's standards notice¹².

Membership is open to any business selling, leasing or installing small-scale heat and power generators for domestic consumers, and firms that join agree to abide by the Code in full¹³. RECC monitors its members continually against ten key compliance areas, publishes an annual report of its monitoring results to members and CTSI, and runs a consumer satisfaction survey whose results are published on its website⁶. The scale of the operation is not trivial: in 2013 RECC recorded on average 130 new complaints each month¹⁶.

Scope of the Code: products covered and the sales process

The Code's scope is defined by technology and by stage of the sale. On technology, it covers renewable energy sources and also low carbon small-scale heat and power generators and fuel cells¹⁰. The consumer-facing list is more concrete: solar power for electricity and hot water, wind and hydro power for electricity, biomass such as wood for heat, heat pumps from all sources for heat, and combined heat and power from biomass, gas or oil¹⁴. In short, if a household is buying or leasing a system using a renewable or other low carbon energy source, the Code is designed to apply¹⁴.

On stage, the Code follows the whole relationship rather than just the installation day. It covers pre-sales activity, contracts, completing the order, and after-sales activities including guarantees, maintenance and service agreements¹⁴. RECC's own description of what the Code delivers to consumers runs through the same list: clear information on the systems planned and their performance, acceptable sales and marketing techniques, arrangements for installing and connecting the system, the selection and quality of goods supplied, the conditions of business that apply, the standard of installation and other on-site work, guarantees and after-sales services, what action will be taken to deal with problems, and arrangements for monitoring and improving the Code itself⁸.

The Code also supplies model documents that members can use, including a Model Contract, Model Cancellation Notices, a Model Workmanship Guarantee, and guidance on selling and installing battery storage linked to a solar PV system¹⁰. That last item reflects how the market has moved: battery storage sold alongside solar is now squarely within the Code's ambit, and the existence of specific guidance means members have a settled standard to work to rather than improvising.

Member obligations: selling practices, quotes and upfront payments

The Code's rules on selling are its most distinctive feature, because pressure selling has been the sector's recurring problem. Sales staff must not use techniques designed to pressurise a household into making an immediate decision¹. The prohibited list is specific: staying in your home for an unreasonably long time, quoting a high initial price followed by a discount, offering a discount for signing on the day, withholding price information until the end of the visit, and claiming limited availability of a product¹⁴. Any proposal a member makes must give a clear description of the system being offered and how it will work¹⁴.

The written requirements before you sign are equally firm. Members must give a written estimate of how the heat or power generating system will perform, in an accepted format¹⁴. RECC's consumer guidance puts the same obligation from the householder's side: before signing a contract or paying a deposit, make sure the company gives you in writing a quote including a standard performance estimate specific to your property, a full all-inclusive breakdown of what will be supplied, and the standard terms and conditions that will form the contract¹⁷. The performance estimate matters more than any other document in the sale, because it is the basis on which the household judges whether the investment will pay for itself. Our page on performance estimates and savings claims covers what to look for in one.

Deposits are capped. Never pay more than 25% of the contract price up front, and check that the money will be protected¹. When a contract is signed, make sure you are not required to pay more than 25% of the final contract price as a deposit². Members are obliged to protect money paid in advance of an installation, including the deposit, in case they go out of business¹⁴. RECC's general advice on the buying process is to get at least three quotes before deciding to contract with a company, and to make sure any testimonials you rely on are genuine, by contacting the people yourself to check that they are real and were not paid for¹⁷.

RECC monitors members against ten key compliance areas, which give a fair summary of where things go wrong: awareness of consumer protection and RECC including staff training; the Microgeneration Certification Scheme; marketing and selling; estimates and quotes, particularly performance estimates and financial incentives; finance agreements; contracts and cancellation rights; taking and protection of deposits and advance payments; completing the installation; after-sales, including guarantees, workmanship warranties, warranty protection and customer service; and complaints numbers, handling and procedures⁶.

Your 14 day right to cancel and rules once work begins

The cancellation rules come from the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, which give a 14-day cancellation period for most distance and off-premises contracts¹⁸. The same 14-day principle applies across consumer energy: households have 14 days to cancel an energy supply contract made at home or in a public space, with no reason needed¹⁹.

Within the Code, the detail depends on how the contract was made. If you sign an order form or contract with a sales representative in your home, or entirely by distance means, your cancellation period runs from when you signed, up to 14 days from the date the goods are delivered to you¹. If you sign in your own time following a sales visit, the period runs for 14 days from when you signed the contract¹. Where the member provides finance, you have 14 days from the date you receive the documentation from the finance provider to cancel the agreement without penalty¹. Even where no sales rep was involved, you retain the right to cancel within 14 days of signing, and RECC warns households not to give up that right by signing a waiver¹⁷.

Two further rules protect you after the initial period. If the company makes significant changes to the contract, those changes should be agreed in writing as a variation, and if you are not happy with them you can cancel within 14 days with no penalty¹⁷. The same applies to changes following the technical site survey: you have the right to cancel within 14 days without penalty if there are any changes, even if this falls outside the original cancellation period¹⁷.

The rule on early installation is the one households most often misunderstand. Code Members must not install a system at your home during the cancellation period unless you have given express written permission for the work to start¹⁰. If you want the installation to begin during the 14 days, you must give your express written consent, and if you later cancel the contract you will have to pay for any work completed¹. In other words, the right to change your mind survives the decision to start early, but it stops being free. Our page on installation contracts and cancellation rights sets out the wider legal position.

Cover when an installer ceases trading

The Code's answer to installer failure is a set of obligations imposed before anything goes wrong. Members must protect the money you pay in advance of an installation, including the deposit, in case they go out of business¹⁴. They must also protect the workmanship guarantee in the same event¹⁴. The mechanism is an insurance-backed workmanship warranty, valid for at least 2 years, which members must provide¹. Because the warranty is underwritten by an insurer rather than by the installing firm, a claim can in principle still be made after the firm has ceased trading.

The Code itself defines what counts as a member being in trouble, and the list is deliberately wide. It includes a petition, notice, resolution or order for winding up; an application to court or an order for the appointment of an administrator, or a notice of intention to appoint one; the appointment of an administrative receiver or a receiver; the member commencing negotiations with creditors to reschedule debts or entering a compromise or arrangement; the member suspending or ceasing, or threatening to suspend or cease, carrying on all or a substantial part of its business; a creditor attaching or taking possession of assets where the process is not discharged within 10 days; and, for individual members, bankruptcy proceedings, death or incapacity¹⁰. Insolvency is defined by reference to the Insolvency Act 1986, including inability to pay debts within the meaning of section 123¹⁰.

These triggers matter because they are what activate the protections rather than leaving them to be argued about later. A firm that has stopped answering the phone has not necessarily "gone out of business" in a legal sense, but the Code's definitions catch the earlier and messier stages of failure, including threatened cessation and creditor negotiations.

There are limits, and they should be stated plainly. The insurance-backed warranty covers workmanship for at least 2 years; it is not a long-term maintenance promise, and it does not cover the manufacturer's warranties on the equipment itself, which sit with the manufacturer. Where an installer is no longer trading and the guarantee is missing, fraudulent or cancelled, the position is harder, and cases of that kind have been raised in Parliament as a recognised gap in protection²⁰. Households buying under a Competent Person Scheme get a related protection: financial protection to cover the event of non-compliant work being found where the installation company has gone out of business²¹. Our pages on insurance-backed guarantees and what to do when an installer goes bust cover the practical steps.

Raising disputes: the panel process and independent adjudication

The complaints route has a defined sequence. First, raise the complaint with the installer and give it at least 10 working days to resolve it before contacting the consumer code². If that fails, complain to RECC. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme guidance sets out the same escalation for grant-funded work: raise installation quality, workmanship or installer behaviour complaints with your installer in the first instance, then with the installer's consumer code, HIES or RECC, or with MCS for installation quality complaints²².

RECC offers two dispute resolution services that members must cooperate with: a mediation service and an independent arbitration service¹. Arbitration is run through the CEDR Solve independent arbitration scheme, and the cost is shared: the consumer pays a registration fee and RECC pays the balance⁷. The amounts recovered through this route are not trivial in aggregate. In 2020, RECC helped recover £28,060 for consumers, equal to an average of £351 for each complaint RECC handled⁹.

Behind the complaints service sits the disciplinary machinery. RECC is continually monitoring Code Members to ensure they comply with the Code and its Bye-Laws, and the disciplinary steps available to it range from promoting consumer protection and communicating with the member, through auditing the member (which may be at the member's cost) and Consent Orders, to convening a hearing of the Non-Compliance Panel, terminating membership following a Panel determination, or terminating membership without reference to the Panel⁶.

The Non-Compliance Panel considers disciplinary matters concerning Code Members, including where there is a concern that a member has breached the Code, the Bye-Laws, or a Consent Order¹³. It must comprise at least 3 Panel Members, appointed in line with the Bye-Laws, and the majority of them, including the Chair, should be independent of the domestic small-scale renewable or low carbon heat or power generator sector¹³. Panel members may not be representatives of Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd or other Code Members¹³. The Panel is chaired by Keith Richards, and its other members are Amanda McIntyre, Sally Oakley, Michelle Peters, Elizabeth Stallibrass, Helen White and Alan Wilson¹³. The Panel decides whether the member has committed a breach and what sanction, if any, should be applied¹³. Members can represent themselves without legal representation, though legal representation is permitted, and both RECC and the member may apply for costs in respect of any hearing¹³. RECC's investigation costs are charged at £65 an hour under clause 10 of the Bye-Laws¹³. A member has a right of appeal against a Panel determination, in line with the Bye-Laws, and RECC may appoint an Appeals Panel as and when required⁶.

How the Code fits with MCS, funding and related programmes

RECC does not stand alone; it is stitched into the certification and grant landscape. The Code links closely to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme installer and product certification scheme, and any member of the Code, including all those working on their behalf, is expected also to comply with these schemes⁵. The relationship runs both ways: membership of RECC or HIES is a condition of MCS certification, so a firm holding MCS certification should belong to one of the two codes²³. Ofgem's guidance for MCS installers confirms that installers not transitioned to the MCS Redeveloped Installer Scheme must still hold consumer code membership with one of the other two approved codes of practice, HIES and RECC²⁴.

For households, the practical consequence is that the Code is hard to avoid in a grant-funded purchase. There are two consumer codes relevant to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and property owners' rights under the scheme are protected by HIES and RECC, certified by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute²³. The same requirement appears in the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive world: before registering under an Assignment of Rights, an investor must be a member of RECC or HIES, both CTSI-approved consumer protection codes²⁶. Consumers wishing to benefit from Government financial incentives must in any case agree a contract with an installer certified by MCS¹⁶.

The Code's own history shows it being updated to track the wider rulebook: it was reviewed with the Panel and the OFT in 2012 and amended in February 2013 to reflect the Provision of Services Regulations 2009, MCS sub-contracting rules, deposits and advance payments, delivery and completion dates, and conciliation and arbitration procedures¹⁶.

The limits of the Code's reach

The Code's protections are real but bounded, and a household should know the boundaries before relying on them.

• RECC is not an insurer. It administers the Code; it does not pay claims. The financial protections come from the member's own arrangements: protected deposits and an insurance-backed workmanship warranty².
• Neither the sponsor nor the administrator is a party to your contract. The Code states that neither the Code Sponsor nor the Code Administrator is a party to any contract covered by the Code¹⁰. Your contract is with the installer.
• The workmanship warranty is at least 2 years. That is the Code's floor, not a long-term guarantee of the installation¹.
• Equipment warranties sit elsewhere. The Code governs the sale and the workmanship guarantee; the warranties on panels, batteries, heat pumps and boilers sit with their manufacturers.
• Termination of membership removes protection going forward. RECC may terminate a member's Code membership where it has failed to comply with the Code and its Bye-Laws, and a firm that is expelled or leaves loses the discipline the Code imposes⁶.
• Recovery depends on the member's position. The £28,060 recovered for consumers in 2020 came through RECC's involvement in disputes with trading members; a firm in administration is a different problem⁹.

The Code's own legal basis is worth noting, because it shows what it enforces alongside: the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015, and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, among other listed legislation¹⁰. The Code adds sector-specific rules on top of these general laws; it does not replace them.

The Code's role in household self sufficiency

A home energy installation is the moment a household buys itself a measure of independence from the grid, a supplier or a fuel, and it is also the moment it takes on a new dependence: on the firm that sold and fitted the system, on the manufacturer whose warranties back the equipment, and on the accuracy of the performance estimate that justified the spend. The Code's contribution to independence is that it disciplines that second set of dependencies. It requires the estimate to be written, specific to your property, and given before you sign¹. It caps the deposit at 25% and requires advance payments to be protected¹. It gives you 14 days to reconsider, and a further 14 days if the survey changes the deal¹. And it makes the workmanship guarantee survive the installer¹⁴.

The wider context suggests this discipline is what the market needs. CTSI's polling of 1,077 UK homeowners in May 2024 found that 43% were actively considering installing energy-efficiency measures, but 41% were unaware of funding schemes and how to apply for them, and 18% were deterred because they were unfamiliar with the technology or did not know where to find a reliable installer²⁷. Among those not considering upgrades, 56% said the technology is currently too expensive²⁷. Crucially for the Code's role, more than two thirds (71%) said they would be more likely to install measures if the trader were independently approved and certified, and half (50%) said they would be more likely to choose an installer vetted by a Trading Standards-backed scheme²⁷. CTSI itself is calling for a mandatory licensing system for installers of domestic energy-efficiency measures, which is a measure of how far self-regulation alone is thought to stretch²⁷.

For a household weighing a purchase, the practical reading is this: the Code is the reason to prefer a member firm, and the reason to check membership before signing. It is not a substitute for choosing carefully, getting several quotes, reading the performance estimate, and keeping the paperwork. It is the safety net under the sale, and like all safety nets it is best never tested. Our pages on checking an installer before you buy, deposits and staged payments and complaining about an installer cover the steps either side of the Code itself.