‘Cowboy contractors’ are hijacking retrofit schemes and leaving people with dangerous homes

Campaign group Fuel Poverty Action is taking the fight to ‘cowboy contractors’ doing dodgy retrofit schemes and leaving people without warm homes this winter. It needs the public’s help to take MPs to task over the “badly designed and delivered” existing schemes leaving behind a “trail of damaged homes and destroyed lives” in their wake.

Retrofit schemes for residents, not for profit

Profiteering private companies delivering shoddy home alterations are giving retrofit a bad name. They’re leaving residents with damaged homes and unaffordable heating.

Meanwhile, the government’s lack of investment in retrofit skills, and a lack of protections has left vulnerable residents at the mercy of cowboy operators profiting from the billions the retrofits are adding to the public’s bills and taxes.

This is case with current poorly designed and delivered schemes like ECO4. The Labour Party government will announce its Warm Homes Plan at the end of October, and is planning to extend the flawed ECO4 scheme.

It’s why Fuel Poverty Action is asking members of the public to invite their MP to an important event on tackling the retrofit crisis. It’s vital that MPs meet with grassroots campaigners and residents who have had their homes damaged.

The campaign group has launched an easy email tool for people to encourage their MPs to attend Fuel Poverty Action’s event on Wednesday 15 October in Parliament. You can send an invite to your MP here.

The letter reads that:

The government has accepted that the system is broken and dramatic change is needed, but has continued the flawed schemes like Eco4 and even suggested they should be extended. The retrofit industry is lobbying against the higher standards and better resident protections that we need.

The government has also failed to help the victims, causing further suffering and undermining public confidence in retrofit schemes, especially due to the many terrible installations of insulation and heat pumps. Instead of delivering warmer homes and lower bills, victims are suffering catastrophic damage, dangerous conditions and unaffordable bills. Meanwhile rogue operators make millions in profits, and dodge accountability for their actions

Victims of cowboy contractors

The event will introduce MPs to victims of ‘cowboy contractors’ that do retrofit schemes – like Duncan. Fuel Poverty Action detailed his story:

After moving home to be closer to his daughter, Duncan was excited to install a heat pump through the ECO4 retrofit scheme and live a greener life…

…Now, his daughter’s room is uninhabitable, his roof has had to be replaced, and he’s facing his third winter without heating.

How did it go so wrong?

Because retrofit schemes put profit first. Because they aren’t accountable to residents. And because there is often no recourse when cowboy contractors damage homes.

Duncan believes in retrofit done right, to bring down bills and emissions. But it is now clear to him that his home was never suitable for some of the works carried out, and that installers took advantage of government money in spite of this.

Dodgy practice is giving retrofit a bad name. Duncan believes that no homeowner should be worse off due to a home “upgrade”. And he’s fighting for accountability for others like him, many of whom are vulnerable people.

Duncan has spoken out about the industry gaslighting cowboy contractors subjected him to in an interview with SkillBuilder. You can watch him talk about how the system is failing vulnerable residents here.

He has also set up a group for the victims of bad retrofit. It already hosts 78 members and is empowering them to fight back against a range of retrofit schemes dodgy contractors have exploited.

It aims to provide “advice and community support” in order to guide victims:

through the complaint and remediation process. Including the paths to escalation the industry does not want you to know about.

Working together to get justice

Fuel Poverty Action is urging constituents to invite their MPs within the next week. On 16 September, MPs will be taking a recess from Parliament for party conference season.

It also wants to hear from any victims of bad retrofit schemes. It is putting together a bank of cases to show the scale of the problem and the lack of accountability in the system. If you have an experience like this, you can contact the group using the following email address: [email protected].

Fuel Poverty Action wants to work together with MPs to get justice for victims of retrofit gone wrong.

Featured image via the Canary