Trading Standards Scotland (TSS) has released various social media materials aimed at targeting and combating Energy Marketing Scams.
The frequent changes in the availability of energy efficiency incentives make it easy for dishonest companies to scam consumers. Scammers say that funding or grants are available for their products, yet ask consumers to pay for the products up front or take out a loan. Consumers are told that they will receive their money back over time but rarely do. They often overinflate their prices and then apply “discounts”, which are supposedly equivalent to government grants.
TSS aims to raise awareness of the issues with misleading energy marketing (with particular focus on lead generation and misleading information about grants and funding related to the UK Government’s Green Homes Grant scheme), and to point Scottish consumers towards genuine sources of information on energy funding.
To view or download the materials as a pdf, please visit the CVS Falkirk website.
Alternatively, for genuine sources of information on energy funding, see the list below:
- TSS (for further information and links to trusted sources)
- Home Energy Scotland (HES) (for free and impartial advice on energy efficiency measures and the various types of funding available to Scottish homeowners)
- HES website
- freephone: 0808 808 2282
- Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) (for consumer advice and to report energy scams)
- ADS website
- freephone: 0808 164 6000
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