Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on home efficiency scheme grants, identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by the ASA. See also related rulings published on 11 December 2024.
Ad description
Two paid-for Facebook and Instagram ads for Ignite Sustainable Energy, seen on 28 June 2024:
a. The first ad, seen on Facebook and Instagram, included text that stated, “Reduce Your Energy Bills with the ECO4 Grant! Eligible homes heating with Oil, Electric, Solid Fuel, or LPG can receive fully funded energy-saving upgrades. If your home has an EPC rating of E or lower, apply now to see if you qualify – it takes less than a minute! …”. The ad included an image that displayed the crown logo alongside text that stated “GOV.UK” and “Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in Partnership with ofgem”. Further text in the image stated, “Do you have an LPG, Solid Fuel, Electric, Oil heated property? FREE Solar Panels FREE Heating System FREE Insulation Upgrades Qualify with or without being a benefit recipient If your annual household income is below £31,000 AND your property is OFF the mains gas grid” and “Unlock your ECO4 Funding”. It included a phone number, web address and email address.
Text underneath the image stated, “Find out if you are eligible in less than 60 seconds! We are fully approved with your Local Authority and can process funding on the Local Authority …” and a button labelled “Apply now”.
b. The second ad, seen on Facebook and Instagram, included text that stated, “Claim your free Eco4 Government Grant today! Whether you rely on Oil, Electric, Solid Fuel or LPG, there’s no better time to secure your free grant and start saving! If your home has an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E or lower, you may be eligible for 100% fully funded energy saving upgrades …”. The ad included an image with text that stated, “ECO4 GRANT SCHEME” and “ARE YOU OFF MAINS GAS? You could qualify for a free grant! 1 MIN APPLICATION APPLY NOW”. The crown logo was displayed alongside text that stated, “GOV.UK”, “Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in Partnership with ofgem” and “Unlock your ECO4 Funding”.
Text underneath stated, “Find out if you are eligible in under a minute! We are fully approved with your Local Authority and can process funding on the Local Authority …” and a button labelled “Apply now”.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ads misleadingly implied that Ignite Sustainable Energy was associated with or endorsed by the UK Government.
Response
Ignite Sustainable Energy Ltd said they had been working within the Energy Company Obligation scheme for over 10 years. Two of their directors were fully accredited retrofit assessors and domestic energy assessors, who completed the initial in-person retrofit surveys for customers who responded to their ads to ascertain what energy efficiency measures their home qualified for and then arranged subsequent installations for the customer. They provided certificates to demonstrate those qualifications.
The Energy Company Obligation was divided into two sections in terms of customer qualification; either they received at least one of the qualifying benefits, or they were referred through the Local Authority Flexibility Scheme. The installers Ignite Sustainable Energy worked with were fully approved installers in all of the council areas that they targeted with their adverts. They collected all the qualifying evidence on initial survey for the Local Authority Flexibility Scheme and, either sent it to the council on behalf of the installer, or the installer sent it to the council themselves. They provided a list of the councils they had direct relationships with.
They did not claim to be endorsed or affiliated with the UK Government. They used the Energy Company Obligation logo in their ads as this was the only scheme that they worked in, and it enabled potential customers to search for and find out more information about the scheme.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that the use of the logo which featured “GOV.UK”, a previous version of the crown logo used by GOV.UK and “Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in Partnership with ofgem”, in both ads would be interpreted by consumers to mean that Ignite Sustainable Energy was associated with or endorsed by the UK Government. We further considered that the presentation of ad (a), such as the fonts and graphics used, were similar to those used on UK government department websites and social media accounts, and therefore added to that impression.
We understood that at the time the ads were seen there was a government-endorsed home energy efficiency scheme available, but that Ignite Sustainable Energy was not specifically associated with or endorsed by the UK Government in any way.Because the ads gave the impression that Ignite Sustainable Energy was associated with or endorsed by the UK Government, when that was not the case, we concluded that the ads were misleading.
Ads (a) and (b) breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.50 (Endorsements and Testimonials).
Action
The ads must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Ignite Sustainable Energy Ltd to ensure their future ads did not misleadingly imply that they were associated with or endorsed by the UK Government.
