Certification
Benefits of the Microgeneration Certification Scheme
Benefits of Independent Third party certification
Some of the benefits of third party certification are:
• Assurance to consumers on the quality of product and installation services
• Realistic expectations for the performance of microgeneration systems in practice
• Recognition of good quality products and services in the market place
• Increased take up of renewable energy technologies and support for the growing renewables industry
• A means of ensuring that taxpayer's grant money is spent in an effective manner
Certification mark
The new MCS certification marks for approved installers and approved products are available. Examples of the marks are shown below:
Information and literature
The scheme requirements and standards are available to review and download free of charge from the installer or product pages of the MCS website www.microgenerationcertification.org.
Application forms, fee sheets and other information concerning MCS may be found on the Information for Installers and Information for Product Manufacturers and Distributors pages of this website.
Further Reading, Links and Information:
www.microgenerationcertification.org
www.lowcarbonbuildingsphase2.org.uk/
www.realassurance.org.uk/
Consumer protection
All applicants for the Microgeneration installer scheme will have to demonstrate that they have signed up to a Code of Practice that meets the guidelines set by the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT's) Consumer Code Approval Scheme.
The purpose of this is to ensure that contractors offer consumer protection including complaints handling and a comprehensive performance prediction for products to prevent mis-selling.
The REAL Assurance Scheme (Renewable Energy Assurance Limited) is in the process of completing stage 1 of the OFTs consumer codes scheme and is the code that BERR has accepted for this scheme. Further details can be found at http://www.realassurance.org.uk/.
Other schemes will be accepted if they are OFT approved or are in the process of receiving this approval, subject to further review.
