Energy Saving Group

A question about : Energy Saving Group

My other half was visited by two men from this company who told him that they were tasked by the gov to help get homes more energy efficient. Alarm bells went off (I hate that I can be so judgemental) when they did not leave cards with names on them, only an appointment card. The following day a woman rang asking for my husband as they needed his 'details' before the appointment. I did not comply, and today, the appointed day, they rang to postpone. The web site says they help home owners, landlords etc get grants and to find the best products available. I am thinking, why bring in a middle man when there are lots of accredited companies who can do loft and wall insulation and they can be contacted directly? Has anyone any experience with them or heard of them at all?
Thanks.

Best answers:

• That will be www.energysavinggroup.co.uk who are always advertising for canvassers/door knockers.
  You would be far better off using the Energy Saving Trust to see what is available https://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/...ounts-Database
• Energysavinggroup
  sent doorknockers round to my area and are offering me (apparently) the top deal on that website (the Ј500 one).
  Do they insist that you sign all the energy saved and resulting monies over to them?
  Any feedback appreciated. According to the website recommended I'm not eligible for a grant.
  Cheers
• For anyone interested in this.....
  Had the appointment today. Cost is Ј500 and the rest is funded by government grants, for which anyone is eligible. Cost includes 25 year warranty. Any surplus you generate over and above what you use, you are paid 3p per KwH by the energy companies (fixed rate), it doesn't go to the installers - they make their money from the Ј500 up front fee and the grant.
  It seems the fairest deal on the market to me at the moment, I guess things are changing fast in this area. Any feedback (especially negative) I'd appreciate it as I have 7 days cooling off period anyway.
• Firms like A Shader Greener fit a system for free - albeit you don't get the 3p/kWh.
  Personally I think it is a dreadful deal! Even the free deal IMO is very poor for customers, but to pay Ј500 for the system is a joke.
  Even if you export 1,500kWh a year - that is Ј45 a year. Ј500 invested long term can earn Ј20 a year interest.
• Can you not apply for the grant directly and save the Ј500?
• And what happens when you sell the property? Is there a minimum term? Does the purchaser have to accept the existing contract, or do they come and rip down the panels?
  Who is responsible for any maintenance required (panels, inverter, cabling)?
  Strikes me that you need to do a lot more than 7 days contemplation before agreeing this.
  I get 16p a kWh on my total generation from Ecotricity, regardless of what I use. 3p per kWh is derisory-and that's just on actual export! On a 1.25kW system you'll only export maybe half of that or less. Maybe worth Ј25 a year.
• I agree that there are a lot of other questions to be answered, but in relation to the economics, isn't the point that for a nominal (compared to the true cost) fee you get the use of the panels, maintained, for s 20 year period with no significant capital outlay, then reduce the cost of electricity by the amount generated for own use, then get a little extra back for the feed in tariff?
  To get the full FIT, you would needto spend many thousands of pounds up-front, thuse resulting in opportunity cost on the capital, or having to take out a loan and use the FIT to pay back the loan.
  Swings and roundabouts to me.
• I never buy from the doorstep but they knocked at the weekend and were very convincing, and it seemed a good offer so I let them make an appointment. The card was a bit Mickey Mouse, I have to say.
  In the meantime, I checked them out a bit. Their web-site is less than impressive - there are spelling mistakes all over the home page.
  The guy has just been - in his own car, with a printed shirt and a laminated card that he admitted his son could have knocked up.
  He told me that for Ј500, they would install a system that would cut my energy bills by nearly half, even though my roof faces East. (I mention this because British Gas turned me down a couple of weeks ago for their rent a roof scheme because it has to face South, and when I checked with Npower, they said the same thing). He said it wouldn't be quite as efficient but it would still work.
  I would have to sign over the FiT for 25 years but the supplier would maintain it for that long and after that, I would get that as well. When I asked what would happen if the supplier went out of business he said it would be companies like British Gas or NPower, who are unlikely to go bust.
  He couldn't leave me any brochures as they have only just started offering this service but he wrote out a load of figures and left me a foolscap sheet.
  He even showed me a load of cheques from customers he's managed to sign up during the week, one of them he said was a high-powered policeman and another a money expert.
  I didn't give him any money and he didn't pressurise me, but when he'd gone, I phoned British Gas and Npower, both of whom said they didn't deal with them. The guy at BG even went so far as to phone the number on the website and ask, and they confirmed to him that they didn't use them for any work.
• Sounds like a complete cowboy set up. An east facing roof will not give sufficient output much after mid-day (south-east to south-west is the necessary alignment needed).
  And the energy saving claim is laughable. A correctly aligned system might save 40% of your electricity bill, but, assuming you heat by another method (gas or oil CH), that is nowhere near half of your total energy bill. What capacity was the system they would propose to fit? If they can't tell you this then they really don't know what they are talking about.
  But if you want to waste Ј500 that's entirely your privilege...
• I had these knock on my door a couple of days ago. I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.
  Firms that are offering solar panels for free are not doing it because of a government grant. Government grants for solar panels no longer exist. From April 2010, the grants were replaced by whats known as Feed In Tarrifs, whereby the government pays 41.1p per kWh generated, whether it is used or not. On top of that, the distribution network pays you 3p for every kWh that you do not use (and therefore send back to the grid).
  The girl that knocked on my door was adamant that if I had solar panels fitted, I would benefit from both the Feed In Tarrifs AND they export tarrif to the grid and that the reason they could offer it for so cheap was because of some non-existent government grant. This means that the sales crew are either liars OR they have been misinformed - possibly maliciously. A phone call to the company gets the same response.
  If you can afford to get them done, and now REALLY is the time to get it done, you should pay the full price and get the Feed In Tarrifs yourself. If you cannot afford it (and cannot get a loan) then there are plenty of more established firms that will do the install for you for free.
  So why pay Ј500 to a firm that is at best shoddy and at worst fraudulent?
• This mob are advertising for canvassers this week in North West, What I never get is the high costs of installations in the first place. They are talking Ј12-24,000 for a basic system. Sounds very high. Has anyone (customers) actually shown these savings???? And as mentioned above, if you heat and cook on Gas, what is the payback time even for your Ј500? S'all a bit of an odd one.
• What output (capacity) is your system in KW-and how many panels)?
• That's a very big system (16 panels)-most of the domestic installs are probably no more than 8 or 10 panels.
• WIll watch this thread with interest.
• There are a number of things that people should know about the Energy Saving Group.
  Firstly - the people coming to visit you on an appointment are NOT trained surveyors. They are salesmen with about two hours training in filling out forms. I know because I attended one of the "courses" and having listened to what they are telling you to say decided to walk away.
  Secondly - they use Norton (trading also under the name My Energy Station) for their solar panel insulations, and use Eaga for their cavity wall and loft insulation. [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] Put simply, they are a sales organisation, that has grown rapidly and not been around for very long. I have nothing against them being a sales company, everything I own has been sold to me at some point, but I dislike the way that they dont actually mention this on their website [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]. Any contracts that you sign will be direct with Norton/ My Energy Station or Eaga. So why involve a middleman. [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]
  The solar package deal - [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]- you sign a lease agreement with My Energy Station and NOT the Energy Saving Group. If you want to purchase a system, get a quote from both companies (remembering they are fitted by the same people) [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM].
  On Eneregy Savings Group paperwork, prices for cavity wall and loft insulation are in four price brackets of Ј129, Ј149, Ј179 and Ј199 depending on the size of house -[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]
  I will post further on this company, and I'm only using it because I have personal experience.... I'm sure others are at it too.
• It is quite typical of many companies in this(and other) fields - they will charge what the market will stand.