RECC and HIES consumer codes

RECC and HIES run consumer codes for businesses selling and installing home energy systems. Their members agree to rules covering advertising, sales conduct, quotations, contracts, deposits, guarantees, complaints and after-sales service.

Both codes are listed by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute’s Approved Code Scheme. The scheme was previously called the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme, so both names still appear in older documents.

Membership adds a contractual code, monitoring and a dispute route. It does not replace statutory rights under consumer law, prove the technical quality of an installation or guarantee that every loss will be insured.

What each code covers

The Renewable Energy Consumer Code, or RECC, covers members selling or leasing small-scale renewable or low-carbon heat and power systems to domestic consumers. Its scope includes the consumer journey from marketing and pre-contract information through to guarantees and after-sales service.

HIES is the Home Insulation and Energy Systems scheme. Its code covers members accredited for named home energy products, including solar PV, battery storage, heat pumps and domestic EV charge points.

For either code, check the installer rather than relying on a logo in a quotation. Verify:

• the contracting company’s exact legal name and company number
• that it is a current member on the code’s own register and the CTSI directory
• that membership covers the proposed product
• that membership is active when the contract is entered into

A salesperson, subcontractor or related company may use a similar trading name without being the legal entity shown on the register. Protection normally follows the named contracting member and the registered job.

Consumer code membership and MCS are separate

MCS certification concerns the installer, products and installation against the MCS scheme and technical standards. RECC or HIES membership governs the member’s commercial conduct and provides the code’s consumer-protection route.

The relationship is currently in transition. MCS’s February 2026 complaints policy says:

• under the old MCS scheme, membership of a CTSI-approved consumer code was mandatory
• under the redeveloped MCS:2025 scheme, consumer code membership is no longer mandatory
• installers are moving across in phases from February 2026 to 31 March 2027
• complaint arrangements depend on the scheme version applying when the installation was carried out

As at 22 July 2026, it is therefore wrong to infer either that every MCS installer must still belong to RECC or HIES, or that no current MCS installer needs code membership. Check the installer’s live MCS record, its scheme position and its separate code membership.

An installer on the redeveloped scheme can keep or join a consumer code voluntarily. That can still add a separate conduct standard and complaint route even though MCS no longer makes it universally compulsory.

Financial protection under the redeveloped MCS scheme

Removing mandatory code membership did not remove financial protection from the redeveloped MCS scheme. For a domestic contract, the MCS Installer Agreement requires the installer to provide an MCS-approved financial protection product and record the provider when creating the installation certificate.

That MCS product is not automatically the same thing as RECC or HIES membership. Check the named provider, the certificate or policy issued for the installation, the insured events, exclusions, claim route and duration.

The installer’s written workmanship guarantee, an insurance-backed guarantee and a manufacturer’s product warranty are three different documents. One should not be used as evidence that the others exist.

RECC deposit and workmanship protection

RECC says its members must insure deposits and further advance or stage payments they take, together with the workmanship warranties they issue, against the member ceasing to trade.

RECC is not the insurer and does not hold each customer’s insurance record. The provider, cover period, claim outcome and policy conditions can differ. RECC’s own consumer guidance tells customers to identify the insurer from their paperwork or MCS certificate and then approach that insurer about a claim.

Before paying a deposit or stage payment, obtain the policy evidence and check:

• the customer and contracting company names
• the installation address and contract value
• which payments are protected
• the start and end dates
• the maximum amount covered
• whether the customer must register or activate the policy
• what counts as the installer ceasing to trade
• whether the remedy is a refund, completion by another contractor or something else

Do the same for the insurance-backed workmanship guarantee after completion. RECC membership creates the member’s duty to arrange protection; it is the issued policy and its terms that establish the customer’s actual cover.

HIES deposit and workmanship protection

HIES presents deposit protection, an insurance-backed guarantee, consumer advice and dispute resolution as part of the protection available when a homeowner contracts with an accredited HIES member and the installation is correctly registered.

As at 22 July 2026, HIES states that its deposit and stage-payment insurance covers up to 25% of the contract value, capped at £5,000, for 120 days from the contract date. It also states that no protection exists until HIES has written to the customer confirming cover.

Those are current scheme limits, not a reason to assume any payment is protected. Check the confirmation before paying more than would be recoverable and make sure the agreed installation date falls within the protection period.

HIES says its insurance-backed guarantees range from two to ten years. The duration can differ from the installer’s written guarantee. The insurance applies if the installer ceases trading and cannot honour the insured terms, subject to the actual certificate and policy wording.

An insurance-backed guarantee does not usually correct poor work while the original installer remains trading. The installer’s complaint process and, where needed, dispute resolution are the first routes in that situation.

Complaints against a RECC member

Raise the complaint with the contracting installer first, in writing, and keep the quotation, contract, payment record, certificates, photographs and correspondence.

For new RECC-member complaints, the current external route is Green Homes Dispute Resolution, or GHDR. RECC stopped accepting new cases into its own process on 20 January 2026, although it continues to handle cases registered before that date. GHDR describes its service for domestic renewable-energy and EV-charge-point disputes as free and independent.

This route is time-sensitive, so use the current RECC complaints page rather than an old leaflet. Confirm that the installer was a RECC member for the relevant contract and that the subject of the dispute falls within the code and GHDR process.

Complaints against a HIES member

HIES operates a consumer complaint and alternative dispute resolution process for disputes with its members. It can use mediation or conciliation and provides access to an ombudsman or equivalent route where a dispute remains unresolved.

The installer should have a reasonable opportunity to respond first. If the matter is escalated, supply a clear chronology and the documents showing what was promised, what was installed, the defect or loss and the remedy already requested.

The code route does not prevent a consumer from retaining their statutory rights. Equally, an ombudsman or code process has jurisdiction and time-limit rules of its own. Check the current HIES procedure before allowing a deadline to pass.

Where MCS also handles the complaint

MCS’s current policy can accept in-scope complaints covering matters such as system design and performance, quality of work, the Customer Commitment, commissioning, handover, installer conduct, mis-selling and contractual problems. The installer must normally have had a reasonable chance to respond first.

During the transition, MCS, the certification body and a consumer code may share or transfer complaint ownership according to scope. Where the installer was a code member, the consumer can still have a code route. Under the redeveloped scheme, eligible unresolved cases can also reach the alternative dispute resolution provider appointed by MCS.

Do not start three parallel cases without telling each body. Give MCS, the certification body and the consumer code the same factual record and ask which organisation is taking ownership of each issue.

What membership does not guarantee

Code membership is useful evidence that a business has accepted additional conduct and redress rules. It does not establish that:

• the technical design is correct
• the salesperson’s forecast will be achieved
• the manufacturer will honour a product warranty
• the installer will remain solvent
• every deposit or stage payment is insured without a certificate
• every workmanship defect falls within an insurance-backed guarantee
• a subcontractor is covered under another company’s membership

The strongest file combines verified membership with a clear contract, restrained performance assumptions, a payment schedule linked to completed work, named insurance evidence, MCS and electrical certificates where applicable and full handover records.

Documents to retain

Keep:

• the signed quotation and contract
• the version of the consumer code or Customer Commitment supplied before signing
• cancellation information and the payment schedule
• code-membership evidence for the contracting company
• deposit and stage-payment protection confirmation
• workmanship guarantee and separate insurance-backed guarantee certificate
• manufacturer product warranties
• MCS certificate and financial-protection provider details where applicable
• commissioning and electrical certificates
• all complaint correspondence and any final-response letter

The documents should identify the same legal entity and installation. A collection of logos is not a substitute for that chain.

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