What We Do

Standard-setting

rb&m bring authoritative knowledge of on-the-ground consumer experience and of consumer law to standards working groups across the clean energy field.

Developing consumer codes

We are experts in crafting self-regulatory consumer protection Codes that aim to raise standards and go beyond what the law requires.

rb&m partner Sue Bloomfield wrote the Consumer Code for home chargepoints for Electric Vehicles, the EVCC. The code is designed to dovetail with the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Code of Practice on EV Charging Equipment Installation and with the government grant scheme for home chargepoints.

Process and Consumer Information ‘Stress Testing’

rb&m offer you a core ‘stress testing’ service. We inspect and analyse template documents, consumer guidance and whole processes for fairness and compliance with industry rules and consumer protection law.

Our ‘stress testing’ covers everything from consumer-targeted technical forecasting tools and methodologies to contract documents and from advertising to suites of guidance material on government-funded incentive schemes.

Practical guides for stakeholders

rb&m turn complex technical material into practical user-friendly guides and model documents that foster industry compliance.

We also produce plain-language consumer guides that cover both technology and consumer rights, guides that help consumers make informed decisions.

rb&m’s Colin Meek is co-author and coordinator of the forthcoming guide to compliant heat pump supply and installation; a joint publication from the Heat Pump Association, MCS, RECC and Energy Saving Trust Scotland with support from the Scottish Government.

Colin also developed the RECC model contract for installers of microgeneration systems, now used by thousands of installers.

rb&m’s Sue Bloomfield was the principal author of the UK’s first independent consumer guide to domestic battery storage, jointly published by BRE National Solar Centre and RECC. Sue also authored Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd.’s consumer guide to home chargepoints for Electric Vehicles.

Assessing compliance

rb&m work with you to design and deliver compliance monitoring strategies. We have worked with oversight bodies, consumer codes and protection schemes and agencies, and can also assist companies.

Our approach is to use monitoring as an opportunity, not just to evaluate and correct, but also to cooperate and inform companies about important requirements.

We aim to monitor compliance across the consumer journey, from advertising to after-sales and complaints-handling. Techniques we employ include due diligence investigations, mystery shopping and desk-based and site-based auditing.

We designed and implemented a heat network compliance auditing and monitoring system with the Heat Trust and continue to work with them to:

• monitor heat network providers
• highlight good practice
• support heat network providers in providing great customer service.

rb&m developed RECC’s highly-regarded scenario-based training package for installers of microgeneration systems.

The CPD-certified multi-module online course uses real-life examples and common scenarios to help trainees understand their legal and Code obligations.

Interactive multiple-choice tests enable trainees to assess their progress.

rb&m have also used webinars and face-to-face training for a range of audiences, from members of a disciplinary panel to NGOs to SMEs.

Project Management

We provide design, development and implementation of projects that are structurally robust, financially viable and meet their objectives.

Our mission is to give consumers the power to make informed decisions in the low-carbon energy transition.

We work with you to create practical policy and strategy for a zero carbon future built on the real experience of consumers.

We have an in-depth understanding of the why, what and when regulation is needed, built on thousands of audits and reviews of the first-hand customer experience of decentralised energy:

Heat Networks

Renewable Energy installations

Related products: battery storage, EV chargepoints

Government Incentives for Renewable Energy

Consumer legislation

Heat Networks

rb&m offer unique expertise in designing compliance monitoring for heat networks.

We designed and implemented a heat network compliance auditing and monitoring system with the Heat Trust and continue to work with them to:

• monitor heat network providers
• highlight good practice
• support heat network providers in providing great customer service.

Renewable Energy

We work with you to devise policy and strategy that is proportionate and fair and built on real consumer experience.

rb&m partners have carried out thousands of thorough reviews of first-hand customer experience of renewable energy installations for RECC over the last 10 years, including:

• selling practices
• performance estimates
• whether the information they received was legal and correct
• How complaints were handled

Related products: battery storage, EV chargepoints

rb&m are closely involved in enhancing consumer protection in the emerging domestic markets for battery storage and EV chargepoints.

We work to ensure the consumer interest in new markets is respected, from producing consumer guides to writing codes of conduct to developing technical standards.

An rb&m partner has sat on the MCS Working Group to develop a battery storage installation standard since its inception and was principal author on the first independent consumer guide.

On home chargepoints, rb&m both wrote a consumer guide and drafted the recently-established consumer code, the EVCC.

Government Incentives for Renewable Energy

Our depth and breadth of knowledge about how government incentives work for consumers has a key role to play in directing future policy towards zero carbon energy.

We have undertaken compliance audit reviews of:

• thousands of Renewable Energy Installation contracts sold on the basis of government incentives, in the form of the Feed in Tariff (FIT) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)
• hundreds of installations sold under the Green Deal.

We have worked as consultants on the introduction of the new Assignment Of Rights scheme, including:

• writing the scheme guidance for installers, investors and consumers
• carrying out due diligence investigations
• assessing investors’ proposed contracts
• assisting companies to achieve compliance with AoR and Consumer Code requirements to gain Code contract approval

Consumer Legislation

rb&m have a comprehensive catalogue of real-life consumer contracts and we know what good looks like. We can help you ensure consumer information and contracts comply with consumer protection legislation.

Our insights are invaluable for guiding future consumer legislation and ensuring consumers and businesses alike are protected in the energy transition.

rb&m’s Colin Meek was responsible for consumer Code RECC’s detailed guidance on a range of statute including the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013

Research

rb&m offer cutting-edge research skills and a flexible approach to complex commissions, We focus on the actual experience of UK energy consumers and in-situ evidence.

We bring decades of know-how working on quantitative, qualitative and investigative projects for a range of clients including Which?, ANEC (the European Consumer Voice in Standardisation), universities and energy companies.

Project Management

We provide design, development and implementation of projects that are structurally robust, financially viable and meet their objectives.

rb&m partners work with low-carbon industry stakeholders to ensure consumers can have confidence in the performance and financial claims made by the UK’s installation sector.

We bring our technical experience in a range of low-carbon technologies to:

• analysis of actual performance estimates and claims
• assessment of associated financial forecasts
• the development of coherent rules for the provision of performance claims in contracts
• stress-testing of processes and information
• staff training.

Technology performance and financial forecast analysis

The market for low-carbon technologies will thrive when consumers can trust the performance claims they are given. The rb&m team offers the technical expertise to assess that information.

We work on the consumer end of the microgeneration market to examine and test claims against industry benchmarks and our own models:

• rb&m partners have developed tools to analyse estimates
• we carry out detailed research on the actual in-situ performance of renewable technologies and the performance estimates provided to consumers
• we carry out due diligence investigations, audits and compliance monitoring providing detailed feedback to monitored companies
• we provide training to compliance personnel on performance claims

Compliance Testing

The rb&m team have audited and ‘tested’ more than 1,000 actual pre-contractual performance estimates offered to consumers by low carbon technology companies. This compliance monitoring involves:

• measuring efficiency claims made by companies against industry standards;
• scrutinising the wider performance claims made about the technologies and incentive schemes; and
• testing claims of financial benefit, ‘payback’ forecasts and claims relating to credit.

Industry technology working groups and improving rules on performance claims

rb&m work at the cutting edge of benchmark and policy development to improve performance forecasting.

We provide the consumer voice in the development of industry technical standards generally and in promoting best practice for consumer information in particular.

rb&m partners sit on the MCS Technology Working Groups for Electricity Storage, Heat Pumps, Biomass and Solar Thermal.

In those roles, we:

• helped develop the new MCS microgeneration electricity storage standard.
• played a key role in shaping the 2017 revamp of MIS 3005, the MCS installation standard for heat pumps.
• are currently working to improve the rules on performance forecasting in MCS solar thermal and biomass standards.

Process and Consumer Information ‘Stress Testing’

‘Failed processes and mistakes in consumer-targeted documentation can have financial and legal consequences. Get it right the first time.’

rb&m offer a core ‘stress testing’ service whereby we inspect and analyse template documents, consumer guidance and whole processes for fairness and compliance with industry rules and consumer protection law.

Our ‘stress testing’ covers everything from consumer-targeted technical forecasting tools and methodologies to contract documents and from advertising to suites of guidance material on government-funded incentive schemes.

We use a scenario-based approach to ensure that stress-tested material works for realistic real-life situations.

Training

The rb&m team offers bespoke training material and workshops on:

• all aspects of consumer protection in the low-carbon sector;
• and compliance monitoring techniques including due diligence investigations, mystery shopping and desk-based and site-based auditing.

rb&m have a solid track-record in providing clients with training material and training workshops including the development of:

• a CPD-certified 30,000-word multi-module training package on consumer protection best practice for microgeneration installers;
• an interactive multiple-choice scenario-based learning tool with practice sections and ‘exam’ tests; and
• bespoke training on the compliance monitoring of microgeneration performance forecasting.

Project Management

We provide design, development and implementation of projects that are structurally robust, financially viable and meet their objectives.

With our partners at MCS, rb&m are excited to share our groundbreaking report Renewing Britain: The changing landscape of home-grown energy 2008 – 2021.

rb&m researched and wrote the main body of the report, working with data analysts to combine the goldmine of information on over a million UK renewable installations on the MCS database with a range of other official economic and demographic sources and rb&m’s own measurement of the carbon savings achieved so far to paint a picture of the roll-out of small scale renewables since 2007. Our work identified renewable energy ‘forests’ and ‘deserts’ across England, Scotland and Wales and examined the policy context at national and sub-national level that has influenced the pattern of growth.

The report reveals the dramatic changes in the market for low carbon technologies over the past 14 years and points to the long-term policy framework needed for  the sector to flourish.