ACM issues call: report misleading commercial practices and other consumer problems regarding home insulation to ACM
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) calls on homeowners that wish to add insulation to their homes and have been harmed by misleading practices, inadequate provision of information, or problems regarding warranties (including statutory warranties) to report this to ACM’s consumer information portal ACM ConsuWijzer. ACM receives few reports about these kinds of problems, but suspects that people do experience such problems.
Edwin van Houten, Director of ACM’s Consumer Department, adds: “It obviously looks great on paper that we receive few complaints about home-insulation companies. At the same time, however, we also have indications that there are companies out there that do not play by the rules. Consumers that are harmed by such companies are apparently still unfamiliar with ACM. That is why we are issuing this call.”
Consumers are able to save a lot of money on their energy bills if they add insulation to their homes. In addition, adding insulation (or additional insulation) is often the first required step in the process of making homes more sustainable. Homes must be insulated well before residents are, for example, able to switch to a heat pump or to a low-temperature district-heating network.
In its publication “Home insulation and consumers” (in Dutch: ‘Woningisolatie en de consument’), ACM has analyzed the problems that can occur when adding insulation to homes. In addition, ACM has created an overview of the rules with which home-insulation companies need to comply. One of the problems that consumers could encounter is misleading practices. In 2020, for example, ACM took action against a home-insulation company because it claimed that cavity-wall insulation could save consumers 30 to 50 percent on their energy bills. However, consumers that hired that company for cavity-wall insulation saved no more than 30% on their energy bills. That is why ACM had requested that firm to adjust the information on its website.
More information
- ACM publication “Home insulation and consumers” (in Dutch)
- Contact ACM Consuwijzer (in Dutch)