Publications
If you require any of our publications in Braille, large print or on audio CD please contact us.
Filling the gaps – Accuracy of Green Deal advice for cavity-walled homes
13 January 2012
Consumer Focus is asking Government to take swift action to make changes to the way energy efficiency assessments treats cavity wall insulation. Consumer Focus has found that RdSAP, the Government’s energy efficiency assessment method, will never recommend cavity wall insulation for homes built after 1983, despite up to 2.3 million homes being built after this date with clear, unfilled cavity walls.
Help us to make a difference in 2012/13
20 December 2011
We are asking our stakeholders what we should be doing on behalf of consumers in 2012/13. Consumer Focus Scotland and Consumer Focus Wales will be consulting on Scotland and Wales specific work areas. Consumer Focus works with a large number of stakeholders including other consumer bodies, campaigning charities, industry, regulators, governments, and the European Commission. [...]
Keeping FiT – Consumers’ attitudes and experiences of microgeneration
12 December 2011
The type of consumers who have installed renewable technologies, and the obstacles to installation, show that there is still a significant way to go to make microgeneration accessible to all. But most consumers with installed systems have had a positive experience, which is encouraging others to invest. This report brings together complementary consumer research by [...]
Devon knows – Long-term impacts and lessons from the Post Office Closure Programme
7 December 2011
In May 2007, the Government embarked on the Network Change, or Post Office Closure Programme, which resulted in Post Office Ltd (POL) closing nearly 2,500 post offices, including 500 branches, which were replaced with Outreach services. The Post Office Closure Programme was necessary to help get the Post Office network on a more stable footing [...]
Guaranteed Standards of electricity distribution
6 December 2011
This report reviews the guaranteed standards of performance for electricity distributors. The regulations were put in place by Ofgem, the energy regulator. The report shows the number of payments made by Distribution Network Operators against the Guaranteed Standards.
Through consumers’ eyes – Meeting tomorrow’s challenges
1 December 2011
Strong consumer representation is a successful ingredient of a flourishing economy and healthy society. Whatever the shape of the future consumer landscape, we hope that consumer representation is at least as strong and effective as it is today.
Learning the copyright lessons – copyright licensing schemes in the UK education sector
1 December 2011
In order to stimulate the ongoing debate on how to update copyright licensing, Consumer Focus and the National Education Network (NEN) are publishing this report on copyright licensing schemes in the educational sector.
Scaling the solid wall
22 November 2011
Consumer Focus is committed to helping the Government meet its statutory targets to eliminate fuel poverty by 2016 and set its first carbon budget by 2020. We believe the new Energy Company Obligation (ECO) can potentially play an important role in meeting both fuel poverty and carbon targets. A well-designed ECO that focuses initially on [...]
The Hills fuel poverty review proposal for a new definition of fuel poverty: an analysis
22 November 2011
The Hills fuel poverty review interim report proposes a new definition of fuel poverty, termed the ‘low income/high costs’ definition[1]. The proposal represents a radical departure from the current definition of fuel poverty, namely households that need to spend 10 per cent or more of their income on fuel to maintain adequate temperatures in the home and meet other energy needs.
Getting to grips with smart displays – Research review
7 November 2011
The Government has said it would consider how best to ensure that, when providing customers with In-Home Displays (IHDs), suppliers meet consumers’ accessibility requirements in order to support customers to reduce their energy consumption in both the short and longer term. With this in mind Consumer Focus commissioned Ricability, a specialist consumer research organisation to review relevant reports, guidelines and published papers in order to shed light on factors that can affect usability of IHDs.
