HELMS DEBATE

I was delighted to participate in a debate on the company called Home Energy Lifestyle Management Systems (HELMS) which is at the centre of a mis-selling scandal of energy efficient products backed by the UK Government’s Green Deal programme which as affected many of my constituents as well as thousands of people across Scotland.

Those who are caught up in this scandal find they are unable to sell their homes, have not made the savings on their energy bills this deal promised them they would make, indeed some have been left with even higher bills than before they signed up to the scheme; work carried out on their homes has been substandard, building warrants for wall cladding has not been obtained with retrospective building warrants costing 300% of the cost of a normal building warrant along with numerous other problems caused.

Too many have been left with monthly repayments for finance deals with extensive payback periods in excess of 20 years.

The UK Government must ensure that these consumers who have been swindled – and they undoubtedly have been swindled – are fully compensated by the UK Government since this was a UK Government backed scheme. That is what I called for in this debate. Please click below to hear my speech: