Two ‘misleading' heat pump adverts banned by UK watchdog
A week after the Advertising Standards Authority banned an Octopus Energy ad that claimed consumers could have a heat pump installed for as little as £500, it has taken action against adverts from the home heating supplier Aira and from EDF Energy.
The ASA found that the two ads, which appeared online, omitted key information about the eligibility criteria for government funding available for installing the pumps.
The government's boiler upgrade scheme for England and Wales provides grants of £7,500 to householders who switch from gas boilers to heat pumps. A similar programme, the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan scheme, runs in Scotland.
The UK government has a target of 600,000 heat pump installations annually by 2028, but there have been claims that the current take-up is too low. The Resolution Foundation thinktank said in April that 'the rollout of heat pumps is slow, with fewer than 100,000 fitted into British homes in 2024'.
An ad on a Meta platform for Aira, seen in March, said: 'Ditch your gas boiler for an Aira heat pump today … £7,500 grant available.' EDF's Google advert in February said: 'Get a £7,500 grant – EDF air source heat pumps.'
The ads were identified for investigation by an ASA system that uses artificial intelligence to check ads in specific sectors.
The watchdog said of both promotions that 'the ad gave the impression consumers would be automatically eligible to receive a government grant of £7,500, and it did not make clear the government funding for a heat pump was subject to eligibility'.
It added: 'We considered that was material information that should have been included. Because the ad omitted material information, we concluded it was likely to mislead.'
The ASA said there were a number of eligibility criteria that consumers needed to satisfy in order to qualify for funding for a heat pump, and that these differed between the two official schemes.
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Aira told the ASA that the ad was targeted only at homeowners in England and Scotland, where £7,500 grants were available. The company said it did not believe a consumer would interpret the ad as meaning that the grants were given automatically and without conditions.
EDF told the watchdog that its ad linked through to one of three pages, where all relevant information about the government funding's eligibility criteria was made clear. It argued that consumers would understand that by clicking on the ad they would land on a page that would explain what they needed to do to get a £7,500 grant.
In response to the ban, Chris Collinson, Aira's UK chief executive, said: 'We are committed to providing complete transparency around the eligibility criteria and material information surrounding the availability of government grants for heat pumps in the UK, and to compliance with industry codes of conduct. Aira has taken immediate steps to address the points raised in ASA's ruling.'
EDF said that 'neither the ASA [n]or ourselves received any complaints about the advert; however, we accept their ruling as we are fully aligned to their objective of improving the clarity of customer communications'. The spokesperson said it had already updated its marketing information, 'and would have done so if requested, as we take a collaborative approach. We have encouraged the ASA to reach out informally should they have any concerns in the future.'
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