Home Energy Scotland Reviews 

If you read all the reviews here, you will notice that all the good reviews come from people who only received advice. Any one who has tried to get a grant or a loan has left a poor review. What does this tell you. I first applied for a grant a year past January. I'm still trying to get it paid having forked or nearly £13000. Now I'm missing bills and payments as I've no money left. Like the people on here have already stated, if your thinking about applying, don't. It's not worth the heartache and misery. 37% of reviews are 1 star.... Would you let a tradesman with shoes/reviews like that work on your house? I imagine there's no money left to pay these grants what with the Snp embezzling it all. Lastly... Every time you talk to someone on the phone. They always ask you how you would like to be referred to, what they are getting at is all this he/she them they, trans nonsense. Mr or Mrs/Ms is all that's needed followed by your surname. That's how it works. Trust pilot asked me to amend my post because of inappropriate language,.. India delta India oscar tango sierra is what I typed. Most people don't feel that inappropriate. The world has gone to pot.

I've interacted with Home Energy Scotland a few times to find out about available grants and loans regarding ASHPs and Solar Installations.
I've always found them supportive, enthusiastic and keen to promote their services.
I have no hesitation in giving them 5 stars for their very necessary services.

I am satisfied with the services of Home Energy Scotland because I received prompt, highly qualified, theoretical and practical assistance. In fact, I was delighted to receive help from Home Energy Scotland.

I responded to an initial e-mail and received a prompt reply, and necessary links to complete initial report, and was then quickly moved on to full submission for grant/loan for battery support for our solar and ASHP set up. Portal easy to use.

I think that this service is a great thing people trying their best to help disabled people like me the lady l spoke to was so nice she went to great lengths to explain everything to me and is sending me energy saving items that l can use in my home.

I sent in my application for the ashp grant as we had completed the project, got a contact some four weeks later to tell me everything had to go through the new portal.
Did all that but the portal access is poor, doesn’t recognise your password and when you reset there’s no answer, three times I have requested to renew, no reply.
Contacted services delivery who were not helpful.
You guys need to get your comms sorted.
John Millar.

Excellent support, advice and service. Thank you so much.

From the start of the first conversation I had with HES to the report I received after my home visit I have been provided with all the information that I needed to get my home warmer and dryer. I have the tools to continue to make changes for the better for my house and the planet and I would recommend giving them a call you won’t regret it. Tracey

I have always found that the advice given by Home Energy Scotland to be relevant and worthy of consideration. Unfortunately, I don't think that enough people take advantage of this service.

Despite never having had any relationship with this company they, and their sister companies, continue to spam me twice a day with illegal mail.

Company also refused a GDPR request to let me know where they obtained my email from and where I consented to receive these emails. Reported to ICO.

'Glen' is being disingenuous here and refusing to adhere to GDPR legislation. By law they must disclose where my address came from. They have not. Removing my email does not make them compliant.

It has been incredibly helpful to have detailed visit to our property, and recive a report to outline options for helping to make our house more energy efficient. The tailored advice is both practical and sensitive to our house which is an older property.

had an exceptional experience on contacting HES, with a lady called Mhairi who reinforced my faith in human nature with her, kindness, patience and professionalism, sound advice and sending me a copy of our discussion and a list of other associated areas of help for me to access, after speaking with Mhairi i felt so reassured and greatly appreciated the time she spent with me to alleviate my concerns

Home Energy Scotland proide in depth telephone sessions with an advisor. This provided time to explore the different home energy options available to me. The advisor was good at giving a price context and possible savings and being mindful of my budget. We spoke at a time convenient to me and it was very helpful having the opporutnity to have time to discuss all options specific to the property.

The agent I spoke to was very knowledgeable and gave me precise information on what grants may be available in my circumstances.

I'm a landlord who is attempting to improve EPC. I have called with regards to 4 different properties to ask for advice on how to improve my EPC rating so I can continue to offer rental properties. Each time I have called I have been left with more questions than answers. On one occasion I was advised to take out storage heaters and put in a gas boiler - I was astonished given that the government want us to move away from gas. They are unable to say if I attempt to make an improvement in my property by doing "X" whether it will improve my EPC. They will tell you to go to a company that does EPC - those companies that are also inadequate at completing an EPC (I've seen many EPC's from many companies and the vast majority of them are wrong in some way so those companies are also not trustworthy). Given that Home Energy Scotland are funded by the Scottish Government and managed by Energy Saving Trust I would like to think they are there to give unbiased advice (unlike the private EPC companies) but the reality is they don't give valuable advice to landlords about EPC. I asked a lot of questions in attempt to get answers but Home Energy Scotland were unable to answer. They have little knowledge of the practical reality of EPC. The last time I called they seemed more interested in giving me a loan. Has this service become a selling point to make money on loans? I never mentioned I wanted a loan, far from it. If I needed money I would take out an interest free credit card, not a loan which would cost me money. I'm not pointing my finger at the people on the phone line - it's not their fault they are inadequately trained. I'm pointing my finger at the legislation and the whole EPC system from government, to Home Energy Scotland, to private companies to landlords. It's disjointed and given that I see Home Energy Scotland as a link up between government legislation and landlords it fails with them.

Can't complete the dates on the app. Am I stupid or am missing something. So NOT user friendly

They are utterly incompetent.
The response time is appalling, and the amount of incorrect information we have received is astonishing.
Most of the call centre employees are talking out of their backside, so little information has been correct and this has caused delay after delay after delay after delay.
We submitted the application in the beginning of January and we STILL have not been able to sort the issues. We cannot talk to our case handler and even the management team takes weeks to respond and promised call-backs are non-existent. All we get are call centre staff who has little to no clue.
I am very close to just cancelling the whole process, it's not worth the stress and effort it takes.
If you think of going ahead. Just don't.

They were extremely helpful in every way.

I wanted to know if switching to Heat Pump would be a good choice, after speaking to Home Energy Scotland, it was clear that even with all the potential grants, I would still have to pay many thousands of pounds and probably replace all my radiators which would cost an additional £6,000. Also I would need replace my gas cooker as I would remove the gas supply to get rid of the standing charge, which would cost an additional £2,000, and fit an electric shower which would cost a further £800.
I have also carried out extensive research and it is clear that the running costs of Heat Pump are significantly more than my Combi Gas Boiler I estimate these to be £370 extra per year based on the latest energy price cap for April to June 2024.
I believe that the Scottish Governent, which are currently encouraging customers to switch to a Heat Pump, are significantly misleading customers as to the true cost of both installing and running a Heat Pump.

DONT FIT A HEAT PUMP

We’re moving to a new home. A happy time, you’d think?

Not if Home Energy Scotland has anything to do with it.

For a government funded organisation Home Energy Scotland has to be the very worst that it has been my misfortune to be involved with.

As our new property is all-electric, we decided to investigate whether or not Home Energy Scotland could perhaps provide a loan, or grant, allowing us to upgrade storage heaters – among other things - as one of us is legitimately classed as a vulnerable adult and requires a constant temperature throughout the house.

However, our attempt to submit an application merely identified a systemic carbuncle of incompetents.

Some edited highlights…

• Responses took longer than the requisite response times.
• Responses were often obvious cut and paste - without context and gave an overall sense of disinterest.
• Responses contained references and suggestions to completely unrelated matters.
• Staff seemed entirely unclear on one specific aspect of the proposed application.
• Staff wholly unclear on the use of definitive language and when asked for clarity they provided even more ambiguity. The application used the term ’must’ in regard to part of the application. I was unsure how ‘must’ applied to me in our circumstances and was frustrated to be informed “generally speaking”, “possibility” and that there were caveats – but no clarity on what the caveats might be?
• Staff incapable of answering a direct question about one specific issue that was essential to the grant/loan submission.
• Staff repeatedly seemed to suggest that my issue was the responsibility of another department – while continuing to respond to me(?). The other department did not agree and re-referred me back to HES.
• Staff claimed my issue could be resolved by obtaining a letterhead from a company HES themselves referred me to. The company stated that it could not do as HES had supposed and that even if it did, I would still not meet the criteria for application. When I raised this with HES – no response.

Eventually, an alleged ‘Lead’ member of staff contacted me. The response was amateurish: dates were wrong, she made inappropriate assumptions and the cherry on the cake was when she dismissed me as the complainant – all without providing me with any information that relates to a complaint’s procedure. A fool masquerading as a clown.

I get the sense that Home Energy Scotland is a creche run and attended by unruly, disinterested individuals. As a tax payer I’d like to see the organisation completely re-developed with a significant package of staff training. Based on my experience I do think it better if some staff were let go/sacked. If two 'alleged' senior members of staff are unable to answer direct questions in regard to their positions and the application process I'd question their qualifications in addition to their experience and ability. Harsh, perhaps, but as they seemingly provide such a consistently shoddy service at all levels – why should the tax payer be burdened?

We fully appreciate that our application submission, for either grant or loan, may have been declined. What we hadn’t expected was to be actively obstructed from submitting an application at all. As matters stands we will endeavour to do as much of the work as we can from our own finances. While we are unsure if we can afford to do all that needs to be done we know for a fact that we cannot afford – in terms of health and constant delay – to pander to Home Energy Scotland’s incompetence any longer.

Everyone has their own experience. This was ours.

Should HES see this review I would ask it to make no attempt of hollow after care. Trustpilot can, of course, see any reference numbers or communications.

Update: Home Energy Scotland responds "We appreciate that you have contacted us previously to discuss this, however, if you wish to raise this complaint further, please can you email us at ... "

My response: Another fool masquerading as a clown. Home Energy Scotland has dismissed me as the complainant within my own complaint without ever providing me with any information relating to the complaint process. As our experience illustrates, and this reponse compounds, Home Energy Scotland has a consistent inability to read and understand any information presented to it.