Installer Certification Benefits
By choosing to become Flexi-Orb Certified, you are demonstrating to your prospective customers that you have committed to adhering to Recognised Industry Standards, which can help provide trust and confidence in your competency to undertake their installations.
Plus, the protection your customers will have in place by way of an Insurance Backed Guarantee1 and Alternative Dispute Resolution2, should provide them with the added peace of mind they may need to turn them from a prospective customer, into a paying one.
Flexi-Orb certification is challenging to achieve, and we want you to join us in making sure that the industry and consumers are aware of that.
The marketing pack Flexi-Orb membership offers will allow you to evidence your Certified Installer status on your vehicles and within your marketing materials, thus strengthening your affiliation with Flexi-Orb and your commitment to complying with our Scheme requirements.
Key Installer Benefits
Technical Helpdesk
Available to installers and assessors alike, our technical helpdesk is manned by industry experts with decades of experience.
The support of our helpdesk helps avoid confusion or disagreement when assessments are being undertaken.
Customer Reviews
Knowing what your customers think and say about your business is vital in enabling you to make improvements to your service.
Every customer registered on the Flexible Energy Register will receive an email asking them to rate you in 4 key areas.
Customer Finance
Over the last few years, we’ve worked hard with major finance lenders to keep consumer lending for renewables in the marketplace.
This has enabled our EPVS members to access consumer lending facilities and grow their businesses.
Take your business to the next level
Technical Guidance
Technical Guidance
Flexi-Orb works in partnership with our Installers’ Certification Bodies to ensure an open and clear assessment environment that is designed to help support and develop an Installer’s operation, not just issue non-conformities.
An Assessor cannot provide direct help, advice, or consultation to assist in an assessment but our detailed guidance should help you fully prepare. We also have a technical support desk, manned by personnel who have decades of experience in assessment (with both Certification Bodies and with UKAS), available to both Certification Bodies and Installers, to assist in helping both meet the requirements of the Scheme.
To get in touch with our Technical Helpdesk please complete our technical help request form or call 0330 335 3382, where a member of our team will log the details of your query and arrange for a member of the technical support team to call you back.
Consumer Reviews
Knowing what your customers think and say about your business is vital in enabling you to make improvements to your service, and in a world where products are evolving it’s important to keep a solid customer base.
Once you have registered a completed installation, your customer will be sent an automatic email informing them of their registration and asking them to complete a short satisfaction survey, where we ask them to rate you in four key areas:
- Quality of Workmanship
- Punctuality & Reliability
- Customer Service
- Sales Process/Person
- Quality of Workmanship
- Punctuality & Reliability
- Customer Service
- Sales Process/Person
Customers also have the option of writing a review and/or uploading images of their installation.
Each time one of your customers leaves you a review you receive a notification and have the option to respond. Plus, all reviews are posted to our Certi-fi Review Centre to help consumers make an informed decision when choosing an installer.
Consumer Reviews
Knowing what your customers think and say about your business is vital in enabling you to make improvements to your service, and in a world where products are evolving it’s important to keep a solid customer base.
Once you have registered a completed installation, your customer will be sent an automatic email informing them of their registration and asking them to complete a short satisfaction survey, where we ask them to rate you in four key areas:
- Quality of Workmanship
- Punctuality & Reliability
- Customer Service
- Sales Process/Person
- Quality of Workmanship
- Punctuality & Reliability
- Customer Service
- Sales Process/Person
Customers also have the option of writing a review and/or uploading images of their installation.
In addition to the reviews being shown on our installer search to help consumers make an informed decision, with a simple copy and paste code, Flexi-Orb Certified installers can embed their customers’ reviews on their own websites too.
Installer FAQs
These are the questions we are most frequently asked by installers.
If your question isn’t listed, or you haven’t been able to find the information you were looking for, please click the button below to submit a new question.
Key Scheme Questions
What is Flexi-Orb?
Flexi-Orb is short for the Flexible Energy Oversight Registration Body – a trading style of Certi-fi Schemes Limited, who have been successfully running the Energy Performance Validation Scheme (EPVS) since 2016.
We’re the ‘Scheme Owners’ of a new renewables installation scheme, and we’re the first to be recognised by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to ISO/IEC 17067:2013. With the help of the industry, we’ve written and developed the Scheme to improve standards and consumer confidence, so that Installers can demonstrate to their customers that they meet the Scheme’s expectations.
What does the Scheme cover?
The initial scope covers the installation of Solar PV up to 50kW, Electrical Energy Storage Systems (EESS) up to 50kWh, and Electric Vehicle Charge Points (EVCP) up to 22kW.
Products installed must also meet our product standards policies. We are working to add heat pumps to the Scheme, whilst reviewing the potential to add other renewable energy systems where there’s an industry demand.
Why is the Scheme needed?
There has only ever been one comparable Scheme in the industry. It’s not that we think they haven’t done a great job, but we believe that Installers, and Consumers, should have a choice. Competition doesn’t just drive up standards – it affects relationships and pricing, and ultimately benefits the end-user.
Having just one Scheme Owner presents a risk to the industry and, as the country increases its move towards net zero, the demand for the safe installation, maintenance, and decommissioning of renewable systems will intensify – a second scheme will increase the capacity to support assessment and ongoing surveillance.
Certification Questions & Requirements
Do we have to be a member of a Consumer Code?
We fully support the CMA Good Practice Principles, and we’ve ensured that all Flexi-Orb Certified Installers are able to comply with these by meeting the Scheme recommendations.
We mandate that all our Certified Installers who undertake domestic installations are members of a Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) Approved Code,1 currently HIES or RECC2.
Our experience of operating the EPVS scheme has demonstrated that the value of the Codes in handling consumer issues, and including a ‘fit for purpose’ Insurance Backed Guarantee (IBG)3 is irreplaceable – particularly when Installers cease to trade.
Gaining and keeping CTSI approval is extremely challenging, and we believe that if we are to gain and retain consumer confidence in renewables, it’s vital that Installers work to the Code and that there is a tried and tested consumer support process in place for when things go wrong.
1 Installers who only carry out commercial installations only are not required to be a member of a Consumer Code.
2 Please be aware that while Flexi-Orb recognises RECC as such a Code, currently, their byelaws dictate that an installer must be MCS certified. We are working with them to revise this, however, installers are advised to check directly with RECC in writing before applying for Flexi-Orb certification with any of our Scheme Operators.
3 Providing an IBG for domestic PV and EESS installations is mandatory; for commercial and EVCP installations it is optional.
Can I stay with my current Competent Person Scheme (CPS), or do I need to change?
CPS and the Flexi-Orb Scheme are completely separate. We hold excellent relationships with the Competent Person Schemes and Flexi-Orb Certified Installers are free to remain with their current CPS or move to a new one of their choosing.
We will have an application programming interface (API) in place to stop duplication of input – in other words, once the registration on the Flexi-Orb portal is complete, your CPS registration is done automatically too.
Can I just pay my money and be certified?
No, as this is an accredited scheme you will need to undergo an assessment to demonstrate that you can meet the competence requirements of the Scheme in both the management of your business, and the installation of the technologies to the IET Codes of Practice.
You will need to apply to one of the Scheme Operators who have been accredited by UKAS to deliver the Scheme on behalf of the Scheme Owner – Flexi-Orb.
Once your application has been accepted you will undergo an office and on-site assessment to determine that you meet the requirements of the Flexi-Orb Installation Scheme. Once you have met the criteria you will be certified as a Flexi-Orb Installer and will be able to begin installing the renewable energy systems you have applied and been certified for.
Who will operate the Scheme and carry out the Assessments?
What help or advice can you give Installers with the office assessment?
Actually none! Like Certification Bodies, we’re not allowed to give advice or consultancy – so we can’t directly advise how you can be successful in your office assessment. What we can do, is give you a really clear template which shows the specific areas that you will be assessed on. And we’ve been working closely with GreenPro, who are experts in creating software and consultancy services, to fully support your certification requirements.
Can you explain the value of your Head Office assessments?
The Head Office assessments are aligned with standards that are recognised as best practice in enabling the installer company to drive down risk and improve operational performance. By achieving the Flexi-Orb standard in both the on-site and Head Office assessments not only are you delivering the highest technical quality of installation, but you will be future-proofing your business by driving sustainable business improvements.
Why is the assessment process more expensive?
It will be more expensive to join the Scheme, but this is not just because of the increased assessment activity and ongoing surveillance.
There are higher costs in providing a higher quality of assessment to enable the certification of installers to the scheme. However, the higher quality of the scheme will result in the overall quality of installations being improved thus enabling installers to promote themselves in the marketplace. This will lead to an increased number of installs per year and with the cost of installation certification being reduced compared to other schemes result in a cost saving to the installer over the year. The robustness of the assessment in the first instance will enable this.
One of the issues the industry has is a lack of assessors, often leading to longer waiting times for companies who want to become certified. Increased application fees paid by installers will help attract quality assessment engineers into the industry, easing a bottleneck that will only get worse as the country’s renewables ambition grows. We also want our Certification Bodies to use more of the application fee to fully support the operation of the Scheme ongoing – particularly in looking after consumer enquiries so that confidence in the market is improved.
Application and certification fees are set by the Certification Bodies and will vary between organisations. As an example, a head office assessment and on-site assessment for two technologies would cost in the region of £1900 to £2200. Further details on each Certification Body’s fees, along with the application criteria can be found by clicking the links below:
Can I talk to you about technical issues?
Yes. We’ve invested in employing highly competent engineers from both the electrical and the heating sides of renewables. Again, we’re not allowed to give advice or consultation, but we can clarify areas of the Scheme and have a straightforward, common-sense conversation with you, whatever part of the industry you’re from.
Again, the assessment template is made available to all applicants, so the process will be very clear and transparent. So whether you’re an Installer, Certification Body, or a Consumer, we think that this will bring consistency and confidence to the renewables market.
Further Questions...
Won’t it be confusing to have two Schemes?
So, are the two Schemes the same?
No, although certification protocols under regular assessment by UKAS means that we must work within a very strict framework, we will seek to differentiate ourselves in terms of client relationships, reaction to industry demands and innovation, technical support, consumer interaction, customer service, and pricing. As well as this, there are also some clear strategic differences.
For example, a fundamental part of our Scheme is the office assessment of the Installer’s Management System. In fact, this is likely to be a full day’s assessment, and undertaken by a management system specialist. Consequently, this allows specialist technical assessors to concentrate on the site visit, meaning that they can take more time to undertake a detailed, fair, and consistent assessment.
What about Registration Fees?
Will you be contacting every customer?
Our beta testing included sending the Flexi-Orb registration certificate to every consumer registered. This gave us the opportunity to ask for an installation review, and we collected over 11,000 of these. It also gave consumers a point of contact directly with us, and many took advantage of this. In addition, we also make outbound calls to check on customer satisfaction. We’ve found that these are a great way to re-confirm the Installer’s commitment to maintaining excellence, and feedback all data that we collect with full transparency.
Contact with consumers is also a key mechanism for removing poor installers, so that the integrity of the Scheme is protected for the benefit of good Installers.
What will you be doing with the customer reviews?
Why have you built a Scheme for EVCPs?
Whilst building the Scheme, we received input from Installers that they would want to see this area of the industry assessed so that they could evidence their installations were of the highest quality. Previous independent audits have shown some concerning installation problems which could lead to a lack of confidence in the market should they be publicised – particularly as the EV market increases over the coming years.
Flexi-Orb is the first accredited Certification Scheme for the Installation of Electric Vehicle Charge Points, therefore this Scheme supports Installers who want to evidence to consumers, and the wider industry, that their installations are assessed to the highest standard.
Are you a Charity?
No. We’re a private, commercial organisation. Our low registration fees reflect our commitment to being fair to the industry, whilst being able to reinvest in the development of the Scheme for the benefit of all industry stakeholders.
That said, we have committed to supporting charitable concerns by donating 1% of our annual profit to relevant charities. We’ve already started this, and our initial charity partner is Georgia’s Children who will specifically partner with COWEP, focussing on taking street children out of cobalt mines and into education – a cause that is very pertinent to our industry.
