Fury as families hit by HELMS scandal

More than 290 homes across Paisley and Renfrewshire North had installations made by shamed green deal firm HELMS - more than any other constituency in Scotland.

Home Energy and Lifestyle Management Systems went into liquidation in 2016 after they were fined £200,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office for making more than six million nuisance sales calls. Since then, people throughout Scotland have complained that HELMS miss-sold them on the savings that they would make through having solar panels installed.

Affected households have been left with higher energy bills and not being able to sell their properties due to the fact that in some cases households were tied into a 25-year credit agreement with their energy suppliers – despite being told their solar panels were free.

Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP Gavin Newlands said it was "upsetting" that his constituency had been so badly affected by the scandal.

He said: “The discredited HELMS has forced thousands of people across Scotland into debt and instead of saving on their energy bill they are not paying substantially more.

“It is upsetting to find out that more households in Paisley and Renfrewshire North have been affected by this scandal than any other part of Scotland.

“However, that ’ s not too surprising as I’ve been contacted by a number of constituents who have expressed their anger at now being in debt and in a lot of cases not being able to sell their home, as the loans are tied to their properties.

“I will be reaching out to try and help all those who have been affected. Anyone who has been caught up should get in touch with my office and we’ll try to help.”