Accreditation, Monopoly, and the Future of Retrofit
For most homeowners, the world of certification schemes is invisible. Yet these systems dictate who gets to install their heat pump, how much support a household can claim, and whether retrofit can scale at the pace the UK needs. At the heart of the debate is the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) long the gatekeeper for renewable technologies.
Now, with the emergence of challenger schemes like Flexi-Orb, the industry faces a stark question: will government policy foster competition and innovation, or entrench a monopoly that risks regulatory capture?
Mark Nelson, technical director at Flexi-Orb, has spent four decades inside this system, first as an installer, then assessor, later within UKAS, and now as a challenger scheme owner. His testimony paints a picture of an industry at risk of closing ranks just as demand for retrofit reaches new urgency.
This feature draws on an extended interview with Mark to unpack the stakes of the current consultation, the potential consequences for installers and consumers, and the deeper issue of whether regulatory capture is about to lock down the retrofit marketplace.
The Journey: From Apprentice to Challenger
Mark Nelson began his career in 1981 as an apprentice with the electricity board. Over decades he worked across electrical engineering, joined NAPIT as one of its first assessors, and later became its technical standards manager. He even crossed the fence to UKAS, the UK’s accreditation body, where he learned “how the system works from the inside.”
That perspective has made him uniquely positioned to challenge MCS. In 2023, Mark joined Flexi-Orb with the mission to create a parallel scheme - fully accredited, ISO-compliant, and designed with installers and customers in mind. The aim: not to replace MCS, but to provide genuine choice and raise standards through competition.
Yet as the government prepares to decide whether only MCS will be recognised for schemes such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), Mark warns that an existential threat looms for Flexi-Orb and for the principle of fair accreditation itself.
Regulatory Capture and the Risk of Monopoly
At the heart of Mark’s concern is the potential monopolisation of accreditation. If government decides that only MCS can qualify installers for heat pump grants, rival schemes will be locked out, regardless of whether they meet the same accreditation standards.
“They [MCS] are creating a monopoly but what they're also saying is they don't care about accreditation. It doesn't matter… they're actually going against their own memorandum of understanding with government.” – Mark Nelson
This isn’t simply a matter of market share. It challenges the very principle of accreditation: that schemes assessed and recognised by UKAS are equal. To exclude Flexi-Orb undermines UKAS’s authority, and by extension, the credibility of accreditation across sectors.
The Customer’s Voice: Complaints and Quality
Mark argues that one of the key failings of MCS has been in handling complaints and ensuring customer protection. Installers, he says, have been “pushed from pillar to post,” with little accountability or responsiveness.
Flexi-Orb’s design, by contrast, aims to embed rigorous complaint handling and ensure competence from the outset. Its ethos is direct engagement: assessors with on-the-ground experience, available for phone calls, willing to provide technical support, not just tick boxes once a year.
The Flexi-Orb Website
Technical Standards: ISO 17067 and Beyond
A major point of difference lies in Flexi-Orb’s adoption of ISO 17067, a standard that MCS’s first version never aligned with. Mark credits his UKAS training with enabling Flexi-Orb to design a scheme “properly from the start.”
While MCS has been working on its “version two,” Flexi-Orb already meets the benchmark. Mark frames this not as a superiority contest, but as evidence that multiple schemes can exist on equal footing, provided government policy allows it.
Installer Frustration and Appetite for Change
At industry shows, Mark reports overwhelming support from installers frustrated with MCS’s bureaucracy. He describes queues of people eager to join Flexi-Orb, seeing it as an opportunity to raise standards while regaining agency.
The question is whether government will listen to these voices, or remain swayed by the incumbents.
Funding and Independence
Unlike industry-backed reports or association-funded initiatives, Flexi-Orb is privately funded, supported by entrepreneurship groups and its own sister company EPVS. Mark stresses this independence as proof that Flexi-Orb isn’t beholden to vested interests, only to installers and customers.
The Consultation: A Tipping Point
The live consultation will determine whether the Boiler Upgrade Scheme recognises “MCS or equivalent” (as statutory instruments suggest) or MCS alone. For Mark, the stakes could not be clearer:
“If the consultation goes against us, yeah, it will cause us an issue… we can't access the BUS grant for those homeowners to help the government get its 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028. It's going to fall short.” – Mark Nelson
Competence at the Top
A recurring theme is competence. Flexi-Orb’s leadership team, Mark argues, have all “had their hands dirty” as installers, assessors, or technical educators. By contrast, he questions whether senior staff at MCS have genuine renewable backgrounds, raising doubts about their ability to design and oversee schemes that truly reflect industry needs.
The Bigger Picture: Climate, Consumers, and Trust
The debate over scheme recognition is not just technical. It ties directly to climate targets, public trust, and the credibility of retrofit. If consumers feel schemes are monopolised, complaints mishandled, or installations underperforming, public confidence in retrofit risks collapse.
Or as Mark puts it:
“The answer is simple. Do you want to save the world or don't you? Now, we can only save it one heat pump at a time, but if we're going to put a heat pump in, let's make sure it performs well.” – Mark Nelson
Fear and Resistance from Incumbents
Mark is candid in his belief that MCS’s sudden moves to tighten control were triggered by Flexi-Orb’s emergence. For him, the defensive posture signals fear of competition rather than confidence in quality.
“We want MCS to remain in the marketplace because there needs to be an alternative. But what we really want is the chance to give the installers and the consumers a choice… I honestly think that they're scared of us.” – Mark Nelson
What’s at Stake for Retrofit
The consultation decision will reverberate far beyond Flexi-Orb or MCS. It will set a precedent for whether accreditation in UK retrofit is open, competitive, and accountable - or monopolised, risking regulatory capture.
If competition is shut down, the industry risks stagnation, installer disillusionment, and consumer mistrust. If choice is preserved, schemes like Flexi-Orb can drive innovation, raise standards, and ensure government targets for heat pump rollout are achievable.
The question now is whether policymakers will heed the principle of “MCS or equivalent” and allow the marketplace to decide - or tilt the scales toward monopoly. For the future of retrofit, and for the credibility of accreditation itself, the stakes could not be higher.
We have contacted MCS for a reply to this article.