Lancashire residents are warned to avoid expensive maintenance contracts on previously installed solar panels, after a report that a retired lady with memory difficulties paid £20,000 for one of these cold-called contracts. Some traders in this field use persistent phone calls and red-print warning letters about overdue safety inspections to push consumers into getting possibly unnecessary and often overpriced work done. Consumers are advised to use MCS (Microgeneration Certification
Scheme) certified installers for any environmental power generation installations such as solar, wind, biomass, ground or heat pumps.