Typing “solar panel installers near me” into Google will get you a lot of results. What it won’t tell you is which of those companies are actually qualified to do the work, and which ones are just running a nice looking website. In an industry that had its fair share of cowboy operators during the boom years, the accreditations a company holds are one of the few genuinely reliable ways to tell them apart.
This isn’t a list of nice-to-haves. Each of the accreditations below unlocks something specific, whether that’s your legal right to have the electrical work signed off, your eligibility for export payments, or a proper route to get your money back if something goes wrong. Here’s what to actually look for, and why each one matters.
MCS: the one that makes everything else work
MCS stands for the Microgeneration Certification Scheme. If you only check one thing before hiring a solar installer, check this.
MCS certifies two things at once. It certifies the products, meaning the panels, inverters and batteries have been independently tested and meet the required performance and safety standards. And it certifies the installer, meaning the company has qualified staff, follows a proper quality management process, and has been assessed by an independent, UKAS accredited certification body rather than just self declaring it’s good at the job.
Why it matters in practice: without an MCS certified installation, you cannot access the Smart Export Guarantee, the scheme that pays you for the electricity your panels export back to the grid. You also won’t be eligible for other current or future government backed incentives, since MCS certification is the baseline requirement almost all of them are built on. If your installer isn’t MCS certified, you’re not just missing a badge on their website, you’re potentially locking yourself out of hundreds of pounds a year in export income.
Spectra Solar is MCS accredited, and every member of our installation team is MCS trained, not just the company as a whole. That distinction matters more than people realise. A company can hold MCS certification at business level while still sending out installers who haven’t been through the same training. We don’t do that. Every person on your roof has been through it.
NAPIT: the difference between waiting on the council and getting it done
NAPIT is the National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers, and it’s what’s known as a Competent Person Scheme, or CPS.
Here’s the practical bit. Certain electrical work in England and Wales legally has to be reported as compliant with Building Regulations. Normally that means involving your local council’s Building Control department, which costs money and takes time. If your installer is NAPIT registered, they can self certify the work themselves. That’s the “big green tick” that says the job meets the legal standard, without you having to chase anyone else to confirm it.
It also tells you something about the people doing the work. NAPIT members have to prove they can carry out electrical work safely and to a legally required standard, and they’re required to carry proper insurance. Given that a solar installation involves running mains voltage DC cabling across your roof and into your consumer unit, this isn’t a box ticking exercise, it’s confirmation that the person up the ladder actually knows what they’re doing with live electrics.
Spectra Solar holds NAPIT CPS accreditation, so our installations are self certified as compliant as standard, with no extra admin or waiting on your end.
HIES: what happens if things don’t go to plan
HIES is a consumer protection scheme, approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, and it covers you in a way MCS and NAPIT don’t.
MCS and NAPIT are about the technical quality of the installation. HIES is about what happens afterwards if there’s a dispute, a warranty issue, or the unlikely event that an installer stops trading. It gives homeowners access to an independent complaints and redress process, and in some cases, protection for deposits or unfinished work if a company goes under partway through a job.
It’s easy to overlook this one because it doesn’t affect how well your panels perform. But solar installations are a significant spend, usually paid partly upfront, and the companies that bother with HIES membership are the ones willing to be held accountable after the invoice is settled, not just before it.
Spectra Solar is HIES accredited, which means you’re covered by an independent consumer protection framework for the lifetime of your agreement with us, not just left holding a warranty card and hoping for the best.
TrustMark: the government’s own quality mark
TrustMark is the only quality mark endorsed directly by the UK government for tradespeople working on people’s homes, and it covers far more than just solar.
To hold TrustMark, a firm has to be vetted against a set of government endorsed standards covering technical competence, customer service and trading practices, and that vetting is ongoing rather than a one off check. It’s also increasingly tied to eligibility for certain grant funded schemes, so if you’re hoping to combine your installation with a grant or local scheme in the future, working with a TrustMark registered firm keeps that door open.
Spectra Solar holds TrustMark registration alongside our other accreditations, which rounds out the picture. MCS and NAPIT confirm the technical work is done properly. HIES protects you afterwards. TrustMark confirms the wider business itself has been vetted by an independent, government backed scheme.
Why we mention all four, not just MCS
Most installers will tell you they’re MCS certified, because without it they can’t legally get you access to export payments, so it’s the bare minimum. Fewer will hold all four of MCS, NAPIT, HIES and TrustMark, because each one involves separate ongoing assessment, separate fees, and separate standards to maintain.
We hold all four, and we think that’s worth being upfront about rather than burying in the small print. It means the technical side of your installation is properly certified, the electrical work is signed off without extra admin, you’ve got somewhere to turn if there’s ever a dispute, and the business behind all of it has been vetted by a government endorsed scheme on top of the industry ones.
What to actually check before you hire anyone
If you’re comparing quotes from a few different companies, here’s a short, practical checklist rather than just taking a website’s word for it:
Ask for their MCS number and check it against the public MCS Installer Register yourself. It takes two minutes and confirms the certification is current, not lapsed.
Ask which Competent Person Scheme they’re registered under, NAPIT or the equivalent, and get it in writing that the work will be self certified rather than left for you to sort out with Building Control.
Ask whether they’re a member of a consumer protection scheme like HIES, and ask what happens under that scheme if there’s a dispute after installation.
Check whether they hold TrustMark registration, particularly if you think you might want to combine the work with any grant funded scheme down the line.
And finally, ask to see recent installations, not just photos on a website. Any properly accredited installer will have plenty they’re happy to show you or put you in touch with previous customers about.
Get a quote from an installer that holds all four
Spectra Solar is MCS, NAPIT, HIES and TrustMark accredited, and every installer on our team has been trained and certified to that standard, not just the company on paper. If you’d like a free, no obligation quote, get in touch and we’ll talk you through exactly what a system for your roof would involve, and we’re happy to show you our certification numbers before you even book anything in.