What is the ECO 4 Scheme?
What is Eco4 Funding
The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) is a government energy-efficiency scheme in Great Britain, designed to tackle fuel poverty and help reduce carbon emissions. ECO is an obligation placed on energy companies to deliver energy efficiency measures to domestic premises. ECO is not a grant scheme; it is up to the energy companies to determine which they choose to fund, the level of funding they provide, and the Retrofit Coordinator and installers that they choose to work with.
ECO4 measures were able to be delivered from the 1 April 2022. The ECO4 scheme will run until 31 March 2026.
ECO4 focusses on improving the least energy efficient homes and households in fuel poverty, as only properties in bands D-G can be treated. It also aims to deliver a more complete upgrade of those homes, shifting to a multi-measure whole-house retrofit approach. Furthermore, a minimum number of private tenure homes in energy efficiency rating band E, F and G must be upgraded throughout ECO4, ensuring the least efficient homes are treated.
There is a new Minimum Requirement (MR) to improve the energy efficiency rating of band D and E homes to at least a band C and band F and G homes to at least a band D. ECO4 aims to encourage the installation of various energy efficient measures such as insulation measures, first time central heating, renewable heating, and district heating connections.
Am i eligible for ECO 4 Funding?
ECO eligibility is assessed using a combination of householder criteria and house makeup. Information on how the house makeup eligibility is determined can be found below. The householder eligibility criteria are assessed using three separate pathways:
- Receipt of eligible benefits of the Help to Heat Group
You will be eligible for ECO4 if you are living at private domestic premises and are a member of the Help to Heat Group (HTHG). Membership of the HTHG entails receipt of at least one of the following benefits and satisfaction of the relevant income requirements:
1) Income based Jobseekers Allowance (JSA),
2) Income related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA),
3) Income Support (IS),
4) Pension Credit Guarantee Credit (PCGC),
5) Working Tax Credit (WTC),
6) Child Tax Credit (CTC),
7) Universal Credit (UC),
8) Housing Benefit,
9) Pension Credit Savings Credit (PCSC),
10) Child Benefit, (within the income caps)
Additionally, a person living at private domestic premises is an eligible member of the HTHG if the person is in receipt of the Core Group 1 and Core Group 2 rebate in England and Wales, or the Core Group in Scotland, for each respective scheme year under the Warm Home Discount scheme.
Households with disabilities would be eligible only where they are in receipt of a means tested benefit or found eligible under one of the four routes outlined in the eligibility mechanism ‘ECO4 Flex’. Further information on ECO4 Flex can be found in ECO4 LA Flex Funding.
- Living in social housing with poor energy efficiency.
Measures under ECO4 can be delivered to social housing with an EPC energy efficiency rating of D, E, F, and G, where the premises are let below the market rate.
Delivery of measures to SAP band E-G rated social housing premises is limited to the following measures:
a) Insulation measures
b) First time central heating
c) Renewable heating except where it replaces a renewable heating measure of the same kind at the domestic premises
d) District heating connection
e) Innovation measures (IMs).
Delivery to EPC band D rated social housing is limited to IMs and insulation measures installed to meet the Minimum Insulation Requirements only. Band D social housing are also required to meet the Minimum Requirements; however, they are not eligible to receive other measures.
- Eligibility under ECO4 Flex
Under ECO4 Flex, local authorities (LAs), the Scottish and Welsh Governments, and suppliers can identify households that meet certain legislated eligibility requirements. LAs will use the four routes listed under ECO4 Flex to identify eligible households. Further information on each of these routes can be found in the ECO4 LA Flex. The Local Authority will contact you should you meet the eligible criteria and can refer you for the scheme.
You may wish to contact your LA for more information, or to find out if you meet the eligible criteria.
Note that meeting the eligibility for an ECO4 measure will not guarantee that it will be installed. It is up to the energy companies to determine which retrofit projects they choose to fund, the level of funding they provide and the Retrofit Coordinator and installers they choose to work with. We encourage that you speak to your energy supplier, should you have any queries about your eligibility and the retrofit process for the delivery of measures under ECO4.