The UK ECO4 Flex scheme, also known as ECO4 Flexible Route 4 Bespoke Targeting, is part of the Energy Company (ECO) Obligations scheme in the UK. The ECO4 Flex program allows energy suppliers to meet up to 50% of their obligations through specific pathways.
The four different routes in the ECO4 Flex are:
Route 1 Household Income Limit:
Target low-income households based on income criteria.
Route 2 multi-proxy targeting:
Target households based on various proxy metrics such as property characteristics, location, and household composition.
Route 3 NHS Reference:
Involves working with the National Health Service (NHS) to identify households in need of energy-saving measures.
Route 4 Households with suitable targeting:
Enables suppliers, local authorities and decentralized regulators to identify and recommend energy savings measures for low-income and vulnerable households using alternative methods separate from the existing ECO4 eligibility criteria.
The purpose of Route 4 Required Targeting is to encourage targeting of lower income households. Proposals under this roadmap must demonstrate how low-income and vulnerable households will be identified using a separate methodology.
The proposed methodology should illustrate how households are identified, estimate fuel poverty rates and highlight the benefits of using the proposed mechanism.
To encourage participation, projects approved by the BEIS (Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) board will receive a 10% increase upon project completion if all criteria are met. . The BEIS Panel evaluates applications based on exceeding the energy poverty target and meeting the requirements of Roadmap 4.
The applicant must provide the number of households identified as fuel poor using existing ECO4 qualifying methods for comparison with the proposed new method, as well as the data sources used to identify households.
It is important to note that the UK ECO4 Flex scheme is separate from the ECO LA Flex scheme, which expands eligibility to low-income households through flexible criteria set out by set by local authorities.