What is the Government ECO Scheme?

ECO stands for Energy Company Obligation and it requires that all of the larger Energy Companies contribute towards the scheme. Efficiency is a key part of the Government’s policies for reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The Government aims to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions by at least 38% by 2020 and a minimum of 80% by 2050.

They hope to achieve this by contracting 'Funders' under the ECO Scheme who, in turn, contract companies such as ourselves to help domestic properties with energy efficient insulation and heating measures. The ECO Schemes objective is to assist in reducing carbon emissions, maintaining security of energy supply and reducing fuel poverty. Fuel poverty is when a household is spending 10% or more of their income on heating their home to an acceptable level.

Before the ECO Scheme qualifying rules were changed in April 2017, successful applicants were required to be on a qualifying State Benefit or be on Tax Credits. This was so they could get free cavity wall insulation, free loft insulation or any other free insulation. Fortunately, this has now changed in most areas throughout Britain. Sub Schemes were introduced to make free funding available to more UK Households. This includes HHCRO Funding, which still needs someone in the household to be on a qualifying State Benefit or Tax credits and LA Flex Funding, which does not necessarily require any Benefits or Tax Credits.

LA Flex stands for Local Authority Flexible Funding and is an extension of the ECO Scheme but the qualifying criteria are set out by Local Authorities/Councils in their Statements of Intent. The LA Flex Statement of Intent can usually be found on your Local Authorities website. The criteria are different with each Local Authority but the idea is to increase the number of households that are eligible for Insulation and/or Heating grants. This essentially just means more people can get their houses insulated or heating upgraded for free.

We hope this helps. There is a lot of information also available on the OFGEM and Government websites.

All grants fall under the ECO 3 Scheme and OFGEM is the overall ECO administrator. Here is a link to a bit more information on this.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/eco/about-eco-scheme

Here is more good information on ECO 3 on Which?  https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/home-grants/article/home-grants/energy-company-obligation-eco

If  you would like to speak with us in regards to getting a free grant for your home, we will be more than happy to assist you in seeing whether you can get free cavity wall insulation or any of the other ECO funded free insulation that is available for your home.