ECO4 Eligibility & Qualifying
All the info you need to know about the new Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding.
After several months of delays and some uncertainty ECO4 is now finally upon us, and we’ll be one of many certified contractors working to deliver high quality work under the scheme. This blog will help outline some of the details around the scheme, what is available and how to qualify for the funding.
What is ECO4?
ECO, also known as the Energy Company Obligation is a form of funding supplied via major energy suppliers to improve the energy efficiency of homes in the UK. ECO4 is the latest version of this funding and the scheme is administered by Ofgem.
The goal of ECO4 is to help provide funding towards energy efficiency improvements of lower income households or those in fuel poverty to makes these improvements affordable or in some cases free. ECO4 funding is targeted to homes that currently have low or poor energy efficiency and are at band D or below on the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of the property.
ECO4 funding is available for properties rated D and below on their EPC
What Energy Efficiency measures are available under the ECO scheme?
A wide range of improvements can be carried out under the ECO scheme, this includes:
- Solid Wall Insulation (both Internal and External Wall Insulation)
- Cavity Wall Insulation
- Loft Insulation
- Pitched Roof Insulation
- Roof Room Insulation
- Solar PV
- Heating Systems & Controls
This list is not comprehensive and other measures may be available for your property. All of the work carried out under ECO4 is completed by fully qualified and certified installers who will be PAS2030 and Trustmark certified. This means that installers of the scheme will understand the importance of quality work and follow an approved process.
Funding for External Wall Insulation is available under ECO4.
How do I qualify for funding?
To qualify, someone living at the address where work will be carried out needs to meet the ECO criteria as set by Ofgem. For ECO4, this means being on one of the below benefits:
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*
*Child benefit has some specific income requirements that also apply in order to qualify for funding, this is found in the table below.
Number of Children | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4+ |
Single Claimant | £19,900 | £24,800 | £29,600 | £34,500 |
Couple | £27,500 | £32,300 | £37,200 | £42,000 |
In addition, those that receive the Warm Home Discount scheme can also qualify for ECO4 funding.
Are there other ways to qualify?
Yes – if nobody in the household meets any of the above criteria there may still be a way to qualify known as “Flex”, this allows the local authority in your area to nominate properties and make them eligible for ECO funding. The criteria and process may be slightly different for each local authority but will generally look at homes where the total household income is below £31,000 and the EPC rating is a D, E, F or G.
If you meet the above it is still worth interested in getting in touch with installers and industry experts in your area as they may be able to help guide you through the process to qualify you and carry out your work.
More details on Local Authority Flex eligibility will be published at a later date.
We hope that this blog has been informative and useful for everyone reading. The Interglow team are all looking forward to continuing our work with customers, councils and installation partners across the region to support them with quality improvements under ECO4.
Get in touch to find out more information via our contact page or give us a call on 01763 208563.