Reduce Your Energy Bills And Make Your Home A Warmer Place To Live

This is a very good question. ECO Funding is a Government led scheme that stands for Energy Company Obligation. The Government have instructed the BIG 6 Energy companies like British Gas, EON, SSE, NPower, EDF and Scottish Power to reduce carbon emissions by funding home energy improvements such as internal wall insulation, first time heating with new radiators and boilers, loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, room in roof insulation, underfloor insulation, smart controls such as HIVE or NEST and highly efficient storage heaters to name a few.

The benefits that mean you are eligible for the ECO4 scheme are:

• Pension Credit 
• Universal Credit
• Income based Jobseekers allowance 
• Income related Employment & Support Allowance 
• Income Support 
• Housing Benefit
• Tax Credits (Child or Working Tax Credit) 

If you don’t claim any of the benefits above you could also qualify for funding through your council’s ECO4 Flex rules. These rules allow households to apply if they don’t claim benefits and earn under £31,000 per year or have a health condition made worse by living in a cold home or are vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home.

Energy performance rules

To qualify under ECO4 your property must have an EPC rating of D, E, F or G. Energy companies can only spend 15% of their funding on Band D properties and because of this applications are only being accepted for properties with an E, F or G rating.

If your property has an EPC rating of A-C you do not qualify, as in order to get this rating your property will already be well insulated and adequately heated.

All existing EPCs can be viewed on the government’s Energy Performance Certificate register (England and Wales) or the Scottish Energy Performance register (Scotland).

If you don’t currently have an EPC a Registered Installer can estimate the rating when you apply and they’ll produce an EPC for you if the application is successful.

 This is by spending 10% approximately or more of your annual income on heating your home. You may be finding it difficult to heat your home and to makes ends meet – like a lot of us. If you live in a home that is expensive to heat and you have a low income then you are likely to pass for the scheme and the Local Authority Flexible Eligibility route. The LA flexible eligibility route is for people not on any Government benefits or credits but for those that have high heating costs and low incomes (all incomes are set differently by different Local Authorities). Again, this may sound too good to be true but please ring your Council and ask them about the scheme – they will tell you or transfer you to the right people and then come back to us. It is best to check with our team by phoning us on 0333 004 0035 and asking for some advice on these set figures. Here is a list of the Local Authorities that we can help you qualify with:

England – Wirral, Lichfield, Tewkesbury, Cheshire West, Bradford, Torbay, Cheshire East, Dorset, Shropshire, Forest of Dean, Chester, Chesterfield, Mendip, South Staffordshire, Stroud, Derby City, Eastbourne, North Somerset, Stafford Borough, Cotswolds, Stafford, Derbyshire Dales, East Sussex, South Somerset, Tamworth, South Glos, Solihull, Dudley, Hastings, Swindon, Portsmouth, Nottingham, Earewash, Lewes, Wiltshire, Gosport, Rushcliffe, Mid Devon, High Peak, Rother, South Hams, Bristol, Leeds, Wealden, Herefordshire, West Devon, Leicesterhsire, Amber Valley, North East Derbyshire, Cheltenham, Gloucester, North Devon, Bolsover, Cornwall, South Derbyshire.

Wales – Flintshire, Carmarthnshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigioan, Rhonddfa Cynon Taff, Blaenau Gwent, Swansea, Anglesey and Gwynedd (through a partner installer).

The grants are very generous for the properties that qualify and the grants can include:

• Air Source Heat Pumps
• Boiler Upgrades (non-condensing boilers and for homeowners only)
• Cavity wall insulation
• Electric storage heaters (homeowners only)
• First time central heating (providing there was a gas connection prior to 31 March 2022)
• Internal wall insulation
• Loft insulation
• Room in roof insulation for a loft that has been converted into a room
• Underfloor insulation

You may be offered enough to fund the entire cost of improving insulation or installing other measures. However, some people receive only some of the money and need to contribute the remaining amount.