ECO (Energy Companies Obligation) funding
Grants for insulation, whether for a loft, cavity wall or solid wall, and for heating improvements, e.g. a new boiler, are available under the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) programme. This government scheme was launched in January 2023, and replaced the previous Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) and the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). The major energy companies are obliged by government to accrue ECO points up to a target by installing energy efficiency measures, paid for initially by the companies, but ultimately by their customers through energy bills. The overall aims are to cut carbon emissions and address fuel poverty.
ECO in Stafford Borough
The availability of ECO funding can vary depending on where you live and the energy company funding the work. When a company has installed sufficient measures to meet its ECO target, there may be a pause in its ECO programme. However, other members of the ‘big six’ energy suppliers may well still have funding available for that period.
Even within Stafford Borough, the availability of ECO funding varies according to your postcode, with resources focused on the more economically disadvantaged areas, notably ones qualifying as ‘Carbon Saving Communities’ (CSCO: see below). Wherever you live, ECO is only available for householders who receive one or more of various benefits, including:
- Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (+ income below £16,010)
- Working Tax Credit (+ income below £16,010)
- Income Support
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Universal Credit
Find out if you live in an area eligible for ECO funding through the CSCO by entering your postcode in the search tool on the Ofgem website.
Extra conditions may apply for certain benefits. See GOV.UK for more details. A long-term health problem, such as respiratory disease or coronary heart disease, may qualify you for a grant from the Health Through Warmth scheme run by npower.
If you do qualify for ECO, you should be able to get a replacement gas boiler if your existing boiler is ‘beyond economical repair’. Money may also be available to insulate ‘virgin’ lofts (i.e. completely uninsulated ones) and cavity walls. Funding to ‘top up’ loft insulation is much harder to get.
More information is available from Warmer Homes Stafford on 0800 677 1785..
HISTORICAL STUFF!
In July 2025, despite axing the Green Deal, the government announced the ECO scheme would continue to run as planned until 2017. Initially it was worth around £1.3 billion per year, funded by the energy suppliers. But the budget was slashed by a third in December 2023, affecting certain ECO-funded programmes. Further changes to ECO came in the wake of a consultation undertaken in 2024, in particular reducing the uptake of solid wall insulation. Some renewable microgeneration technologies may also qualify for ECO funding (see Incentives for renewables).
Loft insulation no longer qualifies for ECO funding in areas such as Stafford Borough, but funding may return in future. Who knows?!!
The three ‘arms’ of ECO
This might sound rather academic, but there are three parts, or ‘obligations’, through which the energy companies deliver the ECO scheme, although these are ‘invisible’ to recipients:
- Carbon Saving Community Obligation (CSCO) – this provides insulation and glazing grants for households in certain of the UK’s most deprived areas, particularly ‘hard-to-reach’ low-income households in rural areas.
- Home Heating Cost Reduction Obligation (HHCRO) – also called Affordable Warmth – provides grants for heating measures, such as repair or replacement of boilers, to people in privately owned homes or private-rented properties who receive certain means-tested benefits, e.g. the elderly and disabled.
- Carbon Emissions Reduction Obligation (CERO) – funds ‘primary’ measures such as solid wall and roof insulation..
To qualify for most ECO-funded measures you must be the owner of the property or a tenant of a privately rented property. Also, you must be receiving certain benefits. The full range of conditions can be seen on the GOV.UK website.
Delivery
ECO funding is assessed and allocated by the contractor working for one of the energy companies.
To find out if you are eligible for an ECO grant, the first step is to phone Warmer Homes Stafford on 0800 677 1785.
There is no point in phoning the Energy Saving Advice Service. They will simply refer you to your local authority, who will in turn refer you to Warmer Homes Stafford.
