Energy Company Obligation (ECO)
Energy Company Obligations, or ECO, is a government-run program delivering energy efficiency measures to British homes. It began in 2013 and aims to reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty, by ensuring that energy suppliers carry out retrofits on customers’ homes.
The scheme has delivered over 2.2 million energy saving improvements such as Cavity wall insulation (35%), Loft Insulation (24%) and Boiler upgrades (23%) in around 1.8m homes to date.
The current phase of ECO2t is due to end in September 2018 and will take over by ECO3 in October 2018, and a consultation is presently being conducted over the form that it will take when it returns from 2018 to 2022.
Elite Impact welcomes the Government’s Plan for ECO3.
Affordable Warmth Scheme (AWS)
The main proposal for ECO3 is that more funding should be available for those classed as in 'fuel poverty'. Fuel poverty basically means any household struggling to heat their home.
ECO3 will now be 100% focused on Affordable Warmth, with extended eligibility criteria allowing for 6.6 million vulnerable households to access funding. Affordable Warmth focuses on residents who claim certain benefits and struggle to pay their heating bills. The new funding criteria is as follows: