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Business and Energy Secretary Grant Shapps has launched the ECO+ scheme, with £1 billion available to support home insulation.
The new ECO+ scheme will cover those who do not currently benefit from any other government support to upgrade their homes and it will run alongside a new £18 million public information campaign offering technical tips and advice for people to cut their energy use and keep warm.
Of the £1 billion funding available through the new ECO+ scheme, around 80% of the funding will be made available for those households who are in some of the least energy-efficient homes in the country – that is, those with an EPC rating of D or below – and in the lower Council Tax bands. Around a fifth of the fund will also be targeted to those who are the most vulnerable, including those on means tested benefits or in fuel poverty.
The information campaign will include recommendations such as:
- reducing the temperature a boiler heats water to before it is sent to radiators (known as the boiler flow temperature) from 75⁰C to 60⁰C
- turning down radiators in empty rooms
- reducing heating loss from the property such as by draught proofing windows and doors
Grant Shapps said:
The government put immediate help in place to support households in the wake of global energy price rises caused by Putin’s illegal march on Ukraine. Today, we launch the first of many measures to ensure the British public are never put in this position again as we work towards an energy independent future.
A new ECO scheme will enable thousands more to insulate their homes, protecting the pounds in their pockets, and creating jobs across the country.
And in the short term, our new public information campaign will also give people the tools they need to reduce their energy use while keeping warm this winter.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said:
With Putin’s war driving up gas prices worldwide, I know many families are feeling worried about their energy bills this winter and beyond. Our extensive energy support package is insulating people from the worst of this crisis, but we’re also supporting people to permanently cut their costs.
In the longer term, we need to make Britain more energy independent by generating more clean, affordable, home-grown power, but we also need more efficient homes and buildings.
Our new ECO+ scheme will help hundreds of thousands of people across the UK to better insulate their homes to reduce consumption, with the added benefit of saving families hundreds of pounds each year.
Since it was launched in January 2013, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) schemes have delivered as many as 3.5 million energy-efficiency measures in around 2.4 million homes. The ECO+ scheme, which will run from spring 2023 for up to 3 years, extends that support even further and will see hundreds of thousands of households receive new insulation, saving them around £310 a year.
By rolling out predominantly low-cost insulation measures such as loft insulation and cavity wall insulation, the ECO+ scheme will support the government’s new ambition to reduce the UK’s final energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030.
The government intends to lay necessary legislation for the scheme to launch in spring 2023 and run until March 2026. However, the government also plans to work with energy suppliers to explore the potential for some earlier delivery in 2023.
There is a consultation that will run from 28 November to 23 December 2022.
Information will be available on the existing Help for Households website.
