Energy Grant Scams and Fake Government Schemes

Every year, households across the UK are contacted about energy grants that do not exist. The approaches borrow the names of real schemes, such as the Energy Company Obligation, and the logos of real bodies, including the Energy Ombudsman, which has reported a recent increase in fraudulent emails falsely using its name¹. The pattern is consistent: an unexpected call, letter or email offering a free boiler, free insulation or a government grant, followed by pressure to hand over personal details or sign a contract quickly.

The real schemes do exist, and they do fund insulation, heating and renewable technologies for eligible households. But they are delivered through regulated routes, with registered installers and recorded references, and none of them requires you to fill in a form sent by a stranger. This page sets out what a genuine approach looks like, how to verify a caller, letter or visitor, what protection exists if a firm fails, and where to get free help, including the TrustMark helpline on 0333 555 1234² and Ofgem's fraud reporting address, counterfraud@ofgem.gov.uk³.

Characteristics of a legitimate energy grant scheme

A genuine grant offer starts with you, not with a stranger. Real schemes are announced through official channels, applied for through a council, a scheme administrator or a registered installer, and confirmed in writing with details you can check. A crisis grant in Scotland, for example, exists for when an unexpected crisis happens, and it is applied for through the Scottish Welfare Fund, not offered over the phone⁷. Local authority energy services such as Tameside's Your Home, Better are explicit that they do not offer grants or funding directly, but can identify sources that could help towards the costs of home energy projects⁸.

The same is true of the newer schemes. Green Homes Wales, run by the Development Bank of Wales, offers grant funding alongside loans for specific energy efficiency measures, reducing out-of-pocket expenses, and it is applied for through the scheme's own process⁹. Warmer Homes West Midlands was funded through Ofgem's Energy Redress Scheme, money paid by energy companies that may have breached rules, and was delivered through named partner organisations rather than doorstep sellers¹⁰. East Herts' Home Energy Support Service provides information on grants and eligibility checking, benefits support, supplier switching advice, energy saving advice, debt advice and referral to other organisations or contractors: help first, referral second¹¹.

What separates these from a scam is the direction of travel and the paper trail. A genuine scheme:

• is announced or listed by a public body, and can be found on that body's own website
• checks your eligibility before promising anything
• refers you to a named, registered installer, or lets you choose one
• puts any offer in writing, with the scheme's real name and your own reference numbers
• never asks for bank details or a fee to release a grant

A cold call that opens with "the government has allocated funding for your postcode" and closes with "I just need your date of birth" has none of those features. The absence of a paper trail is the single most reliable warning sign, because every real scheme generates one.

ECO4 and the funding it provides

Most fake grant offers borrow the vocabulary of the Energy Company Obligation, because ECO genuinely does fund insulation, boilers and central heating, and solar and renewable energy technologies¹². A caller who says "ECO grant" is describing something that exists. The question is whether the caller has anything to do with it.

ECO4 requires medium and large energy suppliers to support energy efficiency improvements for eligible households¹². It is a UK Government-backed scheme regulated by Ofgem¹³, but it is funded by energy companies, not by councils: Birmingham City Council, in announcing the end of ECO4, was clear that ECO4 is funded by energy companies and not the Council¹⁴. Ceredigion Council makes the same structural point: ECO4 is a supplier obligation and not a grant scheme¹⁵. West Lindsey puts it plainly: ECO4 is not a grant scheme, as it is your energy provider's decision which retrofit projects they choose to fund¹². Bridgend describes ECO funding as paying for energy efficiency measures such as heating improvements and insulation to be installed¹⁶.

That structure matters for spotting fakes. Because suppliers decide what to fund, there is no central pot of "government grant money" waiting to be claimed by anyone who phones you. An offer of guaranteed free work, made before anyone has assessed your home or checked your benefits, does not match how the scheme works. Leeds City Council, which delivers ECO locally, advises households to consider searching a competent person register, such as TrustMark, to find an installer who will assess your circumstances and property to identify suitable measures¹⁷.

The successor schemes follow the same rules. The Warm Homes: Local Grant funds insulation, energy-efficient heating systems, and renewable energy installations for eligible applicants¹¹, and its measures are lodged with TrustMark: around 14,700 measures covering around 6,700 households were lodged in the TrustMark data warehouse up to the end of July 2026¹⁸. If a caller cannot tell you which scheme they are acting under, or names one that closed years ago, that is itself an answer. Our pages on ECO4, ECO4 eligibility and the Warm Homes: Local Grant set out what each one actually funds.

Finding an installer through TrustMark, the government quality scheme

TrustMark is the register that genuine grant work runs through. Bristol City Council describes it as a government endorsed quality scheme¹⁹, and the position is stronger than a description: all works completed under government energy efficiency schemes have to be undertaken by a TrustMark-registered installer²⁰. If someone offers you grant-funded work and their firm is not on the register, the offer is not what it claims to be.

TrustMark's role goes beyond listing firms. It is the competent person register for finding an installer who will assess your circumstances and property to identify suitable measures¹⁷, and it holds the record of what was installed. The Warm Homes: Local Grant statistics show how the data warehouse works: around 14,700 measures covering around 6,700 households were lodged up to the end of July 2026¹⁸. Each lodged measure carries a reference, which is why a caller quoting a reference you do not recognise, or unable to say what measure it relates to, should be treated with suspicion.

TrustMark also has a support role when things go wrong. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has nominated TrustMark to directly support customers affected by the closure of the Energy Company Obligation scheme, with a helpline on 0333 555 1234, an email address at disputes@trustmark.org.uk and an online form at trustmark.org.uk/homeowner/support/ces².

Checking an installer is free and takes minutes: search the firm on the TrustMark register, confirm the registration covers the work being offered, and ask for the measure reference for anything already lodged against your address. Our page on whether ECO4 installations need a TrustMark registered installer covers the requirement in detail.

Buying heat and power systems under the Renewable Energy Consumer Code

Solar panels, heat pumps, biomass and battery systems sit outside the insulation schemes, and they attract a distinct set of sellers. The Renewable Energy Consumer Code (RECC), formed in 2006, sets out the standards applicable to the selling or leasing of small-scale heat and power generators, whether from renewable or other low carbon sources, to domestic consumers²². It is developed, sponsored and run by Renewable Energy Assurance Ltd (REAL)²².

The Code's coverage is exactly where pressure selling does its damage: marketing, pre-contractual information, quotations, deposits, contracts, guarantees and after-sales service²². A firm that signs the Code is bound by rules on each of those stages, which means a household buying a heat pump or solar array from a member firm has a written standard to hold the firm to, and a body to complain to when it is not met.

The Code also dovetails with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme²², which certifies, quality assures and provides consumer protection for microgeneration installations and installers including solar photovoltaic panels, biomass, wind, heat pumps and heat products¹⁵. The two systems interlock: MCS covers the competence of the installer and the installation, RECC covers the conduct of the sale. Green Homes Wales requires both, depending on the work: installers must be registered with TrustMark as an approved PAS 2030 installer, or registered with TrustMark and certified with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme where the installation involves a low carbon technology such as a heat pump or solar panels⁹.

For a household, the practical test is simple. Before any discussion of price, ask whether the firm is a RECC member and MCS certified, and check both on the official registers. A seller who resents the question, or whose membership cannot be found, has answered it.

Checking whether a caller, letter or visitor is authentic

The Energy Ombudsman's guidance on scam emails claiming to be from it lists the tell-tale signs, and they transfer directly to fake grant offers. Such emails use the Energy Ombudsman or a broker name and logo without permission; reference a complaint or review that the consumer has not raised; contain links to fake forms or websites; pressure the recipient to act quickly; come from a free email service such as Gmail; and use a misspelling of a company name¹. The forms often request sensitive personal information such as full name, address, date of birth, or bank details¹.

The Ombudsman has also stated, following an increase in fake emails claiming to be from it or from a supplier, that it will never ask people to open a new energy account or share personal details via online word documents²³. That is the shape of the rule for every official body: no genuine scheme needs your bank details to release a grant, and no genuine body sends you a form to fill in as a condition of money you never applied for.

A verification routine, in order:

1. Ask which scheme, and check it exists. Look the scheme up on the Ofgem or government pages for it, not on any link the caller gives you.
2. Ask for the installer's TrustMark registration, and check it on the register²⁰.
3. Ask for the measure reference for any work claimed to be already arranged, and confirm it relates to your address¹⁸.
4. Hang up and call back on a number you found yourself, such as the TrustMark helpline on 0333 555 1234².
5. Never complete a form or provide personal information from an unexpected email; forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk and delete it¹.

One number deserves particular care. Your Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN) is the unique identifier for your electricity supply point²⁴. A caller who already knows your MPAN is not thereby proved genuine, but a caller who asks for it, along with bank details, is collecting exactly what is needed to impersonate you in an energy transaction. Treat the MPAN as you would a password.

If you suspect fraud in an energy scheme specifically, Ofgem asks you to report it to counterfraud@ofgem.gov.uk³. For anything that has already gone wrong with a supplier, the Energy Ombudsman provides an independent service, separate to Ofgem, for problems with an energy supplier, an energy broker, a network operator or a heat network supplier²⁵.

Sales pressure and scare tactics to turn down

Pressure selling works by removing the time in which you would check anything. The scam emails the Energy Ombudsman warns about pressure the recipient to act quickly¹, and the same urgency appears on the doorstep: a grant that expires today, a surveyor who happens to be in the area, a discount for signing now.

The counter is to know what the rules of a legitimate sale look like. The Renewable Energy Consumer Code governs marketing, pre-contractual information, quotations, deposits, contracts, guarantees and after-sales service²², which means a household dealing with a member firm is entitled to proper pre-contractual information and a written quotation before any deposit changes hands. A seller who will not put the quotation in writing, or who asks for a deposit before any paperwork exists, is outside those standards.

Two further points are worth holding on to. First, official bodies manage expectations rather than inflate them: the Nest home energy support scheme's customer charter commits it to be open and avoid raising expectations that we are unable to meet²⁶. A caller promising guaranteed free work before any assessment is doing the opposite. Second, the complaints system itself has integrity rules: the Energy Ombudsman will refuse to accept a case if it is apparent that the consumer is pursuing a dispute without merit and intends to cause inconvenience, harassment or expense to the supplier⁶. The system works both ways, which is why keeping your own records of what was said and signed matters.

Cover from warranties and guarantees when a company collapses

Grant-funded work carries real warranty protection, and that protection is also a way to test an offer's honesty. Work installed under the ECO carries a minimum two-year warranty, and certain measures carry a minimum 25-year guarantee⁵. A caller who cannot state what warranty applies, or who offers something wildly different, is describing a scheme they do not work under.

The harder question is what happens when the firm fails. This is not hypothetical: the National Energy Foundation, a domestic energy charity, will cover the cost of relevant repairs for some homes with defective ECO4 and GBIS solid wall insulation where the installer has gone out of business and the guarantee was cancelled, fraudulent or missing²⁷. That a repair fund had to be created for guarantees that were cancelled, fraudulent or missing tells you what a failed or dishonest installer leaves behind. Greater protections to restore families' trust in home upgrades were announced by government in June 2026²⁷.

The supplier-failure protections are separate from installer warranties, but households often meet them together. If an energy supplier goes out of business, your credit balance will be protected unless you are a business²⁸. Guaranteed Standards set out minimum performance standards which all energy suppliers must meet, and when they do not, automatic payments are issued to the affected consumers²⁹. In a switching case study, the Energy Ombudsman recorded industry-mandated payments of £30 for the failure to complete the transfer³⁰.

The Ombudsman's own scope has limits worth knowing: it will not take a case where the consumer has never been a consumer of the supplier, or is complaining about something not covered by the scheme, which deals with gas and electricity supply disputes, with some ancillary services not covered³¹. There is also a statutory defence, under Regulation 37, for when an energy performance certificate is unobtainable³², which matters in disputes about retrofit records.

Free support from Citizens Advice and official helplines

Every number worth calling is free or standard-rate, and none of them is operated by a firm trying to sell you anything.

Citizens Advice covers England and Wales, on 0808 223 1133, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, with a Welsh language line on 0808 223 1144⁴. It offers information and support on struggling to pay bills, problems with your energy supplier or supply, saving energy at home and getting a better energy deal³³, and in England there is also a dedicated line on 0808 144 8844³³. Note that a separate Welsh number, 0800 702 2020, also appears in Citizens Advice material; the two figures differ, so use the number printed on the Citizens Advice page you are reading at the time.

The Energy Ombudsman handles complaints about suppliers, brokers, network operators and heat network suppliers²⁵, and for energy complaints can be called on 0330 440 1624⁶. TrustMark's support line is 0333 555 1234, with email and online form alternatives². In Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council's cost of living support signposts free advice on saving energy in your home, energy efficiency grants, and oil buying clubs³⁴. Local services add a layer: Tameside's Local Energy Advice Programme offers a free telephone advice service to help with benefits, money and bill problems⁸.

For anything that looks like fraud in a scheme itself, Ofgem's counter-fraud address is counterfraud@ofgem.gov.uk³. For scam emails, the National Cyber Security Centre accepts reports by forwarding to report@phishing.gov.uk, after which the email should be deleted¹. If you already have an open case with the Energy Ombudsman, contact it directly using the details on its official website, or your named Dispute Resolution Executive¹.

The implications for a home's energy self sufficiency

Grant-funded retrofit is one of the few routes by which an ordinary household can cut its dependence on imported energy, gas and the wholesale market, because insulation, efficient heating and solar generation reduce what the home needs to buy. The schemes that fund it are real, regulated and recorded. What threatens that independence is not the schemes but the actors who use their names to extract money and personal data, leaving households worse off and less willing to trust the genuine process.

The protections described on this page are the household's defence in depth: a register that must be used, a consumer code for heat and power sales, warranties with defined minimum terms, a repair fund for the failures, an ombudsman for supplier disputes, and free helplines that verify what a caller claims. None of them requires paying anyone, and none of them begins with an unexpected phone call. A household that checks before it signs keeps both its money and its route to a warmer, more self-sufficient home.