The National Insulation Association signed a cross-industry letter sent to HM Treasury on 11 April 2022 calling on the Government to expand the eligibility of the Energy Company Obligation scheme1. The letter was issued by the Sustainable Energy Association and was backed by leaders across the energy efficiency industry1. It followed what the NIA described as a lack of focus on energy efficiency in the Government's Energy Security Strategy published the previous day1.
The Government has provided support for energy efficiency measures since 2013 under the Energy Company Obligation, which has since seen over 3 million energy efficiency measures installed in more than 2 million homes1. The scheme targets vulnerable households, and the NIA states that support for homes falling outside that definition is not eligible1. The letter argues that the scheme's benefits should be extended to the "able-to-pay"1.
The proposal set out in the letter is an ECO+ Scheme, which would run adjacent to but separate from the current ECO4 iteration so that support for vulnerable households is not affected1. A key difference concerns funding: energy bill payers fund the current ECO scheme, whereas ECO+ would have to be funded through taxpayer funding, because additional costs could not be placed on energy bill payers at the current time1.
The letter cites figures from National Energy Action indicating that two million more UK households could be plunged into fuel poverty because of the April 2022 price cap increase, with the cost of living crisis expected to worsen in the autumn1.
"the National Insulation Association has signed a cross-industry letter sent to HM Treasury today. Issued by the Sustainable Energy Association, the letter calls on the Government to expand the eligibility of the Energy Company Obligation scheme"
Why it matters for households
The Energy Company Obligation is the main supplier-funded route to insulation and heating measures for homes on low incomes or in receipt of certain benefits. Eligibility is set by government, not by installers or suppliers, so a change to the criteria decides which households can access funded work and which cannot. The letter's central claim is that the current definition leaves out homes that are not classed as vulnerable but face rising bills, and that this gap will widen as costs increase1.
For a household, the practical effect of the proposal would be a second scheme sitting alongside ECO, aimed at owners and occupiers who pay their own way rather than at the vulnerable households ECO already serves1. The letter states that ECO+ would be paid for from taxation rather than from a levy on bills, which distinguishes it from the existing scheme1. No eligibility criteria, rates or start date for ECO+ appear in the announcement; those have not been reported1.
What happens next
The letter was sent to HM Treasury on 11 April 20221. The NIA gives no timetable for a response, and no government commitment to an ECO+ scheme is reported1. The letter itself is published by the Sustainable Energy Association1.