Citizens Advice published its response to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) consultation on the design of the ECO+ scheme for 2023 to 2026 on 6 January 2023. The response is dated 6 December 2022, the closing date of the consultation1. Citizens Advice describes itself in the document as the statutory consumer advocate for energy1.
The scheme as consulted on carries a government commitment of £1bn spread across three years, with a target of reaching 410,000 households1. Citizens Advice states that the scale of the scheme could be far more ambitious, noting industry calls for a larger scheme and expected supply chain capacity able to deliver measures equivalent to £1bn a year1.
The response argues that many households who have not struggled previously with their energy bills are experiencing hardship this winter and would not qualify for the government's fuel poverty scheme ECO1. It welcomes the creation of a scheme aimed at a wider group of households, but warns that a single-measure approach, while likely to deliver at faster pace and larger scale, could risk undermining the aims of ECO4 to deliver a whole-house approach to homes in fuel poverty1. It states that homes that would be eligible for ECO4 and a whole-house retrofit should be treated by ECO4 instead1. The differences between the Great British Insulation Scheme and ECO4 turn on this split between single measures and whole-house work, and the current Energy Company Obligation scheme sets the eligibility rules Citizens Advice refers to.
On costs, Citizens Advice says that even with the Energy Price Guarantee capping unit rates, giving an average bill of £2500, this is unaffordable for many, and that the guarantee rises in April to £3000 for an average bill in 20231. It cites its own research finding that households in the most efficient homes could save up to £950 a year if their homes were upgraded to an EPC rating of C1. On the pressure already visible, it says that by the end of October 2022 it had already helped more people unable to afford to top up their prepayment meter than for the previous five years combined1.
"The government has committed £1bn spread across 3 years, with a target of reaching 410,000 households."
Why it matters for households
ECO+ is aimed at homes that sit outside the fuel poverty criteria used by ECO, which is the point Citizens Advice makes about households newly in hardship this winter1. For a household, the practical difference between the two routes is what gets installed: ECO4 is designed around a whole-house approach, while ECO+ as consulted on leans towards single measures1. A single measure can be fitted faster and across more homes, but it leaves the rest of the building untouched, which is why Citizens Advice says ECO4-eligible homes should stay with ECO41. The £950 a year figure for upgrading the least efficient homes to EPC C is the scale of saving at stake, against an average bill of £2500 under the Energy Price Guarantee, rising to £3000 in April 20231. How these schemes fit with wider grants and household energy independence is the context in which the budget and target numbers matter.
What happens next
The consultation response is dated 6 December 2022 and was published on 6 January 20231. No government decision on the final design of ECO+ is reported in the response, and no date for that decision has been reported1.