The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero published its response to the consultation on amending the ECO4 Order on 9 February 2026, confirming its final decision to change the legislation1. The consultation, on allowing cost recovery via grant funding, ran from 10am on 8 December 2025 to 11:59pm on 5 January 2026 and applied to England, Scotland and Wales1.
The Order will be amended to specify the government grants from which ECO4 measures cannot receive money1. Under the current ECO4 legislation, measures cannot qualify against an energy supplier's obligation if they are grant-funded1. The consultation proposed amending the legislation to name the specific grants from which money is not to be received, which would allow grants from public funds to be made by the government specifically for the purposes of funding ECO4 measures, rather than under the other named schemes1.
The department said obligated energy suppliers had spent more than was anticipated in the impact assessment, and that to protect against a bill increase the government plans to pay the suppliers through Exchequer funding1.
"The Order will be amended to specify the government grants from which ECO4 measures cannot receive money."
The consultation received 128 responses from stakeholders including energy suppliers, installers, trade bodies, local authorities and consumer stakeholders1. The feedback is summarised in the government response1. The consultation was open to all but was of particular relevance to energy suppliers, energy efficiency and heating measure installers, local authorities, consumer groups and academic groups1.
Why it matters for households
ECO4 is the current Energy Company Obligation scheme, under which obligated energy suppliers fund energy efficiency and heating measures in homes, and eligibility is tied to qualifying benefits among other routes. The rule that grant-funded measures cannot count against a supplier's obligation has sat alongside other public funding, and the amendment changes which grants are named in that restriction rather than removing it. For a household, the practical question is whether a measure installed under ECO4 can also draw on another government grant, and the answer depends on which grants the amended Order names. The government's stated aim is to protect against a bill increase by paying suppliers through Exchequer funding instead of allowing higher spending to feed through to bills1. How the change affects the availability of free boiler grants or other individual measures has not been reported. The wider picture, including how grants and schemes interact with a home's energy independence, is set out in the site's guides.
What happens next
The government response has been published and the decision to amend the Order is final1. The page was first published on 8 December 2025 and last updated on 9 February 20261. No commencement date for the amended Order, and no list of the grants to be named in it, has been reported.