Fuel poverty & how the ECO3 scheme can help warm your home this winter

According to the charity National Energy Action, the estimate for the number of households across the UK who are fuel poor, is 3.5 million. Can the ECO3 scheme help keep your home warm this winter?

What Is Fuel Poverty?

Most of us would define fuel poverty as simply not being able to afford to keep your home warm. But there is an official definition: a household is said to be fuel poor if it has above-average energy costs, and if paying those costs would push it below the poverty line as far as its remaining income was concerned.

What Causes fuel poverty?

• Household income: lower income households are likely to spend a higher portion of their budget on fuel, and as a result, the leftover income is low enough to place the household below the poverty threshold.
• Energy efficiency: in homes that aren’t using energy efficiently, there’s a bigger chance that energy is being wasted. This means households are having to spend more to keep their homes warm.

How Can ECO3 Scheme help this winter?

The ECO scheme means that large gas and electricity suppliers – including British Gas, EDF Energy, Eon, Npower, Scottish Power and SSE – are obliged to help households with energy efficiency measures.  Energy efficiency measures available through ECO include loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, solid wall insulation and boiler replacement or repair. They’re all designed to help save people money on their energy bills, keep homes warmer and help to reduce carbon emissions.
The current scheme, called ECO3, was launched in December 2018. It runs until 31 March 2022 and is focused exclusively on those customers with lower incomes who are considered to be in vulnerable situations or living in fuel poverty. A wide range of benefits qualify recipients for ECO3. In total, 6.5m households are eligible. The scheme’s plan is to make energy-saving improvements to 900,000 homes. Each year up to 35,000 homes with broken heating systems will have them replaced and 17,000 homes with solid walls will be treated.

Free insulation and other ECO energy-efficiency improvements

Under ECO, grants are available to cover all or part of the cost of energy efficiency measures. The most common measures are:  loft insulation  cavity wall insulation solid wall insulation  a new boiler.

Can I get ECO funding?

Eligibility for ECO funding depends on what improvements your home needs, where you live, the level of carbon or cost savings made, and if you receive any benefits. If you receive the Warm Home Discount, or certain types of benefits, you’re likely to be eligible. The ECO3 scheme, unlike previous schemes, includes those receiving Child Benefit and disability benefits. You can take take a look at our eligibility page to see if you can get ECO funding. To benefit from ECO, you must either own your home or have the landlord’s permission.
To find out if you are eligible for ECO Funding visit our eligibility page or give us a call direct for an instant decision.