ECO4 in 2026: who qualifies, what it pays for, and how to get on the list

If grants and funding schemes feel designed to put you off applying, you are not wrong — and ECO4 is the one most households are missing out on. It's the fourth iteration of the Energy Company Obligation, the UK's biggest residential energy-efficiency scheme, and the rules are simpler than they look. The average eligible household gets around £11,000 of installed work fitted for £0 out of pocket. This is the honest guide to whether you qualify and what to do next.

The three boxes you need to tick for ECO4

1. A qualifying benefit in the household.
2. An EPC rating of D, E, F or G.
3. You own the property, or you rent privately and your landlord agrees to the work.

The benefits that automatically qualify you

• Universal Credit
• Pension Credit (Guarantee or Savings Credit)
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Child Tax Credit
• Working Tax Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Child Benefit (income-capped — single parent £19,900 / couple no kids £27,500 / couple with children scale; a surveyor confirms)

Not on any of those benefits but still worried about the heating bill? LA Flex — the Local Authority Flexible Eligibility route — is the safety valve. It picks up households who miss the benefits list but are fuel-poor, have a health condition worsened by cold, or sit just above the income threshold. Every council does it slightly differently. Essex, Suffolk, Kent and Cambridgeshire councils all run LA Flex schemes we can apply against on your behalf.

Your home needs an EPC rating of D or worse

Your EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) needs to be D, E, F, or G. EPCs are valid for 10 years. No EPC on file, or yours has expired? We lodge a new one for you during the free survey — no extra cost. If your rating is C or above, ECO4 doesn't apply to your property, but GBIS might cover part of the cost instead.

What ECO4 will actually pay for in your home

ECO4 is a whole-house scheme, which is a fancy way of saying the funding is tied to lifting your EPC rating by at least two bands — not to one single measure. In practice that means a combination of two or three of the upgrades below, chosen to work together on your specific house.

• Loft insulation — almost always included. Full install or top-up.
• Cavity wall insulation — if your cavity is a candidate.
• Underfloor insulation — where suspended timber floors have voids.
• External or internal wall insulation — for solid-walled homes.
• First-time central heating — gas, electric, or low-carbon.
• Boiler upgrade — only if your existing heating is broken or inefficient (ECO4 doesn't replace working modern boilers).
• Air-source heat pump — stackable with BUS grant in some cases.
• Solar PV — in specific configurations where it raises the EPC.
• Smart heating controls and TRVs.

What ECO4 won't cover

• Decorative repairs after install (some scheme routes cover "making good" on IWI; confirm on survey).
• Windows and doors — not an ECO4 measure on their own.
• Any upgrade that doesn't raise the EPC by the required margin.
• Solar batteries without accompanying PV.

How to apply for ECO4 — start to finished install

1. Book a free home energy survey. 45 minutes, surveyor visits your home.
2. We check the EPC, check the benefits, walk through every room, and score the house against the scheme's requirements.
3. If you qualify, we build a two-measure or three-measure plan that lifts your EPC by two bands.
4. We submit to the funding partner. Approval in 3-10 working days.
5. Install. Cavity wall takes a day, loft a day, underfloor usually two. External wall insulation is the only measure that takes longer (typically two weeks).
6. Handover and guarantees. CIGA 25-year cover for insulation, PAS2030 paperwork for the whole project.

ECO4 by the numbers — what our customers actually get

Here are the real 2025-26 figures from the ECO4 jobs we've completed. Average installed value was £11,240. Average customer contribution was £0. Median project duration from first phone call to finished handover was 19 working days. None of that includes the £250–£900 a year of bill savings that follows, or the two-band EPC uplift that typically adds £5,000–£12,000 to a property's market value.

If any of this sounds like it might apply to you, the quickest way to find out is a free 45-minute home energy survey. Book online or ring 0800 229 4094 — freephone from any UK number, Monday to Saturday, real people on the line. No credit check, no financial assessment over the phone. No cost. No obligation. No pressure.