The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is a government energy efficiency scheme in Great Britain to help reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty.
The scheme began in April 2013, and over time it has been amended. The latest policy, ECO3, commenced on 3 December 2018, and applies to measures completed from 1 October 2018.
You can see a summary of the changes made to the scheme in 2018 on the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s website .
You can also read more about the previous versions of ECO on our website .
This ECO policy will be entirely formed from one obligation, the Home Heating Cost Reduction Obligation (HHCRO). Under HHCRO, obligated suppliers must mainly promote measures which improve the ability of low income, fuel poor and vulnerable households to heat their homes. This includes actions that result in heating savings, such as the replacement of a broken heating system or the upgrade of an inefficient heating system.
Under ECO2t, which ran from 1 April 2017 to 30 September 2018, suppliers were also required to deliver against an additional obligation called the Carbon Emissions Reduction Obligation (CERO).
Find out more in the support for improving your home section of our website.
We publish monthly reports which give an overview of energy suppliers’ progress towards meeting their targets. The first monthly report for ECO3 will be published in early 2019.
Ofgem administers the scheme on behalf of the Department for Energy, Business & Industrial Strategy. Our duties include:
BEIS sets the overall policy for the scheme.
Still got a question? Contact the ECO team, who’ll be happy to help.