Energy is very costly. Many households spend massive amounts of money in heating their homes and operating their electronics. The prohibitive costs of energy are felt mostly by low-income earners. The importance of energy cannot be underestimated. Winters can be freezing with temperatures falling to negative values. A human being cannot survive in this kind of weather without having some source of heat. Energy is also used to run household gadgets on a daily basis. This is why energy conservation is an requirement. The government has come up with a home energy efficiency scheme to help people enjoy the benefits of energy without incurring too much costs. The project has been particularly beneficial to low-income earners who were unable to pay for energy.

What is ECO?

One of the government incentives to provide low-cost energy is the Energy Company Obligation. ECO encourages energy companies to help households make their homes energy efficient. Established in 2013, one of its responsibilities is to ensure that homes of low-income earners are well insulated. Insulation of lofts and cavity walls prevents loss of energy from homes, especially during winter. ECO, through the Carbon Saving project, offers help with insulation of lofts and wall cavities. Only eligible households can benefit from the financial support provided by ECO. Those eligible for ECO support include people on welfare but who own private residential homes or private rental homes, and people living in Carbon Saving Community. The Carbon Saving project offers financial help to anyone who needs cavity wall and loft insulation.

ECO Supplier Eligibility

ECO has stipulated energy efficiency measures that every eligible energy supplier must achieve. Eligible energy suppliers are those that have more than 250,000 customers and supply more than 400-gigawatt hours of electricity or more than 2,000-gigawatt hours of gas. All energy suppliers are evaluated on December of every year to determine those that should work under ECO obligations. The selected energy suppliers begin meeting ECO targets on April of the year following their admission into ECO programs.

What does ECO provide?

The energy measures that the supplies are expected to achieve basically involve improvement of home insulation and heating systems. These include insulation of walls and lofts. The companies must also replace boilers and install glazed windows in qualifying households. Improvement of heating may call for connection of households to the district heating systems. The companies do not give individual households financial help. They work with installers to ensure that their ECO targets are met.

Even the companies that are eligible for ECO have different responsibilities. The objectives of each company are determined by the size of the energy market that the company commands. Larger companies have more measures to achieve. The specific calculation of a company’s target is covered in the ECO legislation. The companies must report their milestones to ECO every month. This information is recorded in the ECO register. The register is used for monitoring the performance of each energy company against the measures set out for it the by Energy Company Obligation.