Some households could get a £2,000 grant to help lower their energy bills

02 January 2023 , 14:51

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Some households could get a £2,000 grant to help lower their energy bills

Households in certain council tax bands might be able to claim a grant worth up to £2,000 to help with energy bills.

Announced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in December last year, the ECO+ scheme is part of the Government’s push to households across the country bring down their energy bills.

Under the plans, the ECO+ scheme will provide around £1billion worth of funding which will be allocated to households across England, Scotland and Wales to cover the cost of energy-efficient home improvements.

If you are eligible, you could possibly receive a grant of up to £2,000 from your energy provider, which you do not need to pay back.

This is to help cover the cost of installing or updating things such as loft insulations, cavity-wall insulation, or smart-heating controls.

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Under the new ECO+ scheme, there will be two groups with different eligibility criteria. (PA)

The grants provided aim to make homes more energy efficient and help bring down energy bills (Getty Images)

There are two separate groups that will qualify for the ECO+ scheme: the “general group” and “low-income group”.

The “general group” will consist of people who live in council tax bands A-D in England, A-E in Scotland and A-C in Wales.

The “low-income” group consists of people living in a home with an energy performance certificate (EPC) band of D to G.

The energy performance certificate is an assessment of how energy-efficient a home is using a rating from A, very efficient, to G which is inefficient.

To be included in this group you must also be receiving a means-tested benefit as well as occupy social housing with poor energy efficiency, or get referred to as living in “fuel poverty”.

According to the Government release, around 80% of the funding will be accessible for those households who are in some of the least energy-efficient homes in the UK.

The Government plans to launch the scheme for Spring this year, most likely around April, and will continue to run it until March 2026.

However, the Government says it intends to work with energy suppliers to try and lunch the ECO+ scheme sooner.

To access the funding, you will need to contact your energy supplier and they will assess your home and recommend what energy improvement measures should be made, they will then tell you the amount you will receive from the grant.

The energy firm EDF Energy says in most cases, a cavity wall or loft insulation will be recommended which are typically cheaper to install and the government grant is likely to cover the majority of the cost.

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However, EDF noted that more expensive measures, such as solid wall insulation, may need a larger contribution from the customer to be completed.

The Government said that you could save around £310 a year on your energy bills if you get measures under the scheme.

Ruby Flanagan