Jurisdiction: Great Britain
Commencement: 1st August 2025
Amends:
- The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2022
- The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2023
Mini Summary
- The The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2022 establishes the 4th Energy Compliance Obligation (ECO) scheme, ECO4, which will run until 31st March 2026. The scheme places duties on large energy suppliers to implement energy efficiency measures with the aim to reduce the cost of heating domestic properties. Duties are also placed on the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority.
- The The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2023 establishes a new Energy Compliance Obligation (ECO) scheme, ECO4A, which operates in conjunction with the 4th Energy Compliance Obligation scheme (ECO4). These schemes place duties on large energy suppliers to implement energy efficiency measures and aim to reduce the cost of heating domestic properties.
Duties
Various duties apply and are available to view on the Legislation Update Service.
Amendment
Changes are made to both the ECO4 and ECO4A energy company obligation schemes.
Changes to ECO4 scheme relate to:
- updated PAS 2030 and 2035 standards;
- off-gas hierarchy, relating to improvement options evaluation reports;
- innovation measures, relating to shared ground loops; and
- scheme installation standards relating to building repair fabric.
Changes to ECO4A scheme relate to:
- the scoring of savings over 25% of a participant’s total home-heating cost reduction obligation;
- the maximum number of insulation measures per property; and
- the methodology for scoring.
Changes affecting both ECO4 and ECO4A relate to:
- definition of `rural area`;
- installation standards (referrals);
- benefits of smart meters; and
- reassignment of savings under the ECO4 to the ECO4A scheme.