Other energy efficiency schemes

A number of other schemes may be available to help with improvements to make your home more energy efficient.

Some of these schemes may even be able to provide the improvements free of charge.

Energy Company Obligation (ECO)

ECO is the government's domestic energy efficiency programme. ECO provides energy efficiency measures including insulation and heating to low income and vulnerable households.

ECO is a legal obligation placed on energy suppliers to improve the energy efficiency of households.

For more details, visit the Ofgem website.

Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS)

The Great British Insulation Scheme is a government energy efficiency scheme administered by Ofgem. It is designed to deliver improvements to the least energy-efficient homes in Great Britain to tackle fuel poverty and help reduce energy bills.

The scheme complements the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme, yet unlike ECO4's 'whole house' approach, this scheme will mostly deliver single insulation measures.

For more details and to check if you can get support from the Great British Insulation Scheme visit the Ofgem GBIS webpage.

As well as supporting low-income and vulnerable households, it is also available to those living in homes with an Energy Performance Certificate rating of D-G, and within Council Tax bands A-D in England.

St Helens Borough Council Heating and Insulation Scheme

We are currently able to assist with heating and standard insulation measures (cavity wall insulation and loft insulation). The assistance is subject to meeting scheme qualifying criteria and also subject to a technical survey. For further information please complete our general enquiry form.

Renewable energy incentives

There are a number of schemes offering incentives for installing microgeneration technologies or renewable heat technologies:

Smart Export Guarantee (SEG)

The SEG launched on 1 January 2020 and is a government-backed initiative. The SEG requires some electricity suppliers (SEG licensees) to pay small-scale generators (SEG generators) for low-carbon electricity, which they export back to the National Grid, providing certain criteria are met. Please visit the Ofgem website for further information.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS)

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) supports the decarbonisation of heat in buildings. It provides up front capital grants to support the installation of heat pumps and biomass boilers in homes and non-domestic buildings in England and Wales.

Acting on behalf of property owners, installers can apply for:

• £5000 off the cost and installation of an air source heat pump
• £5000 off the cost and installation of a biomass boiler
• £6000 off the cost and installation of a ground source heat pump, including water source heat pumps