ECO4 Scheme Failures

In a Westminster Hall debate yesterday, I shared the experience of Jackie and her husband, a retired couple from North East Fife whose home was left in a state of disrepair following shoddy retrofit work under the ECO4 scheme.

After filling out an online quiz on the Energy Advice Helpline website, Jackie and her husband found themselves pushed into a pipeline of works with little information, no clear contract, and no project management. The installation left them with poor-quality insulation, damaged woodwork and an unsafe air source heat pump installation, many of these issues remain outstanding over a year later.

During the debate, I outlined a catalogue of failings of the ECO4 Scheme:

·       No independent technical survey

·       No clear oversight or accountability

·       Misleading advice and high-pressure tactics

·       Lack of clear consumer protection or complaints process

I also raised concerns about the wider operation of the ECO4 scheme, highlighting a shortage of qualified retrofit coordinators, poor regulation of contractors, and confusion over who is responsible when things go wrong.

You can watch my full speech here:

In her response, Energy Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh MP acknowledged the issues raised and shared concerns about the impact the damages are having. She also confirmed that the Government have established an expanded programme of checks on households who have been part of the scheme, and that The National Audit Office is also undertaking an investigation into the issues with ECO4 scheme. The Minister also offered to meet with Jackie to take up her specific case.

You can watch the full response here.

I welcome the Minister’s recognition that things aren’t working as they should and I’m glad that they are investigating this. ECO4 is a Government-backed scheme and for my constituents, that comes with an expectation of quality and accountability. The system currently fails homeowners and risks eroding public trust in vital energy efficiency programmes. Jackie’s experience, which is shared by others in my constituency and across the UK, shows the human cost of this broken system: months of stress, financial uncertainty and a home left in disrepair. The Government must take responsibility for fixing this broken system, not just for future customers, but for those already suffering the consequences.

Linda, another North East Fife constituent, who has been impacted by the ECO4 Scheme said:

"We feel there are unscrupulous companies using the ECO4 scheme to make a lot of money by taking advantage of vulnerable, often disabled people. It has had a huge detrimental effect on our health. Shame on them!

"We were pressured to let them start work as they said funding was being suspended and we had only a few days to get all our supporting documents to them. We have since discovered that they were removed from the Council's list of approved installers.

"We have been living in limbo with many unresolved issues, including lukewarm water from our hot water taps, for 9 months now. We are at our wits end and frankly exhausted. Is this how the unscrupulous ECO4 installers win – by wearing their ‘victims’ down until they can take no more? How on earth, in a civilised society, do we find ourselves in this situation as a result of the installer’s abuse of a Government backed scheme?

"Our home, which used to be our sanctuary, is now a constant reminder of the installer's abuse of the Government backed ECO4 scheme.

"There are organisations that are there to protect the homeowner, but our experience is that once an installer loses their membership, due to e.g. non-compliance, these organisations then offer no protection - despite work being carried out while they were still members. Without the help of Wendy Chamberlain MP, we would feel totally abandoned!"