DRIVING uptake of ECO grants in London

Project | A place-based demonstrator to drive uptake of ECO4 in Greater London

PARTNERS | 6-month research & innovation collaboration between the Greater London Authority (GLA) the London Borough of Merton & London South Bank University (LSBU)

Project summary | THE RETROFIT INNOVATION ZONE

An invitation from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to investigate the low uptake of Energy Company Obligation (ECO) grants in Greater London revealed critical insights with far-reaching implications at national, regional, and local level.

ECO is a key pillar in the government’s strategy to alleviate fuel poverty and for the de-carbonisation of the nation’s homes. Yet, since the inception of ECO in 2013, London has lagged behind other regions and nations in Great Britain in the proportional amount of funding its residents receive - a shortfall of over £560m over the lifetime of the grant.

Our project set out to pilot a place-based outreach campaign in Graveney - a fuel-poor ward in Merton - to determine base-line responses to ECO and refine conversion approaches. However, the initiative swiftly revealed a systemic failure: ECO’s tight eligibility constraints and rigid structure excludes many London households and properties from grant-funded retrofit.

These limitations exposed the need for a radical rethink. Employing Ghosts & Gaps in a series of community-based workshops, this research project reframes the retrofit challenge and offers bold alternatives where ECO falls short.

The final report can be downloaded here

The resulting paper advocates for a new Theory of Change, placing the home as a health determinant at the centre, proposing a new customer-centric service ethos to help fuel-poor and vulnerable households get ‘retrofit ready’ and finding solutions for the ‘missing middle’ - the large, underserved heat-vulnerable group who are not deemed poor enough to qualify for benefits, but have insufficient income or borrowing power to self-fund energy saving measures.