ECO4 Installers Cornwall 2026 — Free Solar, Insulation & Heat Pumps

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is the UK government's main scheme for tackling fuel poverty by funding energy efficiency measures in low-income and vulnerable households. ECO4 is the fourth iteration of the scheme, running from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2026 (recently extended to 31 December 2026).

It is funded entirely by the seven largest UK energy suppliers — British Gas, EDF, E.ON, Octopus (post-Bulb merger), OVO, ScottishPower and Shell Energy — who are legally obligated by Ofgem to deliver energy savings each year. Suppliers contract with TrustMark-registered installers (CCS is one) to deliver measures on the ground.

For the eligible Cornish household, ECO4 is genuinely free at point of use. There is no application fee, no contribution, no contract you sign with the supplier — the funding flows from the obligated supplier to the installer, you simply receive the upgraded heating, insulation or solar.

ECO4 differs from earlier ECO schemes by requiring a whole-house PAS 2035 retrofit assessment before any measures are installed. This means assessors look at the property holistically (heat loss, ventilation, moisture, fabric condition, occupancy) rather than installing a single measure in isolation.

To qualify for ECO4 in Cornwall, you must satisfy both of these tests:

Test 1: Income or benefit (the "household" test). You qualify if any member of your household receives one or more of the following:

• Universal Credit
• Pension Credit (Guarantee or Savings)
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
• Income Support
• Housing Benefit (working-age only — pension-age Housing Benefit moved to Pension Credit)
• Child Tax Credit (with household income under £19,995 with 1 child or £24,995 with 2+ children)
• Working Tax Credit (with the same income thresholds)
• Child Benefit (subject to income tapering)
• An LA Flex referral from Cornwall Council (see section below)

Test 2: Property (the "tenure and EPC" test). You qualify if:

• You are an owner-occupier, OR a tenant in a privately-rented property where the landlord has consented in writing, OR a social housing tenant where the housing association has signed up for ECO4 delivery.
• Your property has an EPC rating of D, E, F or G. (EPC A, B or C properties are not eligible.)
• If you have no EPC, we can arrange one as part of the survey — there's no cost to you.

Cornwall's housing stock is older than the UK average and a high proportion (around 38%) of owner-occupied homes sit in EPC D–G. Combined with high benefit penetration, the council estimates 78,000 Cornwall households meet both tests.

ECO4 funds a wide range of energy efficiency measures, but the precise mix at your property depends on the PAS 2035 retrofit assessment outcome. The most common Cornwall ECO4 measures are:

• External wall insulation (EWI) — typical Cornwall cavity-wall granite cottages benefit hugely. £8,000–£18,000 install value, fully funded under ECO4.
• Cavity wall insulation — straightforward in 1930s–1980s Cornwall semis and detached. £400–£900 value.
• Loft insulation top-up to 300mm. £400–£700 value.
• Room-in-roof insulation for converted Cornish bungalows. £2,500–£5,500 value.
• Air source heat pump installation — fully funded if the property currently has electric storage heaters or an inefficient boiler. £11,500–£16,800 install value, often paired with first-time central heating.
• Solar PV panels — fully funded for eligible Cornwall households (the only nationally-funded "free solar" route currently). £6,000–£9,000 install value. See further detail below.
• Modern electric storage heater upgrades (Quantum, Dimplex) — if oil/LPG replacement isn't feasible.
• Ventilation upgrade — almost always installed alongside insulation under PAS 2035 to prevent damp.

The PAS 2035 assessment determines which combination delivers the best EPC uplift — that's the actual ECO4 funding criterion. We don't choose what to install; the assessment does. This protects against bad-faith installers cherry-picking high-margin work.

For most eligible Cornwall households, the price for ECO4 measures is £0. The energy supplier funds the installation in full and pays the installer directly. There is no contribution, no excess, no hidden fee.

However, ECO4 funding is calculated per-measure based on the projected energy bill saving (the "ABS" — annualised bill saving). In a small number of cases the available funding doesn't cover the full installed cost, and a "homeowner contribution" applies. This is most common when:

• The property has a very large floor area (>180 m²) where solid wall insulation costs exceed standard funding caps.
• The desired upgrade is an air source heat pump in a high-heat-loss property where ECO4 only funds a smaller alternative measure.
• Multiple measures are sequenced and one falls outside the ECO4 score uplift threshold.

When a contribution applies, it is typically £500–£3,000 (vs the full unfunded cost of £8,000–£16,000). We disclose any contribution in writing before any work is committed — there are no surprises.

"ECO4 installers Cornwall prices" is a frequently-searched query and the honest answer is: for the eligible household, the headline cost is zero. The price-comparison sites that quote £4,000–£12,000 are either talking about non-eligible households or about ECO Flex schemes that don't apply to your situation.

If you don't receive a qualifying benefit but you're on a low income or living in vulnerable circumstances, you may still qualify for ECO4 through a Local Authority Flexible Eligibility (LA Flex) referral. Cornwall Council operates an active LA Flex scheme, and any of these criteria can secure a referral:

• Household income below £31,000 per year.
• Property is in fuel poverty (energy costs >10% of household income after housing costs).
• A resident has a long-term health condition exacerbated by cold or damp (asthma, COPD, cardiovascular, dementia, severe mobility limitation).
• A resident is aged 65+ on low income.
• The property is in a Cornwall Council priority fuel-poverty ward (Camborne Treswithian, Redruth Central, Penzance East, Bodmin St Petrocs and others).

Cornwall Council publishes its LA Flex Statement of Intent annually. We assist customers with the LA Flex referral form during the free survey — it adds 7–14 days to the application timeline but unlocks the same ECO4 funding as a benefit-based qualification.

Step by step, here's how a Cornwall ECO4 installation runs from first call to handover:

1. Free eligibility check — 10-minute phone call. We confirm your benefits and EPC, identify whether you go through the benefit route or LA Flex, and book a home survey.
2. Home survey and PAS 2035 retrofit assessment — our surveyor visits, takes measurements, photographs, checks ventilation, and produces a Retrofit Assessment report.
3. Retrofit Coordinator review — an independent PAS 2035 Retrofit Coordinator reviews the assessment and signs off the measure recommendation.
4. ECO4 funding submission — we submit the measure pack to the obligated supplier (typically British Gas, OVO or Octopus in Cornwall) for ECO4 funding approval.
5. Funding approval — typically 21–35 days. You receive a written measure schedule and (in rare contribution cases) a quote for any homeowner contribution.
6. Installation booking — we agree dates with you. Insulation jobs typically 2–5 days. ASHP installations 3–5 days. Solar PV 1–2 days.
7. Installation and Building Control sign-off — all work to PAS 2030 standards. TrustMark and MCS certificates issued.
8. Post-install monitoring — we lodge a new EPC and follow up at 6 months to confirm performance.

If you qualify for ECO4 and have a south, east or west-facing Cornwall roof in reasonable condition, you can have a 3–4 kWp solar PV system installed at zero cost. This is the only nationally-funded "free solar" route currently operating in Cornwall — the various "free solar panels" adverts you see online are usually either ECO4 referrals or PPA-based schemes that aren't free in the long run.

Worth knowing about ECO4 free solar in Cornwall:

• System sizing is capped by ECO4 ABS rules — typically 3–4 kWp (8–10 panels), not the 6–8 kWp you might choose on commercial terms.
• Battery storage is not funded by ECO4 — the funding rules don't currently support it. But ECO4-funded solar can be paired with a self-funded battery later (we offer 0% APR finance for the battery portion).
• You keep the solar export earnings (typically £150–£300/year on a 4 kWp Cornwall system via Smart Export Guarantee). They are yours, not the funding supplier's.
• The system is yours to keep — no rooftop rental, no clawback if you sell the property.

For more on commercial-rate solar see solar panels Cornwall, and our dedicated free solar panels Cornwall page for the eligibility flowchart.

PAS 2035 is the publicly available specification for retrofitting dwellings for improved energy efficiency, published by the British Standards Institution. ECO4 mandates PAS 2035 compliance for all measures installed under the scheme since 1 April 2022, and it's the reason ECO4 is more robust than its predecessors (ECO3, Green Homes Grant).

What it means in practice for a Cornwall ECO4 customer:

• An accredited Retrofit Assessor visits your home and produces a detailed property assessment.
• An independent Retrofit Coordinator reviews the assessment and signs off the measure recommendation.
• Measures are sequenced to avoid moisture and ventilation problems (e.g. you can't fit external wall insulation without checking ventilation first).
• The installer (CCS) holds PAS 2030 accreditation to actually carry out the work to the assessed standard.
• Lodgement and a new EPC follow installation.

This is why ECO4 produces durable results where some earlier free-grant schemes did not. Cornwall has a high proportion of older solid-wall, single-skin granite and cob properties where bolt-on measures without ventilation thought-through have historically caused condensation problems. PAS 2035 stops that.

The three big Cornwall grants stack together carefully:

• ECO4 + BUS — ECO4 funds insulation, ventilation and (sometimes) the heat pump itself. If ECO4 funds the heat pump in full, you can't also claim BUS — only one grant per measure. But if ECO4 funds insulation and you self-fund the heat pump, BUS can pay £7,500 toward it. See our BUS Cornwall page.
• ECO4 + Warm Homes: Local Grant — Cornwall Council's WH:LG fills gaps that ECO4 doesn't cover (window replacement, certain mechanical ventilation, rewiring linked to electrification). Combined value can reach £30,000+.
• ECO4 + 0% VAT — automatic. 0% VAT applies on all energy-saving materials installations to 31 March 2027.

We model the full stack during the eligibility survey so you see the total funding picture before deciding.