Heat in Buildings delivery report: 2019-2020

6. Delivery of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in Scotland

Our schemes operate within a broader landscape of energy efficiency programmes operated by the UK Government. Our Area Based Schemes in particular are designed to work in tandem with the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) to provide a blend of funding which can help develop larger schemes and assist the greatest number of households possible.

During 2019/20 Scottish local authorities anticipated that they would leverage £4.5m in ECO funding to contribute towards ABS schemes.

ECO is also a key source of additional leveraged funding to Warmer Homes Scotland. This is managed centrally by Warmworks, our managing delivery agent, on behalf of the supply chain. Just under £700,000 of extra funding was leveraged into Warmer Homes Scotland in 2019/20, an increase over last year resulting in more households receiving assistance.

A total of 32,044 ECO eligible measures were delivered in Scotland throughout 2019/20 which includes some measures funded by our delivery programmes.

Based on Scotland’s share of measures provided through each of the obligations, we estimate that Scotland has benefitted from approximately £558.8m in ECO financing (excluding admin costs) since the scheme began (Jan 2013 to Mar 2020).

Delivery and admin costs would be approximately £59.5m, bringing the total ECO investment in Scotland to approximately £618m.