Maximising Energy Savings and Minimising Environmental Impact through Government Backed Initiatives & Consumer-Funded Projects

Transform Your Home: Save Energy, Cut Bills & Increase Value

At The Eco Advisory Bureau, we help UK homeowners navigate the complex landscape of energy efficiency grants and home upgrades with confidence. Our expertise ensures you access every available funding stream, install measures in the optimal sequence, and transform your property into an energy-efficient, future-ready home that saves money and increases comfort.

Why Sequence Matters: Maximising Your Grant Eligibility

Many homeowners unknowingly forfeit thousands in grant funding by installing measures in the wrong order. Our strategic, whole-of-house planning ensures you claim every eligible grant before opportunities close.

Critical timing example: Installing solar PV before claiming ECO4 or Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) loft and cavity wall insulation can permanently disqualify you from these grants, costing up to £6,000 in lost funding. Our sequenced approach prevents this costly mistake.

The Eco Advisory Bureau:
Advice You Can Trust

We coordinate access to all major UK energy efficiency and renewable energy schemes, including:

ECO4 Scheme (Energy Company Obligation) – Free or heavily subsidised insulation, heating upgrades, and renewable installations.
Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) – Targeted loft and cavity wall insulation funding
Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) – Grants of £7,500 for air source heat pumps and biomass boilers
Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) – Get paid for surplus solar electricity you export to the grid
Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) – Support for off-gas grid properties
Local Authority grants – Regional funding programmes across England, Scotland, and Wales
Energy Savings Trust schemes – Including interest-free loans for energy improvements
VAT relief schemes – Reduced VAT rates on eligible energy-saving installations

Our Strategic Four-Step Process:
Maximising Grants, Minimising Costs

Step 1:

Foundation First – Insulation & Fabric Improvements

We begin where every efficient home must start: reducing heat loss through comprehensive insulation.

Through the ECO4 Scheme and Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS), we secure free or heavily subsidised upgrades including:

Loft insulation – Save up to £225 annually, prevent 25% of heat loss
Cavity wall insulation – Save up to £300 annually, stop 35% of heat escaping
Solid wall insulation (internal/external) – Essential for pre-1920s properties, save up to £450 yearly
Underfloor insulation – Eliminate cold floors and draughts, save up to £70 annually
Room-in-roof insulation – Optimise converted loft spaces
Draught proofing – Professional sealing of windows, doors, and openings to eliminate cold air infiltration
LED lighting upgrades – Replace high-energy incandescent bulbs throughout with efficient LED alternatives, saving up to £65 annually

Why this comes first: ECO4 and GBIS eligibility rules often require assessment of your property's current Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating. Installing solar panels or other renewable systems before claiming insulation grants can change your EPC rating, potentially disqualifying you from fabric-first funding worth thousands of pounds.

Our grant coordination guarantee: We conduct a comprehensive eligibility assessment across all schemes simultaneously, then structure installations in the sequence that captures maximum funding. This strategic planning alone typically saves clients £3,000–£8,000 in otherwise-missed grant opportunities.

About GBIS

About ECO4

Step 2:

Efficient Heating Systems & Heat Pumps

Once your home's thermal envelope is optimised, we upgrade your heating system to work efficiently within that well-insulated space.

Available through ECO4 and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS):

Free boiler replacements – Modern A-rated condensing boilers for eligible households (ECO4)
First-time central heating – Complete system installation for homes without existing heating (ECO4)
Air source heat pumps – £7,500 BUS grant available, reducing running costs by up to 50% compared to oil heating
Ground source heat pumps – £7,500 BUS grant, ultra-efficient renewable heating
Hybrid heating systems – Combining heat pumps with existing boilers for optimal efficiency

Why this comes second: Heat pumps and modern boilers perform most efficiently in well-insulated homes. Installing heating before insulation forces systems to work harder, increases running costs, and may affect your BUS grant eligibility assessment. Proper sequencing ensures your heating system is correctly sized for your home's actual heat loss after insulation, preventing oversizing and maximising efficiency.

About ECO4

Step 3:

Solar PV, Battery Storage & Revenue Generation

With your home thermally efficient and heating optimised, we introduce renewable energy generation that can dramatically reduce bills and even generate income.

Solar PV installations with Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) registration:

Free solar PV panels – Available through ECO4 for eligible properties
Purchased solar systems – Typically 4–6 year payback period with battery storage
Smart battery storage – Store surplus generation for evening use, reducing grid dependency by 70–85%
SEG export payments – Earn money selling surplus electricity, with rates currently ranging from 4p to 24p per kWh depending on supplier and time-of-use tariffs

Why this comes third: Installing solar PV before securing ECO4 or GBIS insulation grants can permanently disqualify you from fabric improvements worth thousands. Additionally, correctly sized solar and battery systems depend on understanding your post-insulation energy consumption patterns. Our sequencing ensures your renewable system is optimally specified for your actual needs.

Smart battery management includes:

Real-time grid price monitoring – Automatically exports stored electricity when rates peak
Time-of-use tariff optimisation – Charges batteries during off-peak periods, exports during peak pricing
Load management – Prioritises household consumption, then storage, then export
Weather prediction integration – Optimises battery charging based on forecast generation

Some of our clients with optimised systems and favourable SEG rates now see quarterly payments from energy suppliers rather than bills during summer months.

Step 4:

Smart Home Integration Control, Efficiency & Independence

The final layer transforms your efficient, renewable-powered home into an intelligently managed ecosystem that maximises savings and convenience.

Complete smart home setup including:

Smart thermostats & TRVs – Room-by-room temperature control, save an additional 10–15% on heating costs
Smart plugs and switches – Eliminate vampire power drain, schedule devices for off-peak usage
Energy monitoring displays – Real-time visibility of generation, consumption, and costs
Voice control integration – Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple HomeKit compatibility
Unified app management – Control heating, lighting, appliances, and monitor solar generation from one interface

Accessibility benefits: Smart home technology provides crucial independence for elderly, vulnerable, and disabled residents, enabling voice-controlled heating adjustment, automated lighting, and remote monitoring by family members or carers.

Our Whole-of-House Methodology: Why Sequential Planning Delivers Superior Results

Unlike installers who focus on individual measures, The Eco Advisory Bureau employs a strategic, whole-of-house approach that treats your property as an integrated system.

Our proven methodology:

Comprehensive grant eligibility audit – We assess your qualification for ECO4, GBIS, BUS, HUG, local authority schemes, and all regional programmes simultaneously
Sequential installation planning – We structure upgrades in the precise order that maximises grant capture while building efficiency logically
EPC impact analysis – We model how each measure affects your Energy Performance Certificate rating to prevent grant disqualification
System sizing optimisation – Heating and solar systems are specified based on post-insulation performance, not current inefficient consumption
Ongoing monitoring and support – Post-installation guidance ensures systems perform as designed

This approach typically delivers:

£3,000–£12,000 additional grant funding captured through optimal sequencing
30–50% greater energy savings compared to piecemeal installations
Faster payback periods on purchased measures
Higher property valuations (improved EPC ratings increase home value by average 5–20%)
Elimination of retrofit complications caused by poor planning

Quality Standards: Every Partner Personally Vetted

All installation partners meet the highest industry standards and undergo our additional vetting process:

TrustMark registered – Government-endorsed quality standard
PAS 2030/2035 certified – Energy efficiency installation and coordination competency
MCS certified – Microgeneration Certification Scheme for renewable installations
Gas Safe registered – Legal requirement for all gas heating work
HIES member – Home Insulation & Energy Systems quality assurance
RECC approved – Renewable Energy Consumer Code protection

Our additional verification: Beyond industry accreditations, we personally audit installer track records, customer satisfaction ratings, and workmanship quality. We only recommend partners who consistently demonstrate exceptional standards and customer care.

Who We Help:
No One Excluded

Our service supports all UK residents pursuing energy efficiency:

Homeowners – Private properties in England, Scotland, and Wales
Private tenants – With landlord permission for qualifying measures
Landlords – Improve rental property EPC ratings and tenant satisfaction
Social housing tenants – Access schemes through housing associations
Off-gas grid properties – Specialist support through HUG and rural schemes

Eligibility is broader than many assume. ECO4 and GBIS include flex provisions allowing up to 50% of measures to be installed in properties that don't meet core benefits-based criteria. We navigate these complex rules to find funding pathways others miss.

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what is

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) is a government energy-efficiency scheme in Great Britain, designed to tackle fuel poverty and help reduce carbon emissions. ECO4 is the most recent obligation placed on energy companies to deliver energy efficiency measures to domestic premises. Unlike previous ECO schemes the new ECO4 grant is intended to be accessible to a wider range of people and more fuel impoverished homes. This next phase offers improved energy efficiency measures and scoring methodology to ensure the least energy efficient homes and properties of vulnerable and fuel poor homeowners are reached first and receive greater support. ECO4 is not a grant scheme; it is up to the energy companies to determine which retrofit projects they choose to fund, the level of funding they provide, and the Retrofit Coordinator and installers that they choose to work with.

In recent years energy companies have been accumulating funds to pay for the initiatives under ECO4. This money has been funded by you the bill payer. What you may not know is that we have all been paying a green levy on our energy bills of around 8%, which energy companies will use to fund the initiatives as part of ECO4

ECO4 measures were able to be delivered from the 1 April 2022 and will run until 31 March 2026.

ECO4 focuses on improving the least energy efficient homes and households in fuel poverty, as only properties in bands D-G can be treated. It also aims to deliver a more complete upgrade of those homes, shifting to a multi-measure whole-house retrofit approach. Furthermore, a minimum number of private tenure homes in energy efficiency rating band E, F and G must be upgraded throughout ECO4, ensuring the least efficient homes are treated.

ECO4 has delivered 3.1m insulation, heating, and other measures to over 2.3m households.

ECO4 is primarily focused on the most vulnerable in our society – delivering an estimated average cost savings of £290 per year for those households.

The total cost savings delivered by ECO3, the previous scheme to Eco 4 is estimated to be worth £8.253b.

The Insulation Assurance Authority (IAA) stated in their most recent report that retrofitted properties have collectively saved £6.2 billion.

Statistics from The National Energy Action Charity show England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are on target to hitting fuel poverty targets.

There is a new Minimum Requirement (MR) to improve the energy efficiency rating of band D and E homes to at least a band C and band F and G homes to at least a band D. ECO4 aims to encourage the installation of various energy efficient measures such as insulation measures, first time central heating, renewable heating, and district heating connections and whats more it is all offered at no cost to you, the homeowner or renter

For more information on SAP band requirements, MRs, and ECO4 measures, please refer to our Draft ECO4 Guidance: Delivery.

The Great British Insulation Scheme GBIS

100% FREE Insulation Upgrades for your home. NO BENEFITS REQUIRED!.

If you are a Homeowner or Tenant and your home must fall within Council Tax Bands A - D. Your home will need to have an energy efficiency rating of D - G which you can check at Find an Energy Certificate.

See If You Qualify

Find Out More

The Great British Insulation Scheme

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