Suppliers deliver £8.5bn energy bill savings through ECO3 scheme

Ofgem said in total, since the ECO scheme launched in 2013, almost £19.3 billion in estimated lifetime bill savings have been achieved

UK energy suppliers have delivered more than £8.5 billion in estimated lifetime energy bill savings to fuel poor and vulnerable customers through the Energy Company Obligation 3 (ECO3) scheme, Ofgem has confirmed.

ECO is designed to help the UK tackle fuel poverty, maintain the security of the energy supply and reduce household emissions.

ECO3 which ran from October 2018 to March 2022, was the third iteration of ECO – it obligated suppliers to promote measures that effectively reduce energy costs for low income, fuel poor and vulnerable customers.

The energy regulator estimated that when combined with the achievements of earlier ECO schemes over the last ten years, a total of 2.4 million households have been supported.

This has led to combined estimated lifetime bill savings of £19.3 billion and the estimated lifetime carbon savings amount to 58.2 MtCO2e.

Philippa Pickford, Ofgem’s Director of Delivery and Schemes, said: “Unfortunately, in some cases, suppliers left things very late and excessive engagement from us was required to support them with their delivery or reporting obligations.

“Moving forward, we expect suppliers to be far more proactive in their engagement and will have an increasingly low tolerance for those that do not take full responsibility for meeting their obligations – with serious consequences for those that do not.”

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