ECO4 Closes 31 December 2026 · Warm Homes Plan from 2027 | 7,000+ Installations
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💰Earn £100 Per ReferralBy Peter Davies, ECO4 Analyst
Reviewed
Yes — if you live in IP1–IP9 and either claim a qualifying benefit (Universal Credit, Pension Credit, PIP, ESA, Income Support, Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit) with an EPC of band D–G, or your gross household income is under £31,000 via Ipswich Borough Council's LA Flex Statement of Intent V6.2, you can apply for a 100% free ECO4 boiler replacement. Ipswich is on the Cadent East of England gas network — the same GDN that serves Cambridge, Peterborough and Milton Keynes.
Pillar guides: Free boiler upgrade · ECO4 eligibility · LA Flex grants
IP1–IP9
Postcode coverage
Cadent
Gas Distribution Network
LA Flex active
Ipswich Borough Council
£0
Cost to qualifying households
There are two routes for Ipswich households. Pick whichever applies — you don't need both.
Per gov.uk's Energy Company Obligation page, you qualify if you receive any of:
No qualifying benefit? Ipswich Borough Council runs its own referral route through the LA Flex Statement of Intent.
Bottom line: If your address is in IP1–IP9, you claim a qualifying benefit or fall under Ipswich Borough Council's LA Flex criteria, and your EPC is D-G, the eligibility check is a 49-second form.
Ipswich's housing reflects the town's long history as one of England's oldest continuously-inhabited towns and its 19th-century docks-and-railway industrial boom. The Victorian and Edwardian terrace cohort fills the inner streets around the central peninsula — California, Whitehouse, parts of Whitton (IP1) and the Landseer and Gainsborough districts on the south-east side — typical brick two-up two-down workers' terraces built for the Ipswich docks, the Great Eastern Railway works and the surrounding agricultural-engineering industries (Ransomes Sims & Jefferies, Burton's). The post-war picture adds the large Chantry estate (IP2), built in the late 1950s and early 1960s to replace demolished waterfront housing — a planned council estate of around 3,000+ homes that remains a defining feature of the town's south-west. Priory Heath (IP3) and Whitton (IP1) hold further mid-20th-century social-rented stock. The leafier outer suburbs — Castle Hill (IP1), Rushmere St Andrew (IP4) — are largely owner-occupied 1930s and post-war semis with higher EPC bands. For ECO4 the strongest catchment is the inner Victorian terrace belt plus the Chantry, Priory Heath and Whitton ex-council estates.
Total dwellings
64,000
as of 2021 Census
Private sector
—
owner-occupied + rented
Social housing
—
registered providers
Bottom line: Ipswich's mix of pre-1919 and post-war stock is exactly the catchment ECO4 targets. The mandatory PAS 2035 retrofit assessment will confirm the SAP uplift for your specific address.
Cadent is the Gas Distribution Network operator for the North-West (and much of the Midlands and East England) — that includes every IP1–IP9 postcode.
~10 m connection
£500–£800
50 m+ connection
£1,500–£2,500
If your property is already on the gas main — most Ipswich addresses are — there is nothing to pay. ECO4 funds the boiler, internal pipework, controls, meter installation, and safe removal of the old system.
Cadent's indicative pricing toolBottom line: Almost every Ipswich address (IP1–IP9) is already on the Cadent gas main, so the connection cost is £0. The rare off-main cases sit on the outer fringes and pay Cadent separately for the new connection.
You may have seen the successor scheme called "ECO5" online — there is no ECO5. The government has abolished the Energy Company Obligation model and replaced it with the Warm Homes Plan — a £15 billion programme funded by public investment rather than levies on energy bills. ECO4 still runs until 31 December 2026, so Ipswich households should apply now while the scheme is open.
Low-income grants
£4.4 bn
Warm Homes Social Housing Fund + Local Grant
Boiler Upgrade Scheme
£7,500
per household, clean-heat grant
Delivery moves from Ofgem to a new Warm Homes Agency, with the Social Housing Fund and Local Grant consolidating into a single low-income capital scheme by 2027/28.
Sources: gov.uk — Warm Homes Plan (updated 18 March 2026); Ofgem response to the Warm Homes Plan.
Bottom line: ECO4 closes 31 December 2026. The Warm Homes Plan replaces it from 2027 — apply now while the current scheme is still open and the £4,000–£8,000 install value is fully funded.
Property
Pre-1919 mid-terrace, three-bed two-up two-down with rear extension, solid-brick front and cavity rear
Existing system
EPC band E — 1999 non-condensing combi at end of life, gravity-fed copper pipework, no TRVs, original sash to the front
Measure installed
Old combi removed; new A-rated condensing combi sited in the kitchen; full system flush; new programmable controls and TRVs; loft topped up to 270mm; rear-extension cavity walls drilled and filled.
Outcome
EPC modelled uplift from band E to band C; first-winter heating-bill cut of roughly £550–£750. £0 paid by the household.
Time on site
Boiler swap and cavity-fill completed across two days on site.
Illustrative — based on typical IP1–IP9 installs, not a single named customer.
Bottom line: Typical Ipswich installs deliver a two-band EPC uplift in a single intervention at £0 to the qualifying household. Your individual case depends on the PAS 2035 assessment, but the IP1 Whitehouse pattern above is representative.
Total install value typically £4,000–£8,000.
Most Ipswich addresses are already on the gas main — nothing extra to pay.
Bottom line: If your ECO4 application is approved, the install is £0 — typical install value £4,000–£8,000. The only out-of-pocket case is a brand-new gas-main connection from off-grid, which is uncommon in Ipswich.
Run our wizard or call +44 7375 868046.
A free home survey by an accredited assessor confirms the right measure for your property.
Gas Safe install, building-control sign-off, lodged on the TrustMark Data Warehouse.
Installer chain verified via TrustMark and Ofgem ECO4 Delivery Guidance v4.0.
Bottom line: From the 49-second eligibility check to a commissioned boiler, a typical Ipswich ECO4 job runs five to seven weeks. The wizard above is the fastest start — or call +44 7375 868046.
Ipswich homeowners (EPC band D–G) and private tenants (EPC band E–G, with landlord consent) whose household either claims a qualifying benefit (Universal Credit, Pension Credit, PIP, ESA, Income Support, Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit) or has gross income under £31,000 via Ipswich Borough Council's LA Flex referral. A cold-sensitive health condition can substitute for the income test.
Yes. Ipswich Borough Council publishes its ECO4 Flex Statement of Intent at V6.2 — one of the most-iterated SoIs in East Anglia, reflecting active engagement with Ofgem guidance refreshes. The standard £31,000 gross income threshold applies, supplemented by cold-home vulnerability indicators across the four Ofgem Route 2 proxies.
Cadent Gas's East of England network operates the gas mains across all IP1–IP9 postcodes — the same GDN that covers Cambridge, Peterborough, Milton Keynes and the wider East. ECO4 covers the new boiler, internal pipework, meter installation and removal of the old system at no cost. The connection from your meter back to the Cadent main is separate — Cadent publishes an indicative pricing tool for households needing a new connection.
Often yes. The Chantry estate (IP2) was built in the late 1950s and early 1960s to replace demolished waterfront housing — a planned council estate of around 3,000+ homes, mostly to early Parker Morris standards with cavity walls. Where the original boiler is still in place or has been replaced with a non-condensing combi in the 1990s, an A-rated boiler swap plus loft top-up and cavity-wall fill is the standard package. FTCH is in scope where Economy 7 storage heaters remain.
Ipswich's inner Victorian terrace belt — California, Whitehouse, Landseer, Gainsborough — typically combines a solid-brick front with a cavity rear extension. The strongest scoring package is an A-rated condensing combi replacement plus loft top-up to 270mm and rear-extension cavity-wall fill where present. Solid-wall insulation on the front may need planning consent in parts of the town centre where Conservation Area designations apply.
No. Ipswich Borough Council's Statement of Intent covers IP1–IP9 town postcodes only. The wider Suffolk area — Bury St Edmunds, Lowestoft, Felixstowe and the surrounding districts — is covered by Suffolk County Council and the relevant district councils (West Suffolk, East Suffolk, Mid Suffolk, Babergh) which each publish their own Statements of Intent. Households outside the town should contact their district council energy team.
ECO4 closes 31 December 2026. After that, the £15 billion Warm Homes Plan takes over from April 2027 — funded by public investment rather than energy-bill levies, and delivered by the new Warm Homes Agency rather than Ofgem (gov.uk Warm Homes Plan, updated 18 March 2026). You may have seen the successor scheme called 'ECO5' online — that name is not used by government and no scheme by that title exists. For Ipswich households, the practical effect is straightforward: if you apply under ECO4 before the 31 December 2026 close, the install is funded under ECO4 even if the engineer's visit happens in early 2027; if you start a fresh application after 1 January 2027, you'll be routed through the Warm Homes Local Grant (WHLG), the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund, or the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme depending on your tenure and property. Your local council's energy team continues to handle the referral throughout the transition.
gov.uk — Energy Company Obligation (ECO4)
Qualifying benefits and EPC band rules
Ofgem — ECO4 Delivery Guidance v4.0 (March 2026)
Scheme closure 31 December 2026, measure rules
gov.uk — Warm Homes Plan
£15bn ECO4 successor scheme, updated 18 March 2026
Ipswich Borough Council — Energy Company Obligations (ECO4) page
last updated 2024-01-01
Ipswich Borough Council — ECO Flexible Eligibility Statement of Intent
LA Flex thresholds and vulnerability criteria
Cadent — new gas connection page
GDN-side connection-cost guidance
ONS Census 2021 — Ipswich local-authority area (E07000202)
Dwelling counts for Ipswich (2021 Census)
Ipswich Borough Council — Housing Strategy evidence
Regional EPC band distribution
Page reviewed: .
49-second form. No commitment. No cost. IP1–IP9 households on Universal Credit, Pension Credit, PIP, ESA, JSA, Income Support, Housing Benefit or Child Benefit — start here. Apply under ECO4 now (closes 31 December 2026); the Warm Homes Plan (sometimes searched as "ECO5") replaces it from April 2027.
