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 NP10–NP20 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 you sit within Newport City Council's LA Flex route as a low-income household or one with a cold-home health condition, you can apply for a 100% free ECO4 boiler replacement. Newport is on the Wales & West Utilities gas network and the parallel Welsh Government Nest scheme is also worth checking.
Pillar guides: Free boiler upgrade · ECO4 eligibility · LA Flex grants
NP10–NP20
Postcode coverage
Wales & West Utilities
Gas Distribution Network
LA Flex active
Newport City Council
£0
Cost to qualifying households
There are two routes for Newport 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? Newport City Council runs its own referral route through the LA Flex Statement of Intent.
Bottom line: If your address is in NP10–NP20, you claim a qualifying benefit or fall under Newport City Council's LA Flex criteria, and your EPC is D-G, the eligibility check is a 49-second form.
Newport's housing has three distinctive cohorts. The first is the densely-packed Victorian and Edwardian terrace stock along the Usk valley — Pillgwenlly (NP20, ~2,960 households dominated by terraces), Maindee (NP19), and the streets around Stow Hill and Commercial Street — typically solid-wall, two-up two-down rows that housed dock and steel workers. The second is Bettws (NP20) — one of the largest single 1960s housing estates in Europe, where the large majority of houses are identical in plan and design, and where the tenure split (51.8% privately owned, 42.6% rented from Newport City Council or a housing association) gives unusually consistent retrofit opportunities at scale. The third is the village fringe — Caerleon (with its Roman heritage), Rogerstone, Marshfield and Lliswerry — mixing Victorian cottages, inter-war semis and 1990s-and-later expansion. For ECO4 the strongest catchment is the Pillgwenlly / Maindee terrace belt for combined boiler-replacement and insulation packages, and Bettws for the volume FTCH opportunity on its ex-council blocks.
Total dwellings
67,000
as of 2021 Census
Private sector
—
owner-occupied + rented
Social housing
—
registered providers
Bottom line: Newport'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.
Wales & West Utilities is the Gas Distribution Network operator for Wales and the South-West — that includes every NP10–NP20 postcode.
~10 m connection
£500–£800
50 m+ connection
£1,500–£2,500
If your property is already on the gas main — most Newport addresses are — there is nothing to pay. ECO4 funds the boiler, internal pipework, controls, meter installation, and safe removal of the old system.
Wales & West Utilities's indicative pricing toolBottom line: Almost every Newport address (NP10–NP20) is already on the Wales & West Utilities gas main, so the connection cost is £0. The rare off-main cases sit on the outer fringes and pay Wales & West Utilities separately for the new connection.
Nest (Welsh Government's Warm Homes Nest) is the parallel devolved scheme. Newport households should run a check across both — Nest does not require an existing benefit claim and uses its own income / property test; ECO4 runs through Newport City Council's LA Flex referrals.
NestBottom line: Nest runs in parallel with ECO4 — the eligibility tests are independent, so check both before you decide which to apply for first.
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 Newport 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. Welsh households continue to apply through the Nest scheme, with additional Warm Homes Plan funding allocated to Wales via Barnett Consequentials.
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, two-up two-down brick with rear extension, three-bed
Existing system
EPC band E — 1998 non-condensing combi at end of life, single-zone Y-plan controls, no TRVs
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 D; 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 NP10–NP20 installs, not a single named customer.
Bottom line: Typical Newport 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 NP20 Pillgwenlly pattern above is representative.
Total install value typically £4,000–£8,000.
Most Newport 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 Newport.
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 Newport ECO4 job runs five to seven weeks. The wizard above is the fastest start — or call +44 7375 868046.
Newport 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 sits within Newport City Council's LA Flex route as a low-income household, or one with an underlying health condition exacerbated by living in a cold or damp house.
Yes — Newport City Council launched its ECO4 Flex scheme in June 2023, and a July 2024 delivery report to Cabinet confirmed the route is active. The framing is deliberately broader than a single income test: it targets low-income or health-vulnerable households whose home condition is making illness worse.
ECO4 and Nest are independent. Nest (Warm Homes Nest, delivered for Welsh Government by Energy Saving Trust) provides a free package of home-energy improvements for eligible Welsh households and uses its own income / property test, not a benefit claim. ECO4 runs in parallel through Newport City Council's LA Flex referrals and the energy-supplier obligation network. The pragmatic order in Newport is normally a parallel check — your installer will tell you which lands the measure faster.
Wales & West Utilities. All NP10–NP20 postcodes sit on the WWU network, the same GDN that covers Cardiff, Swansea and Plymouth. ECO4 covers the new boiler, internal pipework, meter installation and removal of the old system at no cost. A new connection from your meter back to the WWU main is separate — WWU publishes its connection-cost pages and a new-connections quote form.
Pillgwenlly is dominated by Victorian terraces (around 2,960 households across the suburb) and Maindee carries a similar mix of pre-1919 terraced stock. The strongest scoring package is an A-rated condensing combi replacement plus loft top-up to 270mm and cavity-wall fill on the rear extension where present. Solid-wall insulation on the front of the terrace is in scope where the property is not in a Conservation Area.
Often yes. Bettws is one of the largest single 1960s housing estates in Europe and 42.6% of its housing remains in council or housing-association ownership. Many of the privately-owned flats and houses retained early-generation cavity walls and non-condensing combis from the 1990s, which qualifies them for ECO4 boiler-replacement plus cavity-wall fill. Some blocks with electric storage heaters also qualify for First-Time Central Heating subject to a survey.
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 Newport 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
Newport City Council — Energy Company Obligations (ECO4) page
last updated 2023-06-01
Newport City Council — ECO Flexible Eligibility Statement of Intent
LA Flex thresholds and vulnerability criteria
Wales & West Utilities — new gas connection page
GDN-side connection-cost guidance
ONS Census 2021 — Newport local-authority area (W06000022)
Dwelling counts for Newport (2021 Census)
Welsh Government — Energy Performance of Buildings stats
Regional EPC band distribution
Page reviewed: .
49-second form. No commitment. No cost. NP10–NP20 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.
