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
Pillar guides: Free boiler upgrade · ECO4 eligibility · LA Flex grants
PO1–PO6
Postcode coverage
SGN
Gas Distribution Network
LA Flex active
Portsmouth City Council
£0
Cost to qualifying households
There are two routes for Portsmouth 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? Portsmouth City Council runs its own referral route through the LA Flex Statement of Intent.
Bottom line: If your address is in PO1–PO6, you claim a qualifying benefit or fall under Portsmouth City Council's LA Flex criteria, and your EPC is D-G, the eligibility check is a 49-second form.
Portsmouth is one of England's most densely built cities — a 9 square mile island where roughly 63% of private dwellings are terraced houses (twice the England average of 29%) and nearly half of the private sector pre-dates 1919, again about twice the England average (PCC Statement of Accounts 2024/25). The Victorian and Edwardian two-up two-down terraces of PO1 (Landport, Buckland, Fratton), PO2 (Stamshaw, North End) and PO4/PO5 (Southsea, Eastney) dominate the inner city — most are solid brick with original sash windows, original chimney breasts and 1970s-1990s non-condensing combis or back boilers still in service. Outside the island, the post-war PO6 Paulsgrove and Wymering estates and the 1960s Somerstown / Buckland slab blocks add a large pool of EPC D-E flats running on electric storage heaters. The overall tenure split (PCC 2024/25 Annual Report) is 59% owner-occupied, 22% private rented, 11% council rented and 8% Housing Association — the combination of pre-1939 stock and a large private rented sector makes Portsmouth a high-impact ECO4 city for boiler-replacement, first-time-central-heating and back-boiler-removal measures.
Bottom line: Portsmouth'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.
SGN is the Gas Distribution Network operator for Scotland and Southern England — that includes every PO1–PO6 postcode.
~10 m connection
£500–£800
50 m+ connection
£1,500–£2,500
If your property is already on the gas main — most Portsmouth addresses are — there is nothing to pay. ECO4 funds the boiler, internal pipework, controls, meter installation, and safe removal of the old system.
SGN's indicative pricing toolBottom line: Almost every Portsmouth address (PO1–PO6) is already on the SGN gas main, so the connection cost is £0. The rare off-main cases sit on the outer fringes and pay SGN 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 Portsmouth 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
1900s two-up two-down end-of-terrace, solid-brick walls, original chimney breast and sash windows, three-bed
Existing system
Working non-condensing back boiler behind a tiled gas fire in the front room, paired with a 1990s vented hot-water cylinder in the airing cupboard; EPC band E
Measure installed
Back boiler decommissioned and chimney capped to building-control standards; new wall-hung A-rated condensing combi sited in the kitchen with a fresh balanced flue; old vented cylinder removed; programmable controls and TRVs fitted across the radiator circuit.
Outcome
EPC modelled uplift from band E to band C; first-winter gas demand reduced by roughly a fifth; the household paid £0 (qualified via Universal Credit; EPC E was the deciding SAP-uplift factor).
Time on site
Two days on site for the new install, plus a day for the back-boiler removal and chimney capping the following week.
Illustrative — based on typical PO1–PO6 installs, not a single named customer.
Bottom line: Typical Portsmouth 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 PO2 North End pattern above is representative.
Total install value typically £4,000–£8,000.
Most Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth.
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.
Prefer to contact Portsmouth City Council directly?
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 Portsmouth ECO4 job runs five to seven weeks. The wizard above is the fastest start — or call +44 7375 868046.
Yes. Portsmouth City Council's ECO4 and GBIS Flex Statement of Intent (version 2.0, published 16 December 2025) sets out the council's participation through its Switched On Portsmouth programme. The same joint SoI also covers Havant Borough Council and Gosport Borough Council, so PO1-PO13 households all sit under the same referral framework. Eligibility follows standard Ofgem routes — Route 1 is gross household income under £31,000, Route 2 is the NICE NG6 cold-home vulnerability route (cardiovascular condition, respiratory disease, immune suppression or limited mobility) where income is disregarded if the EPC is D-G. Direct contact: 023 9284 1947 or hello@switchedonportsmouth.co.uk.
SGN (Southern Gas Networks) is the GDN for all Hampshire and West Sussex postcodes including the full PO1-PO6 range. ECO4 covers the new boiler, internal pipework, meter installation and removal of the old system at no cost. The connection from your meter to the SGN gas main is separate, but Portsmouth's island geography means almost every address is already on the gas main and there is nothing extra to pay. The rare off-main cases (typically newer infill plots) run from around £500 for a short distance up to £2,500+ for longer routes. SGN publishes a quick-estimate tool — link it from our gas-network section.
Only if it is non-condensing or broken. ECO4 is governed by Ofgem's SAP-modelled efficiency uplift rules — a working A-rated condensing boiler in a Southsea terrace will not qualify because the SAP improvement would be too small to score. A 1970s-1990s non-condensing combi or a back boiler behind a tiled gas fire — both still common across PO1, PO2 and PO5 pre-1919 stock — is the typical qualifying case. The retrofit assessment (PAS 2035) confirms the band uplift before the install is approved.
Yes — this is First-Time Central Heating (FTCH), one of the highest-scoring measures under ECO4 because moving from Economy 7 storage heaters to a gas combi typically jumps the EPC two bands in a single intervention. Most PO6 ex-council blocks are already connected to the gas main even if individual flats are not. ECO4 covers the boiler, the full radiator set, the pipework and the removal of the existing electric heaters. Disruption is real — expect three to five days on site, with temporary heating provided where needed.
From the eligibility check to a commissioned new boiler, a typical Portsmouth job runs five to seven weeks. The eligibility pass takes 49 seconds. The PAS 2035 retrofit assessment is usually booked within ten working days, with surveyors operating across the island and across to Cosham, Drayton and Farlington. The install itself is two to three days for a standard combi swap, longer for first-time central heating or back-boiler removal because the chimney has to be capped to building-control standards — that part adds about a day.
A landlord can decline the application, but they cannot evict you or raise the rent for asking. Private rental properties qualify at EPC band E-G (one notch stricter than the D-G rule for owner-occupiers) and the upgrade improves the landlord's asset at no cost to them. With nearly a quarter of Portsmouth's stock in the private rented sector — concentrated heavily in PO1, PO4 and PO5 — and the forthcoming Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards uplift to EPC C looming, most South Coast landlords are inclined to say yes. Our installer team handles the landlord-consent paperwork.
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 Portsmouth 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
Portsmouth City Council — Energy Company Obligations (ECO4) page
last updated 2025-12-16
Portsmouth City Council — ECO Flexible Eligibility Statement of Intent
LA Flex thresholds and vulnerability criteria
SGN — new gas connection page
GDN-side connection-cost guidance
Portsmouth City Council Statement of Accounts 2024/25
Dwelling counts for Portsmouth (2024-25)
ONS — Energy efficiency of housing in England and Wales (2023)
Regional EPC band distribution
Page reviewed: .
49-second form. No commitment. No cost. PO1–PO6 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.
