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 PR1–PR5 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 Preston City Council's October 2023 LA Flex Statement of Intent, you can apply for a 100% free ECO4 boiler replacement. Preston is on the Cadent North West gas network. Applications are routed through Cosy Homes in Lancashire (CHIL) — a county-wide council retrofit partnership.
Pillar guides: Free boiler upgrade · ECO4 eligibility · LA Flex grants
PR1–PR5
Postcode coverage
Cadent
Gas Distribution Network
LA Flex active
Preston City Council
£0
Cost to qualifying households
There are two routes for Preston 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? Preston City Council runs its own referral route through the LA Flex Statement of Intent.
Bottom line: If your address is in PR1–PR5, you claim a qualifying benefit or fall under Preston City Council's LA Flex criteria, and your EPC is D-G, the eligibility check is a 49-second form.
Preston's housing reflects the town's role as one of England's earliest cotton-spinning centres — John Horrocks built the city's first spinning mill (the Yellow Factory) in 1791, and by 1927 Preston had 60 working mills. The Victorian and Edwardian terrace cohort fills Avenham (PR1), Plungington (PR1), Deepdale (PR1), Broadgate (PR1), Ashton-on-Ribble (PR2) and Ribbleton (PR1) — typically solid-brick two-up two-down workers' terraces with slate roofs and cellars, originally built for the cotton-mill and railway workforce. Note: Avenham retained mostly middle-class housing after the humbler streets to its east were demolished in the 1950s clearance era. The post-war picture adds large Preston Council estates at Brookfield (PR1), Ingol (PR2), Cottam (PR4) and Sharoe Green / Fulwood (PR2) — typically Parker Morris and 1960s social housing with cavity walls. The leafier outer suburbs — Fulwood, Penwortham (PR1) — are largely owner-occupied 1930s and post-war semis. For ECO4 the strongest catchment is the Plungington / Deepdale / Ribbleton terrace belt, where boiler-replacement-plus-loft routinely lifts EPC band E to band C.
Total dwellings
64,000
as of 2021 Census
Private sector
—
owner-occupied + rented
Social housing
—
registered providers
Bottom line: Preston'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 PR1–PR5 postcode.
~10 m connection
£500–£800
50 m+ connection
£1,500–£2,500
If your property is already on the gas main — most Preston 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 Preston address (PR1–PR5) 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 Preston 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 — 1998 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. Application routed via Cosy Homes in Lancashire.
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 PR1–PR5 installs, not a single named customer.
Bottom line: Typical Preston 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 PR1 Plungington pattern above is representative.
Total install value typically £4,000–£8,000.
Most Preston 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 Preston.
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 Preston ECO4 job runs five to seven weeks. The wizard above is the fastest start — or call +44 7375 868046.
Preston 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 Preston City Council's LA Flex referral. A cold-sensitive health condition can substitute for the income test.
Cosy Homes in Lancashire (CHIL) is a county-wide retrofit partnership formed by all Lancashire councils (including Preston, Lancaster, Pendle, Chorley, Blackpool and others). Preston City Council routes its ECO4 Flex referrals through the CHIL portal — applicants apply once, and CHIL screens for ECO4 Flex eligibility AND any other relevant Lancashire scheme. This single-application model is distinctive: most English councils run their ECO4 Flex referrals in-house rather than through a county partnership.
Cadent Gas's North West network operates the gas mains across all PR1–PR5 postcodes — the same GDN that covers Bolton, Liverpool, Manchester and Stockport. 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.
Preston's inner terrace belt — Plungington, Deepdale, Broadgate, Ashton-on-Ribble and Ribbleton — was built for the cotton-mill workforce after Horrocks's 1791 Yellow Factory and the 60-mill peak in 1927. These two-up two-down terraces typically combine 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.
Often yes. Preston Council's post-war estates at Brookfield, Ingol, Cottam and Sharoe Green were built to early Parker Morris standards with cavity walls and are mostly connected to Cadent's mains. 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.
Avenham in south-west Preston was historically a mixed-income area of grand merchant houses and working-class terraces serving the surrounding cotton mills. The humbler streets to the east of Avenham were demolished as part of the 1950s slum-clearance programme, leaving mostly middle-class housing behind. As a result, today's Avenham terrace stock skews towards higher EPC bands than Plungington or Deepdale and is less consistently ECO4-eligible.
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 Preston 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
Preston City Council — Energy Company Obligations (ECO4) page
last updated 2023-10-30
Preston City 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 — Preston local-authority area (E07000123)
Dwelling counts for Preston (2021 Census)
Preston City Council — Local Plan housing evidence
Regional EPC band distribution
Page reviewed: .
49-second form. No commitment. No cost. PR1–PR5 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.
