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 any of Sandwell's six towns (West Bromwich, Smethwick, Oldbury, Tipton, Wednesbury, Rowley Regis — postcodes B62–B71, DY4 and WS10) 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 Sandwell Council's January 2025 LA Flex Statement of Intent V2, you can apply for a 100% free ECO4 boiler replacement. Sandwell is on the Cadent West Midlands gas network.
Pillar guides: Free boiler upgrade · ECO4 eligibility · LA Flex grants
B62–B71 + DY4 / WS10
Postcode coverage
Cadent
Gas Distribution Network
LA Flex active
Sandwell Council
£0
Cost to qualifying households
There are two routes for Sandwell 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? Sandwell Council runs its own referral route through the LA Flex Statement of Intent.
Bottom line: If your address is in B62–B71 + DY4 / WS10, you claim a qualifying benefit or fall under Sandwell Council's LA Flex criteria, and your EPC is D-G, the eligibility check is a 49-second form.
Sandwell's housing reflects the Black Country's two-century industrial history — glass, locks, foundries, chains, springs — across six historic towns now stitched into a single metropolitan borough. The Victorian workers'-terrace cohort fills Bearwood (B66), Cradley Heath (B64), Smethwick (B66–B67), West Bromwich town (B70) and the streets around Tipton (DY4) and Wednesbury (WS10) — typically solid-brick or unfilled-cavity two-up two-down houses originally built for the surrounding glass-making, lock-making and iron-foundry workforces. The inter-war picture adds bay-fronted semis across Great Barr (B43) and the leafier outer fringes. The post-war picture is where Sandwell's housing is genuinely distinctive — the borough has the highest concentration of non-traditional-construction social-rented stock in the Black Country, including Wimpey No-Fines concrete, BISF steel-frame, Smith system and Airey precast houses. The biggest concentrations sit at Hateley Heath, Friar Park and West Bromwich's Tipton-fringe estates, plus the post-war Wednesbury estates. For ECO4 the strongest catchment combines the Bearwood / Smethwick / Cradley Heath terrace belt for boiler-and-insulation packages and the non-traditional-construction estates for First-Time Central Heating subject to PAS 2035 assessment.
Total dwellings
138,000
as of 2021 Census
Private sector
—
owner-occupied + rented
Social housing
—
registered providers
Bottom line: Sandwell'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 B62–B71 + DY4 / WS10 postcode.
~10 m connection
£500–£800
50 m+ connection
£1,500–£2,500
If your property is already on the gas main — most Sandwell 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 Sandwell address (B62–B71 + DY4 / WS10) 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 Sandwell 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, 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.
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 B62–B71 + DY4 / WS10 installs, not a single named customer.
Bottom line: Typical Sandwell 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 B66 Bearwood pattern above is representative.
Total install value typically £4,000–£8,000.
Most Sandwell 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 Sandwell.
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 Sandwell ECO4 job runs five to seven weeks. The wizard above is the fastest start — or call +44 7375 868046.
Sandwell 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 Sandwell Council's LA Flex referral. A cold-sensitive health condition can substitute for the income test.
Yes. Sandwell Council publishes its ECO4 LA Flex Statement of Intent at V2 (7 January 2025), covering both ECO4 Flex and the Great British Insulation Scheme. The council also publishes separate ECO Flex Guidance Notes for installers, canvassers and contractors to keep doorstep selling honest — Sandwell takes the regulatory side of LA Flex seriously.
Cadent Gas's West Midlands network operates the gas mains across all Sandwell postcodes (B62–B71, DY4, WS10) — the same GDN that covers Walsall, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Dudley and the rest of the Black Country and West Midlands. 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.
Sandwell's inner-Black-Country terrace belt — Bearwood (B66), Smethwick (B66–B67), Cradley Heath (B64) and West Bromwich town (B70) — 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.
Often yes, with extra survey steps. Sandwell has the Black Country's highest concentration of non-traditional-construction social-rented stock — Wimpey No-Fines concrete, BISF steel-frame, Smith system and Airey precast houses at Hateley Heath, Friar Park, the Tipton-fringe estates and parts of Wednesbury. A PAS 2035 retrofit assessment is required before solid-wall fabric measures can be scoped, but boiler-replacement and First-Time Central Heating are routine and score heavily.
Sandwell metropolitan borough was created in 1974 by merging the historic boroughs of West Bromwich, Smethwick, Oldbury, Tipton, Wednesbury and Rowley Regis — six previously-separate Black Country industrial towns. Each town retains its own town centre, postcode range and housing-stock heritage (Smethwick's Victorian glass-making terraces, West Bromwich's iron-foundry terraces, Tipton and Wednesbury's chain-and-anchor heritage, Rowley Regis's nail-making etc). Sandwell Council's Statement of Intent covers all six under one scheme.
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 Sandwell 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
Sandwell Council — Energy Company Obligations (ECO4) page
last updated 2025-01-07
Sandwell 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 — Sandwell metropolitan borough (E08000028)
Dwelling counts for Sandwell (2021 Census)
Sandwell Council — Local Plan housing evidence
Regional EPC band distribution
Page reviewed: .
49-second form. No commitment. No cost. B62–B71 + DY4 / WS10 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.
