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 WV1–WV10 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 the City of Wolverhampton Council's October 2024 LA Flex Statement of Intent V4, you can apply for a 100% free ECO4 boiler replacement. Wolverhampton is on the Cadent West Midlands gas network — the same GDN that serves Walsall, Coventry and the wider Black Country.
Pillar guides: Free boiler upgrade · ECO4 eligibility · LA Flex grants
WV1–WV10
Postcode coverage
Cadent
Gas Distribution Network
LA Flex active
City of Wolverhampton Council
£0
Cost to qualifying households
There are two routes for Wolverhampton 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? City of Wolverhampton Council runs its own referral route through the LA Flex Statement of Intent.
Bottom line: If your address is in WV1–WV10, you claim a qualifying benefit or fall under City of Wolverhampton Council's LA Flex criteria, and your EPC is D-G, the eligibility check is a 49-second form.
Wolverhampton's housing reflects its position at the heart of the West Midlands industrial belt — locks, japanning, motor and aero-engineering all left their mark. The Victorian terrace belt fills Whitmore Reans (WV1), Springfield (WV10), Heath Town (WV10), Blakenhall (WV2) and the streets immediately around the town centre — typically built quickly to house factory workers, often with 9-inch solid brick walls on minimal strip foundations, locally fired red brick on blue brick foundations. The inter-war picture adds the 1930s bay-fronted semis with rendered or pebbledashed upper storeys across Penn (WV4) and Tettenhall (WV6) — middle-class owner-occupied stock with cavity walls and mostly higher EPC bands. The post-war picture adds large Wolverhampton Corporation estates at Bushbury (WV10), Low Hill (WV10) and Fordhouses (WV10) — semi-detached houses with rendered upper storeys, plus the almost-completely-redeveloped Heath Town district (multi-storey flats and maisonette blocks). The borough also includes Bilston (WV14), part of the Black Country coalfields, and Willenhall (WV13). For ECO4 the strongest catchment is the Whitmore Reans / Heath Town / Blakenhall solid-wall belt — penetrating damp is a regular finding on exposed gable ends and chimney breast walls, and a combined boiler + loft + cavity package routinely lifts EPC band E to band C.
Total dwellings
105,000
as of 2021 Census
Private sector
—
owner-occupied + rented
Social housing
—
registered providers
Bottom line: Wolverhampton'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 WV1–WV10 postcode.
~10 m connection
£500–£800
50 m+ connection
£1,500–£2,500
If your property is already on the gas main — most Wolverhampton 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 Wolverhampton address (WV1–WV10) 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 Wolverhampton 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, 9-inch solid brick walls front and rear on blue brick foundations
Existing system
EPC band E — 1998 non-condensing combi at end of life, gravity-fed copper pipework, no TRVs, single-glazed sash to the front, penetrating damp on the exposed gable end
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. Solid-wall insulation scoped as a phase-2 PAS 2035 measure to address the gable-end damp.
Outcome
EPC modelled uplift from band E to band D; first-winter heating-bill cut of roughly £500–£700. £0 paid by the household.
Time on site
Completed in a single day on site.
Illustrative — based on typical WV1–WV10 installs, not a single named customer.
Bottom line: Typical Wolverhampton 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 WV1 Whitmore Reans pattern above is representative.
Total install value typically £4,000–£8,000.
Most Wolverhampton 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 Wolverhampton.
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 Wolverhampton ECO4 job runs five to seven weeks. The wizard above is the fastest start — or call +44 7375 868046.
Wolverhampton 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 the City of Wolverhampton Council's LA Flex referral. A cold-sensitive health condition can substitute for the income test.
Yes. The City of Wolverhampton Council publishes its ECO4 and Great British Insulation Scheme Statement of Intent at V4, dated October 2024, covering both schemes. The standard £31,000 gross income threshold is supplemented by cold-home vulnerability indicators across the four Ofgem Route 2 proxies.
Cadent Gas's West Midlands network operates the gas mains across all WV postcodes — the same GDN that covers Walsall, Coventry, Dudley and Sandwell across the wider 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 — Cadent publishes an indicative pricing tool for households needing a new connection.
Wolverhampton's inner Victorian terrace belt — Whitmore Reans, Heath Town, Blakenhall and Springfield — is typically built with 9-inch solid brick walls on blue brick foundations, with penetrating damp a regular finding on exposed gable ends and chimney breast walls. The strongest scoring package is an A-rated condensing combi replacement plus loft top-up to 270mm. Solid-wall insulation is in scope as a phase-2 PAS 2035 measure and is often the right way to tackle the damp.
Often yes. The Wolverhampton Corporation post-war estates at Bushbury, Low Hill and Fordhouses — typically semi-detached houses with rendered or pebbledashed upper storeys — were built with cavity walls and mostly retained their gas connections. 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.
Yes. Bilston (WV14) and the Wolverhampton-side Willenhall (WV13) are part of the City of Wolverhampton Council boundary, so they're covered by Wolverhampton's Statement of Intent. Note: the Willenhall in Coventry (CV3) is a separate place in the West Midlands — it's a Coventry City Council neighbourhood, not Wolverhampton's.
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 Wolverhampton 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
City of Wolverhampton Council — Energy Company Obligations (ECO4) page
last updated 2024-10-01
City of Wolverhampton 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 — City of Wolverhampton (E08000031)
Dwelling counts for Wolverhampton (2021 Census)
City of Wolverhampton Council — Local Plan housing evidence
Regional EPC band distribution
Page reviewed: .
49-second form. No commitment. No cost. WV1–WV10 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.
