My previous blog analysed the geographic distribution of ECO measures installed up to 2015, which highlighted that highest number of ECO measures are installed in North West England. To understand the trend further I have now looked into CERT and CESP data, and to my surprise the same region had received highest number of installations in both previous schemes as well.
As per the CERT and CESP Evaluation Report over 25% of CERT measures and 23% of CESP measures were installed in North West England. The same region has also received highest number of ECO installations (18.7%) up to the end of June 2015. Please see the table below:
| CERT i | CESP ii | ECO (up to June 2015) | |
| Total Installations | 513,755,714 | 293,922 | 1,504,898 |
| Installations in North West England | 128,438,929 | 67,866 | 280,775 |
| % of total installations | 25% | 23% | 18.7% |
| No. of households in receipt of measures in North West England | Not availableiii | 32,299 | 226,684 |
iii Note: The only CERT estimate available is from EST database stating 798,000 households that received professional cavity and loft insulation (source: CERT Parliament Report). EST estimates that data are missing for around 7% of cases that ought to be included.
What is it in North West England that has attracted (and still continues to do so) highest number of installations? Priority to low income areas and fuel poverty cannot be the only factors, as 69% CERT measures were installed in non-priority households (derived from table 4.1 of CERT Final Report). But if they were, the government, obligated suppliers and all of us can take the pride in reducing the plight of hundreds of thousands of low income and fuel poor families in North East England. To further highlight the impact of high concentration of measures, as per the CERT Parliament Report, by the end of CERT the programme had funded professional loft or cavity wall insulations in around one in four dwellings in the North West.
Irrespective of the reasons contributing to such highly skewed concentration of energy efficiency installations, the time has ripen for a better policy approach to ensure that other deserving areas get due attention in future energy efficiency schemes.