Substack diary no.132: Thursday, 23rd. April 2026

I was pleased to read in the national press this morning that a company I worked for is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The final few years of my working life were made utterly miserable by this company, and on numerous occasions I made it known that I was deeply concerned about what I suspected might be fraudulent activity, if not by the company itself then by a company that provided ‘leads’ for work. This will be a highly convoluted investigation given the complexities of the Government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme, which in my view must also take some of the blame.

The aim of improving the energy efficiency of homes in Britain was laudable. By the early 2000’s it was well known that British homes were built to almost the poorest insulation standard in Europe. It was also well known that Britain, virtually alone amongst north European countries, had a unique and devastating health and social problem referred to as ‘fuel poverty’. ECO was one of the main tools in the Government’s armoury for tackling energy inefficiency and fuel poverty. It was a poorly designed scheme aimed at delivering energy efficiency ‘on the cheap’ by passing the buck from the taxpayer to the energy companies – and therefore onto energy bill payers. Perversely, one of the main reasons for its labyrinthine complexity was to reduce or even eradicate fraud!

Whilst it brings back painful memories I shall keep an eye on developments. I hope there will be lessons learned, not just for the companies concerned but for the energy companies, the energy regulator (Ofgem) and the Government itself. There can be no excuse for poor policy-making at the highest level.