Faulty installations can have wider impacts on households, beyond just living in unsafe, damp or mouldy homes. Respondents to Ofgem’s survey of people who used its ECO helpline reported being left without central heating over winter and having to seek alternative accommodation, wider damage to their homes such as water damage to ceilings, and having to pay hundreds of pounds to replace carpets and repair decoration.19 Written evidence submitted to us by National Energy Action and Severn Wye Energy Agency highlighted the physical, emotional and financial distress that can be caused by retrofit failures.20 Zak Ashraf gave evidence to the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee in February 2025 about the failed ECO4 retrofit of his mother’s house–he described how his mother had had to move out of her home, and how he had lost sleep over and was exhausted from pursuing the drawn-out remediation process.21 Finding and fixing the defects