The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has arrested four people on suspicion of a home insulation scam that may have cost energy companies as much as £44m. The SFO and the National Crime Agency said on Wednesday that the unnamed people were arrested in coordinated dawn raids across England on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. The investigation relates to government-mandated support for poorer households to receive upgrades to insulation and heating that could keep their homes warmer, save them money and reduce carbon emissions. The government mandates that energy companies pay for the scheme, known as the energy company obligation 4 (ECO4). The scheme will end in December, to be replaced by the warm homes plan, which also funds solar panels and heat pumps. In January MPs called for the SFO to investigate the home insulation sector amid thousands of reports of households being blighted by disastrous works and large financial costs. Parliament’s public accounts committee criticised the fact that the ECO4 scheme was operated by several different organisations without strong oversight. Ellie Reeves, the government’s …