Grants and co-financing
Heat Pump Grants
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Rt Hon Claire Coutinho MP and Lord Callanan
PUBLISHED 23 OCTOBER 2023.
Press release
Heat pump grants increased by 50%
Homes can get £7,500 to install a heat pump, meaning they can be cheaper than gas boilers, thanks to one of the most generous schemes in the Europe.
Get up to 7,500 off the cost of new heat pump through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
Families can install a heat pump for cheaper than the average gas boiler, thanks to an increase in government grants available from today. As promised by Prime Minister as part of the government’s pragmatic approach to net zero, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme will offer £7,500 towards the cost of a new heat pump – a 50% increase in the support available for air source models and making it one of the most generous schemes in Europe.
Estimates place the typical cost of buying and installing a gas boiler at between £2,500 and £3,000 and starting prices for heat pump for heat pumps can now be below this for some households, when taking advantage of the grant and additional discount offered by energy suppliers.
The increased grants form part of the government’s pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach t reaching net zero – reducing costs on British (after huge – reducing costs on British families (after huge pressures families have over the last couple of years) while meeting international commitments.
Today, the government is also:
- Making £10 million available through the Heat Pump Ready programme to support innovation in the heat pump sector to cut installation costs even further.
- Launching ‘Welcome Home to Energy Efficiency’ a new campaign to help people improve the energy efficiency of their home and lower their bills over winter.
Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said:
“No one should have to choose between cutting emissions – our pragmatic approach means we can continue to deliver on our ambitious net zero targets without unfairly hitting the pockets of hard working families.”
“From today, for some households starting prices for heat pumps could now be be below the average gas boiler, as we have increased the cash grants 50% to £7,500 – making our scheme one of the most most generous in Europe.”
“This will help thousands of people across the country reduce their energy use and keep their homes warm.”
Customers do not have to apply for the grants and can check their eligible on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/apply-boiler-upgrade-scheme/check-if-youre-eligible.
Anyone interested just needs to agree a quote for the with an MCS certified installer, who then to all the paper work. Ofgem will simply contact the customer after that to confirm they would like to proceed.
As well as increasing the air source heat pump grant from £5,000 to £7,500, ground source heat pump grants have risen from from £6,000 to £7,500, and house holds can still access 5,000 grants for biomas boilers.
Organisations can now apply for a share of the latest round of the Heat Pump R eady programme, which will support innovation projects that would make heat pumps cheaper, quicker or easier to install and would improve the customer experience of using a heat pump.
The Welcome Home to Energy Efficiency campaign will encourage families to improve their home’s energy efficiency, with adverts across the television, on-demand services, podcasts, print and billboards. They will include a range of recommended measures such as:
- Checking loft and wall insulation
- Upgrading to a heat pump, using the bumper grant
- Installing solar panels to power a heat pump and save even furthe
Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said:
“Making out housing stock more energy efficient not only furthers our net zero ambitions but enables families to cut their energy use and reduce their bills.”
Welcome Home to Energy Efficiency will help people identify measures that will work for them, and in turn create street upon street of warmer homes.”
Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants can be used alongside support from the £1 billion Great British Insulation Scheme for more than 300,000 homes, including the most vulnerable families in England, Wales and Scotland. This ensures the most energy inefficient homes can keep more of their heat indoors and replace their inefficient gas boilers with the latest technology.
Consumers can also give their home an energy efficiency MOT now at a new dedicated website: gov.uk/energy-efficient-home (http://energy-efficient-home.campaign.gov.uk/).
To prevent hardworking people being burdened with high costs, the government is delaying the ban on installing oil and liquified petroleum gas boilers, and new coal heating, for off-gas-grid homes from 2026. Some of these homes are not suitable for heat pumps, so this ensures homeowners are not having to spend around £10,000 to £15,000 on upgrading their homes in just 3 years’ time.
The government has also set an exemption to phase out the fossil fuel boilers, including has, in 2035, so that households will not have to switch to a heat pump if their home is not suitable.
Note to editors
Organisations can bid for a share of the latest round of funding from the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio’s Heat Pump Ready programme
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/heat-pump-ready-programme-stream-2-wave-2-opportunities.
Apply for the Great British Insulation scheme
https://www.gov.uk/apply-great-british-insulation-scheme
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme, already a 450 million funding pot, will also receive an allocation from the 6 billion allocated for energy efficiency and clean heat over 2025 to 2028, so the future budget is not fixed.
Homes may not be suitable for a heat pump if they need expensive energy efficiency upgrades (particularly solid wall insulation that can cost (10,000 to 15,000) or if they would need a significantly upgrade electricity connection that may not be feasible. Will explore alternative approaches to decarbonising off the gas grid homes via a consultation next year. The consultation will make clear we do not propose that any household installs a low carbon option which is not suitable for their home.