The Boiler Upgrade Scheme: £7,500 that is genuinely still on the table
With ECO4 gone, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) is the largest grant an ordinary homeowner in England can still get — £7,500 towards a heat pump, no means test, applied for by your installer. Here is how it works in 2026 and why it matters even on a site about solar panels.
The scheme in plain terms
BUS is a government grant covering part of the cost of replacing a fossil-fuel heating system — gas, oil or LPG boiler, or direct electric heating — with a low-carbon one. In practice that means an air source heat pump for most homes, a ground source heat pump where land allows, or a biomass boiler in a narrow set of rural cases. The property needs a valid Energy Performance Certificate, you need to own it (owner-occupiers and landlords both qualify), and the heat pump must be installed by an MCS-certified firm.
Two design choices make this scheme unusually consumer-friendly. The money never touches your hands — Ofgem pays the installer, so there is nothing for a middleman to intercept. And the rate is flat, so quotes are directly comparable: every installer is bidding for the same job net of the same £7,500.
Why a solar site keeps talking about heat pumps
Because the two technologies change each other's economics. A typical English home uses 2,700–3,500 kWh of electricity a year; add a heat pump and that figure roughly doubles. More of your solar generation gets used in your own home instead of being exported at a lower rate — and self-consumed kilowatt-hours are worth three to four times exported ones. For off-gas households especially, heat pump first, solar second is the ordering that maximises both grants and savings, which is exactly the sequence we sketch on our current schemes page.
The reverse also holds: if you fit solar without thinking about future heating, you will probably under-size the array. Roof space is finite. A survey that considers both at once costs nothing extra and avoids an expensive second visit from the scaffolders.
Realistic numbers for 2026
An air source heat pump installation typically prices at £10,000–£15,000 before the grant, depending on emitter upgrades and cylinder work, so £2,500–£7,500 net. Running costs depend heavily on what you are switching from: oil and LPG households generally save meaningfully from year one; mains gas households are closer to parity on running costs and are buying carbon reduction and bill stability more than instant savings. Add a 4 kWp solar array at 2026's VAT-free prices (£5,000–£8,000) and the combined package starts to resemble what HUG used to deliver for free — at perhaps a third of its unsubsidised cost.
Checks before you sign anything
Verify the installer at mcscertified.com — without MCS certification there is no voucher, full stop. Make sure the quote shows the £7,500 already deducted and states who handles the Ofgem application (the installer should, as standard, at no charge). Insist on a proper heat-loss calculation rather than a rule-of-thumb sizing; an undersized heat pump is the source of most cold-house horror stories. And get the post-grant price in writing before any deposit. The official scheme rules live on gov.uk if you want them from the source.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme — common questions
How much is the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant in 2026?
£7,500 towards an air source or ground source heat pump, or £5,000 towards a biomass boiler in the limited rural, off-gas cases where biomass qualifies. The grant is flat-rate — it does not vary with income, property size or heat pump cost — and it is deducted directly from your installer's quote.
Do I apply, or does the installer?
The installer applies. Your MCS-certified installer submits the voucher application to Ofgem on your behalf, you confirm consent when Ofgem emails you, and the grant value simply comes off your bill. Anyone offering to "apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme for you" for a fee is selling you something the installer does as routine.
What does a heat pump cost after the grant?
Typical air source heat pump installations in England run roughly £10,000 to £15,000 before the grant, so most households see a net cost of about £2,500 to £7,500. Complexity drives the spread: radiator upgrades, hot water cylinder replacement and pipework alterations are the usual extras. Off-gas homes replacing oil or LPG tend to see the strongest running-cost savings after switching.
Can I get the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and solar panels together?
Yes, and it is the most coherent package available in 2026. The BUS voucher funds the heat pump; the solar panels and any battery are bought separately at 0% VAT. A heat pump roughly doubles a home's electricity use, which means solar self-consumption rises and the panels pay back faster than they would in a gas-heated home. Size the solar system after the heat pump design is fixed, not before.
Is the scheme means-tested?
No. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is open to owner-occupiers and private landlords in England and Wales regardless of income, provided the property has a valid EPC and you are replacing a fossil-fuel or electric heating system. That makes it the rare live scheme worth checking even if you qualify for nothing else.