- The Boiler Improvement Program was very successful during the quarter
A record number of households are receiving a government heating grant of up to £7,500, figures show.
The Boiler Retrofit Scheme (BUS) offers funding to fit a heat pump in properties to encourage the adoption of ‘greener’ heating technology.
The latest figures show that a record 7,090 households received BUS funding in the period from August to October 2024.
That’s a 35 percent increase over the previous three months, and a 204 percent year-over-year increase.
The £53.1 million grants were awarded in August-October 2024 – almost a fifth of all BUS grants paid out since the scheme’s launch in May 2022.
An Ofgem spokesman said the increase in heat pump grants was partly due to the the size of the budget being raised from £5,000 in 2023, with the previous government cutting red tape for minimum insurance requirements in May 2024.
Heat pumps: The Europeans are heating with heat pumps, and the installation grants are very popular
Heat pump installation costs vary, depending on your home, the heat pump you choose, and whether your home requires renovations.
A £7,500 BUS grant may not cover the full cost of getting a heat pump. British Gas, a major heat pump manufacturer, said its starting price was £7,999 for a gas source heat pump, but the average customer paid £13,190.
However, demand for heat pumps continues to decline after all the BUS funding.
BUS paid £88.8million in 2023/24, against a budget of £150million, in 2022/23 BUS paid £51million.
The Government has allocated £180million for BUS for this year 2024/25, with £30million of that. was added last month.
The most common type of heat pump paid for by the BUS is the gas source type, according to Ofgem figures.
Air source heat pump applications to date account for 36,165 or 96.7 percent of all BUS funding.
2.6 percent of the PUS fund, biomass boilers 0.7 percent, and ground source heat pumps 0.06 percent.
The South East was the region that received the most BUS revenue, followed by the South West and the East.
Half of the BUS funds are used to replace gas boilers, and 19 percent renew heating oil systems.
More than a sixth of BUS funding (16.2 per cent) was used to install heat pumps in a house without an existing heating system, while 9.2 per cent replaced electric heaters.
| Enrichment | Area | All allowances | Total % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | South East | 7,433 | 19.9 |
| 2. | South west | 6,863 | 18.3 |
| 3. | East | 5,062 | 13.5 |
| 4. | East Midlands | 3,740 | 10 |
| 5. | Yorkshire and the Humber | 3,598 | 9.6 |
| 6. | North West | 2,940 | 7.9 |
| 7. | West Midlands | 2,857 | 7.6 |
| 8. | London | 1,950 | 5.2 |
| 9. | Warm | 1,930 | 5.2 |
| 10. | The Middle East | 1,044 | 2.8 |
| Source: Ofgem | |||
Labor will promote the adoption of heat pumps as part of its Hot House Plans.
This is an ambitious Government initiative to improve the properties of low-income homeowners and private tenants in homes with EPC ratings of D to G to a minimum of C.
Each eligible home can use the scheme to invest up to £15,000 towards energy efficiency improvements and an additional £15,000 towards low carbon heating, such as heat pumps.
Homeowners and renters don’t have to pay their own bills to improve their homes like this.
However, landlords will pay for improvements to one apartment under the program and then contribute 50 percent of the cost of improvements to each additional apartment.
Chief Executive Rachel Reeves announced in her Autumn Budget that £3.4 billion would be spent on the Warm Homes Plan from 2025 to 2028. The plan aims to improve homes that five million.
