- The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is getting a multi-million pound boost next year
More households will get heat pump grants worth up to £7,500 as the Government has added more cash to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS).
It is also scrapping red tape around the green devices, including getting rid of a rule which means planning permission is needed to install a heat pump less than a metre away from someone else’s property.
The BUS gives grants of up to £7,500 to households for fitting a heat pump to their property, the idea being to encourage the take-up of greener heating technology.
The Government announced today it is putting in an extra £30million in this financial year, and doubling the BUS to £295million in 2024/25.
The extra cash means an additional 4,000 homes will benefit from a cut-price heat pump this year, assuming each one gets the full £7,500.
However, demand for heat pumps has always trailed behind the funding of the scheme since it launched in 2022.
The BUS paid out £88.8million in 2023/24, against a budget of £150million, while in 2022/23 the BUS paid out £51million.
Pump it up: The Government is adding huge sums to a scheme to encourage heat pump uptake
The Government is also tearing up red tape that deterred many homes from getting a heat pump.
This includes relaxing rules which aim to limit the effects of heat pump noise.
The current system includes a notorious ‘one-metre rule’ that states if a household fits a heat pump less than one metre from another property’s boundary then they need planning permission.
The Government is planning to scrap this requirement, and the Conservative administration also removed the previous need for homes to have loft or cavity wall insulation before applying for a BUS grant.
The BUS changes are part of the Government’s wider Warm Homes Plan, which aims to improve the properties of low-income homeowners and private tenants in homes with EPC ratings of D to G to at least C.
The scheme currently includes plans to give grants of £15,000 per home towards heat pumps and £15,000 towards better insulation, but with little further detail.
The Warm Homes Plan would oversee £3.2billion of investment from 2025 to 2026, helping up to 300,000 homes, the Government also announced today.
Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy, said: ‘More than a third of customers who order a heat pump drop out because of planning issues, leaving them stuck with dirty, inefficient gas boilers. Removing outdated and unnecessary red tape is an urgent priority to grow this sector and get low cost, safe, clean heating technology into British homes.’
Stew Horne, head of policy at the Energy Saving Trust, said: ‘This package of announcements brings welcome detail on how the UK government will support people in practice to install low carbon heating and incentivise the supply chain to meet demand.
‘We welcome the removal of a key barrier to heat pump installation and confirmation of additional funding for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.’
