Off the gas grid and heating with oil? The Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant rises to £9,000 for eligible properties from 21 July 2026.
A large part of rural Devon was never connected to mains gas. If your heating runs on an oil tank in the garden, or on LPG bottles, you are paying more per unit of heat than almost anyone on the gas grid, and you are the household the government most wants to move across.
That is why the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant for eligible off-gas-grid properties replacing oil or LPG heating rises from £7,500 to £9,000 on 21 July 2026. It applies to air-to-water and ground source heat pumps, and it runs to 31 March 2027.
If your oil boiler is on its last legs, this is the moment to think carefully. Another oil boiler will still be sitting there in 2040, with oil prices doing whatever oil prices do.
The gap between the cost of oil and the cost of electricity is far narrower than the gap between gas and electricity. That means the running-cost case for a heat pump stacks up much sooner.
£9,000 rather than £7,500 from 21 July 2026, on eligible off-gas-grid properties.
No more oil tank in the garden, no more deliveries, no more running out in February, no more watching the price and trying to time a fill.
The outdoor unit needs somewhere sensible to live, and a cylinder needs a cupboard. Properties out here usually have both.
Plenty of rural Devon housing is old, solid-walled and draughty. A heat pump in a building losing heat as fast as you put it in will run constantly, cost a fortune and still leave you cold, and no grant fixes that.
So we survey properly before we quote. A room-by-room heat loss calculation on the actual building, not a rule of thumb. If the answer is that your house needs insulation work first, or that a heat pump is the wrong call altogether, we will tell you at that point rather than after you have signed.
Read more about how the grant works on our Boiler Upgrade Scheme page, or about the systems themselves on our air source heat pump page.
From 21 July 2026, eligible off-gas-grid properties currently heated by oil or LPG can get £9,000 towards an air-to-water or ground source heat pump, up from £7,500. The higher rate runs until 31 March 2027. Your property must not be connected to mains gas.
Usually, on a well designed system, yes. Oil costs considerably more per unit of heat than mains gas, so the gap between oil and electricity is much narrower than the gap between gas and electricity. The saving depends entirely on how well the system is designed and how well the house holds heat, so we work it out for your property rather than quoting an average.
It comes out. That is often one of the bigger attractions, along with never having to order a delivery or watch the level in a cold snap.
Possibly not, and we would rather say so than sell you one. A heat pump works by putting heat in gently and steadily, so a building that loses heat as fast as you add it is a bad candidate. We do a proper heat loss survey and give you an honest answer, including if the answer is no.
Yes. The higher rate is specifically for properties that are not connected to mains gas and are currently heated by oil or LPG. If you are on gas, the grant is £7,500.
No. Hybrid systems combining a fossil fuel boiler with a heat pump are not eligible for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Still on gas? New boilers fitted at a fixed price by Gas Safe registered engineers.
F-Gas qualified installation of air-to-air systems that cool in summer and heat in winter.
Annual servicing, repairs and breakdowns across Exeter and Devon.
