Understanding the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the newest government-backed energy grant, coming in April 2022. The scheme allows you to:
- Get up to a £6,000 grant towards a heat pump for your home
- Improve your home’s efficiency with a low-carbon heating system
- Reduce your heating bills over time.
Home heating accounts for around 14% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, and therefore, in making your home heating a little greener and switching to a low-carbon alternative, you could be helping to reach the government’s 2050 net-zero target.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is replacing the current Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which will no longer be available from 31st March 2022.
How will the Boiler Upgrade Scheme work?
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme will allow you to get a £5,000 grant towards the cost of an air source heat pump (or £6,000 towards a ground source heat pump). The government is putting around £450 million of funding into the scheme, which should account for approximately 90,000 heat pumps, and the scheme will end when this number of heat pumps has been installed, leaving it open-ended for now.
The government has said that a “proportionately higher grant level in relation to overall cost has been set for air source heat pumps given that the majority of existing properties are suitable for this technology”.
Are you eligible for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme?
There is quite a long list for eligibility, most of which you can find below before applying.
You are eligible for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme if:
You are a homeowner
You have a small business
Your home is in England or Wales
You have a valid EPC that is less than 10 years old*
You’ve built your own home.
*There are some further rules around EPCs that are required. Your EPC is only eligible or valid if:
It contains no recommendations for loft or cavity wall insulation
It contains a recommendation for either loft or cavity wall insulation but you add the extra insulation prior to having your heat pump installed
It contains an insulation exemption, such as in the case of a listed building.
If your home is a self-build, you won’t need an EPC to qualify, because you’ve likely had to follow eco-friendly building regulations and practices when applying for planning permission.
You will not be eligible if you live in social housing or a new-build property, or if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
How to apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
Applications for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme will be welcomed from the 23rd May 2022, though installations commissioned from 1st April will be eligible. Your MCS accredited Installer will apply for the grant on your behalf. You cannot apply yourself, unlike the other boiler and heat pump grants that the government has set up in the past.
Once you’ve applied through the heat pump installer and you’ve been approved for the grant, the government will provide the installer with a redeemable voucher. They should confirm proof of the installation and process any paperwork so that the total amount of the voucher can come off the total cost. The voucher will be valid for up to three months for air source heat pumps and biomass boilers, and up to six months for ground source heat pumps.
Should you choose to go ahead with the scheme and have a new heat pump installed, you could reduce your energy bills and heat your home in a more energy efficient way. When the heat pump is installed to run with solar panels, you could be producing heat and hot water from purely renewable sources, instead of relying on the National Grid, which could reduce your home’s carbon footprint even further.
You can browse our Viessmann heat pump installers to find one that is local and can apply for the grant on your behalf.