Pillar guide · Updated monthly

UK Home Energy Grants 2026: Every Scheme, Current Amounts

Last reviewed · 12 minute read · Covers all four UK nations

This is a living guide. Home-energy policy in the UK moved more in the first six months of 2026 than in the prior three years — ECO4 was extended, GBIS closed, the Warm Homes Plan launched, the EV charger grant rose to £500, the BUS air-to-air variant went live, and the BUS oil/LPG uplift to £9,000 was confirmed for July. Most pages online haven't caught up. We update this one on the 1st of every month, and the changelog is at the bottom.

We're an independent guide. We don't install solar panels, we don't broker heat pumps, and our recommendations don't change based on who pays us most. Where a scheme is the right answer, we'll say so — and where it isn't, we'll say that too.

Current grant amounts at a glance

The single most useful table on this site. Numbers reviewed monthly; the date stamp at the top of this page is the canonical "as of" date.

Scheme Amount Region Means-tested? Covers
Warm Homes: Local Grant up to £30,000 England Yes — income ≤ £36k + EPC D–G Insulation, solar, heat pumps, batteries
Boiler Upgrade Scheme (standard) £7,500 England + Wales No Air or ground source heat pump
BUS — oil/LPG uplift (from July 2026) £9,000 England + Wales No Heat pump replacing oil/LPG boiler
BUS — air-to-air (live 28 April 2026) £2,500 England + Wales No Air-to-air heat pump
ECO4 (extended to 31 Dec 2026) Fully funded England, Scotland, Wales Yes (benefits or LA Flex) Insulation, heating, solar
Home Energy Scotland Grant & Loan £7,500 grant + £7,500 loan (+£1,500 rural) Scotland No Solar, batteries, heat pumps, insulation
Warmer Homes Scotland Fully funded Scotland Yes Insulation, heating
Nest (Wales) Fully funded Wales Yes Insulation, heating
NISEP (Northern Ireland) £500–£8,000 Northern Ireland Tiered (Priority vs Non-Priority) Insulation, heating, heat pumps
Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) 1p–28.6p per kWh exported GB-wide No Solar export payments
0% VAT on energy-saving materials Saves £500–£3,000 UK-wide No Solar, heat pumps, batteries, insulation
Warm Home Discount £150 England, Scotland, Wales Yes (benefits) One-off bill discount
EV Chargepoint Grant £500 (from April 2026) UK-wide Tenure (renters/flats only) Home EV charger
Winter Fuel Payment £200–£300 UK-wide Universal, £35k+ income clawback Winter heating
Renewables Obligation rebate ~£150/year England, Scotland, Wales No Automatic bill cut
Great British Insulation Scheme — — — Closed 31 March 2026. No successor.

Want to know which of these you qualify for? Our 9-question check matches you against every scheme above in 90 seconds.

Run the eligibility check →

Which grants can you stack?

This is the question almost no other site answers properly. The rules aren't on a single gov.uk page — they're scattered across scheme guidance, Ofgem rulings and DESNZ updates. Here's the actual position as of May 2026:

Yes — these combinations are allowed

  • ECO4 insulation + BUS heat pump. Use ECO4 to insulate first, then claim the £7,500 BUS for the heat pump separately. This is the most common "stacked" path.
  • WHLG + 0% VAT. Always. 0% VAT applies automatically by your installer regardless of any grant.
  • BUS + 0% VAT. The grant cuts the gross cost; the zero VAT applies to whatever the homeowner still pays.
  • Solar + SEG + 0% VAT. All three apply to the same install.
  • Home Energy Scotland Grant + Loan — these are designed to combine into a single £15,000 package.
  • BUS + Octopus / supplier heat pump deal. The grant goes to the installer; supplier discounts are stacked on top of the homeowner-side cost.
  • EV Chargepoint Grant + Octopus EV salary sacrifice / leasing schemes. Independent benefits.

No — these cannot be combined

  • ECO4 and BUS on the same measure. You cannot have ECO4 fund 50% of a heat pump and BUS fund the other £7,500. One scheme per piece of kit.
  • WHLG and ECO4 simultaneously. WHLG explicitly excludes properties already in an active ECO4 obligation flow. Finish one, then move to the other.
  • BUS and HUG2. Historically incompatible; HUG2 has now wound down into the WHLG, but the same logic applies — one income-tested scheme per measure.
  • Two BUS claims at the same property. One per home. Air-to-air, air-to-water and ground source are mutually exclusive on the same address.

If you're not sure where you sit, the eligibility check models the stacking rules in its rules engine, not just the headline amounts.

The right order to apply

Grants are easier to win when you sequence the works correctly. The order that produces the best total subsidy:

  1. Insulate first — loft + cavity at minimum. Use ECO4 or WHLG if eligible, GBIS replacement (when it lands) otherwise. This lifts your EPC and unlocks better heat pump grants.
  2. Switch to a smart tariff (Intelligent Octopus Go, Cosy, OVO Charge Anytime). Free. Quietly unlocks the ROI on everything else.
  3. Solar PV (claim 0% VAT + register for SEG).
  4. Battery — only after solar and a smart tariff are in place.
  5. Heat pump via BUS or Home Energy Scotland — sized to your post-insulation heat load, not the original gas demand.
  6. EV charger — last, since most owner-occupiers no longer qualify for the grant anyway.

Doing this in the reverse order — heat pump first on a leaky house, then trying to insulate around it — is the single biggest reason UK households report "heat pumps don't work."

By UK nation

England

England is the most fragmented landscape. The main routes:

  • Warm Homes: Local Grant — income-tested, council-delivered, up to £30,000. Thresholds vary £23k–£38k by council; some areas haven't onboarded yet.
  • Boiler Upgrade Scheme — £7,500 (£9,000 oil/LPG from July 2026, £2,500 air-to-air). Open to all owner-occupiers and small landlords. Not means-tested.
  • ECO4 — supplier-funded, benefits-based. Running to 31 Dec 2026 only; apply by October 2026 to be sure of finishing.

Scotland

Scotland has the most generous standing offer in the UK. The flagship scheme — Home Energy Scotland Grant & Loan — provides £7,500 grant plus £7,500 interest-free loan (plus £1,500 rural uplift), regardless of income. For lower-income households, Warmer Homes Scotland delivers a fully-funded assessment-driven package. Both schemes operate alongside the UK-wide 0% VAT and SEG. Scotland is the only UK nation with a properly integrated grant-plus-loan offer; for solar + heat pump combinations it usually beats the English route.

Wales

Wales runs the Nest scheme for lower-income households (fully funded). The BUS heat pump grant also applies in Wales — Wales is included in the £7,500 (rising to £9,000 oil/LPG) heat pump scheme. ECO4 obligations also extend to Wales until December 2026.

Northern Ireland

NI is the least-covered nation online. The main route is the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme (NISEP), administered by the Utility Regulator. Funds insulation, heating and renewables in 'Priority' (low-income) and 'Non-Priority' tiers. NI has its own EV charger grant pathway via the same UK-wide £500 OZEV scheme.

When you should wait, not apply now

Yes, really. We'd rather you save more money than we'd rather you "convert" today.

Wait if you have an oil or LPG boiler

The BUS uplift to £9,000 for oil/LPG homes lands in July 2026. If your current boiler is working, hold off two months and claim the extra £1,500. The £9k rate applies to applications submitted after the implementation date.

Wait if your insulation is poor

Heat pumps installed in under-insulated homes routinely return SCOPs of 2.3 instead of 3.5, which means real-world running costs about 50% higher than advertised. Insulate, then heat-pump.

Wait if you're considering air-to-air

The £2,500 air-to-air BUS rate went live 28 April 2026. There is a planned uplift to £7,500 still under DESNZ consultation. If you're only considering air-to-air (rather than a full heat pump), watching the consultation outcome may be worth more than £5,000 to you.

Wait if you don't have a smart tariff yet

A battery without Intelligent Octopus Go, Cosy or equivalent earns almost nothing. Switch tariff first (free, takes a week), confirm the spread, then buy the battery.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Warm Homes Plan the same as the Warm Homes: Local Grant?

No — and this is the most common source of confusion. The Warm Homes Plan is the umbrella policy launched in April 2026, worth £13.2 billion over the parliament. The Warm Homes: Local Grant (WHLG) is the headline scheme within that policy, providing direct grants of up to £30,000 to income-eligible owner-occupiers via local councils. Other components include a low-interest loan scheme (details due H2 2026), the existing ECO4 extension, and the Clean Heat Market Mechanism on the supply side.

Do I have to be on benefits to qualify for any grant?

No. The BUS heat pump grant (£7,500), Home Energy Scotland Grant & Loan (£16,500), Smart Export Guarantee, 0% VAT, and Renewables Obligation rebate are all available regardless of income. The income-tested schemes are WHLG, ECO4, Warmer Homes Scotland, Nest and the Warm Home Discount.

Has ECO4 ended?

Not yet. ECO4 was originally scheduled to end 31 March 2026, but the government extended it to 31 December 2026. There is no ECO5 planned — supplier obligations are being replaced by the WHLG plus direct loan products. If you're benefit-eligible, apply via your energy supplier before October 2026 to give the install time to complete.

Will the Winter Fuel Payment be means-tested again?

The 9 June 2025 U-turn restored the Winter Fuel Payment to universal for all pensioners — but HMRC now claws back the full amount from anyone whose individual income exceeded £35,000 in the relevant tax year, via PAYE tax-code adjustments. The clawback is all-or-nothing: £35,001 of income means you repay the entire £200–£300. There's an opt-out at gov.uk if you'd prefer not to receive it knowing you'll repay.

What replaces 0% VAT after March 2027?

0% VAT on energy-saving materials is currently confirmed to 31 March 2027, after which the rate is scheduled to revert to 5% — not the standard 20% rate. The MCS Foundation's "Zero Carbon = Zero VAT" campaign is lobbying for a permanent extension, with a likely decision point at the Spring 2027 Budget.

I own a flat — can I get a heat pump grant?

Yes, but mostly via the new air-to-air BUS variant (£2,500), not the standard £7,500 air-to-water rate. Most flats lack the cylinder space, radiator sizing and external unit clearance that a full wet system needs. Air-to-air also adds cooling, which many UK flats want anyway.

Can owner-occupiers with driveways still get an EV charger grant?

No. The original Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme closed for homeowners with off-street parking in 2022. The current £500 EV Chargepoint Grant is only for renters, flat owners and households on cross-pavement charging pilots. If you own a house with a drive, your alternatives are workplace charging schemes, Octopus EV salary-sacrifice leasing, or simply buying the charger outright (still tax-deductible if you're a sole trader using it for business).

Is the Warm Home Discount the same as the Cold Weather Payment?

No. Warm Home Discount is a £150 one-off applied to your winter electricity bill if you receive a qualifying benefit. Cold Weather Payment is £25 for each 7-day period of sub-zero forecasts in your area, paid only during particular benefits.

Sources & official references

Every figure on this page is verifiable. Primary sources we use:

Page changelog

  • 18 May 2026 — Initial publication. Reflects WHLG launch (April), BUS air-to-air live (28 April), EV grant uplift to £500 (April), Octopus Outgoing Fixed cut to 12p (1 March), GBIS closure (31 March), ECO4 extension to 31 December 2026, BUS oil/LPG £9,000 confirmed for July.

Ready to see what you qualify for?

Our 9-question check is independent, four-nation, and runs the rules engine you just read — including the stacking logic. 90 seconds, no spam, no installer handoff.

Start the eligibility check →