Home energy grants are payments, funded by government or energy bills, towards insulating, heating or powering a home, such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme’s £7,500 heat pump grant. In England, that support has changed shape many times since 2000: from insulation for lower-income homes, to payments for generating electricity, to one-off grants for low-carbon heating. This article sets out what each scheme did, when it ran and what replaced it. It covers homes in England; many schemes also covered Scotland and Wales, and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own support, summarised near the end.
What home energy schemes have run in England since 2000?
More than a dozen schemes have funded home energy improvements in England since 2000, run by government, energy suppliers or both. The table lists each one covered in this article, when it ran, what it did and who paid for it.
| Scheme | Years | What it did | Who paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Front | 2000 to 2013 | Insulation and heating for lower-income homes in England | Government |
| EEC, then CERT | 2002 to 2012 | Suppliers funded insulation, including free loft and cavity wall offers | Energy suppliers |
| Low Carbon Buildings Programme | 2006 to 2010 | Small grants towards solar, heat pumps and other renewables | Government |
| Feed-in Tariff | 2010 to 2019 | Paid for electricity generated and exported by solar, wind, hydro and other small generators, for 10 to 25 years depending on technology, size and installation date | Energy suppliers, via bills |
| Renewable Heat Incentive | 2011 to 2021 (homes 2014 to 2022) | Quarterly payments for renewable heat: seven years for homes, 20 for businesses | Government |
| ECO (all phases) | 2013 to 2026 | Suppliers fund insulation and heating for lower-income homes; the current phase, ECO4, covers measures from April 2022 and ends on 31 December 2026, extended only to complete existing targets and fix non-compliant work | Energy suppliers |
| Green Deal | 2013 to 2015 | Loans for improvements, repaid through energy bills | Householders, via bills |
| Smart Export Guarantee | 2020 onwards | Pays for electricity exported from solar and other small renewable generators | Energy suppliers |
| Green Homes Grant | 2020 to 2021 | Vouchers for insulation and low-carbon heating; closed a year early | Government |
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme | 2022 to 2030 | One-off grant off a heat pump, claimed by the installer | Government |
| Zero VAT on energy-saving materials | 2022 to March 2027 | No VAT on installing heat pumps, solar panels and insulation in homes; batteries added February 2024 | Government (tax relief) |
| Great British Insulation Scheme | 2023 to 2026 | Suppliers fund mostly single insulation measures for a wider group of homes | Energy suppliers |
| Warm Homes Plan | 2026 to 2030 | Launched with £15 billion for grants, loans and local schemes; reduced at the October 2026 Budget | Government |
Coverage varies by scheme. Warm Front and the Green Homes Grant were for England. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers England and Wales. ECO, the Great British Insulation Scheme, the Feed-in Tariff, the Renewable Heat Incentive, the Green Deal and the Smart Export Guarantee cover or covered Great Britain, and the zero rate of VAT on energy-saving materials applies across the UK.
What home energy support was there before 2010?
Before 2010, home energy support in England was mainly about insulation and fuel poverty: helping homes use less energy rather than changing how they were heated or powered.
Warm Front, running in England from 2000 to 2013, paid for insulation and heating improvements for lower-income households, as the ministerial statement on Warm Front and the Energy Company Obligation records. Alongside it, energy suppliers had to fund efficiency measures in homes, first under the Energy Efficiency Commitment (2002 to 2008) and then the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (2008 to 2012). That supplier obligation is where the free loft and cavity wall insulation offers came from.
There was some early support for renewables. The Low Carbon Buildings Programme (2006 to 2010) offered small grants towards solar panels, heat pumps and other technologies, from modest budgets.
How did the Feed-in Tariff and Renewable Heat Incentive change support from 2010?
From 2010, the Feed-in Tariff and the Renewable Heat Incentive changed home energy support from paying for measures to paying households, over many years, for the clean electricity and heat their systems produced.
The Feed-in Tariff, launched in April 2010, paid households for every unit of electricity their solar panels generated, including the units they used themselves, plus a payment for electricity exported to the grid. Payments ran for between 10 and 25 years, depending on the technology, its size and when it was installed: 25 years for solar panels at launch, cut to 20 years for new solar installations from August 2012, as set out in the government’s response on the Feed-in Tariff review. Falling panel prices pushed take-up to nearly double the original projections in its first two years, and for new home systems registered from 3 March 2012 the rate was roughly halved from 1 April 2012, from 43.3p to 21p a unit, according to the government statement on solar PV feed-in tariffs. The scheme also covered wind, hydro, anaerobic digestion and micro combined heat and power installations.
For heating, the Renewable Heat Incentive opened for businesses and public buildings in November 2011, with payments over 20 years, then for homes in April 2014. Rather than an upfront grant, the domestic scheme paid heat pump and biomass owners quarterly for seven years, based on the renewable heat their system was expected to produce.
Biomass and “cash for ash”. Biomass boilers were among the biggest users of the scheme, particularly in businesses and public buildings. In Northern Ireland, a separate version paid some biomass users more than it cost them to produce the heat, with no lower tier for heavy use and no overall budget control, giving an incentive to burn more. It became known as the “cash for ash” scandal, and the public inquiry’s findings, published in March 2020, said the scheme should never have been adopted. Today biomass has a much smaller role: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme offers £5,000 towards a biomass boiler only for rural homes with no gas grid connection, as a standalone system meeting emissions limits set in Ofgem’s guidance.
In 2013, the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) replaced the earlier supplier schemes, and the Green Deal was launched to let householders pay for improvements through their energy bills. Take-up of Green Deal finance was low, and government funding for it stopped in 2015.
Why did home energy support fall back between 2015 and 2021?
Home energy support fell back between 2015 and 2021 as government funding for the Green Deal stopped in 2015, the Feed-in Tariff closed to new applicants in 2019, and the Green Homes Grant, the main new grant, closed a year early in 2021.
The Feed-in Tariff closed to new applicants at the end of March 2019. From January 2020 the Smart Export Guarantee took its place, paying only for electricity exported to the grid, at rates set by suppliers.
The Green Homes Grant, launched in September 2020, offered vouchers towards insulation and low-carbon heating. It had been extended to March 2022, but closed to new applications on 31 March 2021, a year earlier than planned. The House of Commons Library records earlier problems with slow voucher issuing and the time taken for installers to be paid.
How does the Boiler Upgrade Scheme work?
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme gives a one-off grant towards a heat pump or biomass boiler in England and Wales, claimed by the installer from Ofgem and taken off the customer’s bill. It opened on 23 May 2022 and now runs to 2030, with 31 December 2029 the final date Ofgem can issue vouchers.
The scheme replaced the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive, which closed to new applicants on 31 March 2022, swapping ongoing payments for a single upfront grant. The grant for an air source heat pump was £5,000 at launch and rose to £7,500 in October 2023, as the government announced.
Several changes came in 2026, according to Ofgem’s summary of guidance updates and the government’s notice of grant categories:
- No EPC needed. The requirement for a valid Energy Performance Certificate was removed from 28 April 2026.
- Air-to-air heat pumps. A £2,500 grant was added.
- Off-gas homes. From 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027, a higher grant of £9,000 is available for air-to-water and ground source heat pumps in homes off the gas grid that are replacing oil or LPG heating.
Because the installer claims the grant, the installer also waits for the payment. The government’s final evaluation of the scheme, published in September 2026, found the delay caused cash flow problems for some installer companies, as covered in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme installer cash gap.
Zero VAT. Since April 2022, installing heat pumps, solar panels and other energy-saving materials in homes in Great Britain has been zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, with the reduced rate of 5% from 1 April 2027, with installed home batteries added from February 2024 and Northern Ireland included from May 2023, as HMRC’s guidance explains. Materials bought without installation are still standard-rated.
Supplier schemes ending. Supplier-funded insulation continued through ECO and the Great British Insulation Scheme, which ran from April 2023 to March 2026. ECO4 has been extended to 31 December 2026 so suppliers can meet their existing targets and fix non-compliant installations, and the government has said there will be no successor obligation. The ECO levy was removed from energy bills in April 2026, as the October 2026 Budget records.
What is the Warm Homes Plan?
The Warm Homes Plan is the government’s programme, published in January 2026 with £15 billion of public investment, to upgrade up to five million homes and lift up to a million households out of fuel poverty by 2030. It brings home energy grants, loans and local schemes under one umbrella.
The Warm Homes Plan includes:
- The Boiler Upgrade Scheme for eligible property owners in England and Wales.
- Grants for lower-income households: over £5 billion of investment by 2030, made up of over £4.4 billion in grants and £600 million from the Warm Homes Fund. Funding starts through the Warm Homes Local Grant and the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund, and the government intends to bring them into a single low-income scheme from 2027/28.
- Loans and investment: the Warm Homes Fund, £5 billion to invest in and lend to the home upgrade sector: £1.7 billion for low- and zero-interest consumer loans (topped up with £300 million of capital funding to a £2 billion loan offer), £600 million for lower-income households, and around £2.7 billion for other investment.
- Rented homes: proposed rules requiring private landlords to reach EPC band C by October 2030, unless exempt.
- Devolved nations: funding for the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The funding and the £7,500 heat pump grant were confirmed in the plan, though the government keeps the grant level under review. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme has since opened, in October 2026, through participating lenders across the UK.
The October 2026 Budget. The Budget on 28 October 2026 kept the Boiler Upgrade Scheme at £400 million in 2027-28, rising broadly in line with inflation after that, rather than the £600 million previously planned for that year in the scheme’s business case. It also saved £1 billion of capital grant from the Warm Homes Plan, while protecting most of the plan’s funding for lower-income households and social housing, and said some Warm Homes Fund financial transactions will be reallocated, without giving a figure, so the loan and investment amounts above may change.
How has support changed for each technology?
Support for each home energy technology has followed its own path: insulation has had the longest run of support, solar has seen generous payments fall away as panels got cheaper, and heat pumps are the one technology where direct support has grown recently.
| Technology | Before 2010 | 2010 to 2015 | 2015 to 2021 | 2022 onwards | Today |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insulation | Warm Front; supplier schemes (EEC, then CERT) | ECO; Green Deal loans | ECO; Green Homes Grant (closed early) | ECO; Great British Insulation Scheme (2023 to 2026); zero VAT | Grants for lower-income homes under the Warm Homes Plan; supplier schemes end in 2026 |
| Solar panels | Small grants (Low Carbon Buildings Programme) | Feed-in Tariff, with rates roughly halved from April 2012 | Feed-in Tariff closes 2019; Smart Export Guarantee from 2020 | Zero VAT; Smart Export Guarantee | No universal grant; zero VAT, export payments, Warm Homes Loans, and grants for lower-income homes |
| Heat pumps | Small grants (Low Carbon Buildings Programme) | Renewable Heat Incentive (homes from 2014) | Renewable Heat Incentive; Green Homes Grant | Boiler Upgrade Scheme; zero VAT | Boiler Upgrade Scheme to 2030 for eligible property owners; £9,000 for off-gas homes replacing oil or LPG, 21 July 2026 to March 2027 |
| Batteries | None | None | None | Zero VAT from February 2024 | No confirmed grant; zero VAT, loans where eligible |
| Biomass | Small grants (Low Carbon Buildings Programme) | Renewable Heat Incentive, mostly businesses | Renewable Heat Incentive; “cash for ash” in Northern Ireland | Boiler Upgrade Scheme, £5,000, rural off-gas homes only | Narrow role; heat pumps favoured even in rural homes |
What has happened to support for gas and oil boilers?
Support for gas and oil boilers has combined paying for new boilers with raising the standards they must meet, and now steers households towards low-carbon heating, mostly through funding choices and building regulations rather than a ban.
Paying for gas heating. Warm Front installed gas central heating in lower-income homes, and a boiler scrappage scheme launched in January 2010 offered £400 vouchers to up to 125,000 households in England replacing a working G-rated boiler.
Raising boiler standards. Condensing boilers became a requirement for most gas boiler replacements from April 2005, and the Boiler Plus rules, in force in England from April 2018, set a 92% minimum efficiency and required time and temperature controls.
Oil and LPG homes. Homes off the gas grid have been steered towards heat pumps rather than new oil boilers, and those replacing oil or LPG heating currently get a higher heat pump grant.
New homes. In England, the Future Homes Standard comes into force on 24 March 2027. The previous rules still apply where a building notice, initial notice or full plans application was given before that date and work starts before 24 March 2028; higher-risk buildings have later dates. The standard does not name gas boilers. It requires a system of on-site renewable electricity generation for new homes, sets out how homes connected to a heat network can comply, and includes guidance on heat pumps, with the aim that new homes will not need retrofitting to become zero carbon in use. Existing homes are not required to change their heating.
Hydrogen. Hydrogen was once put forward as a way to keep using gas boilers, and some boilers are still sold as “hydrogen-ready”. Proposed village and town hydrogen trials were dropped. In March 2026 the government said in its hydrogen heating overview that hydrogen is not yet a proven technology for home heating, that it will consult in due course on whether it should have any role, and that any role is likely to be limited. There is no grant for hydrogen heating in homes.
Help with bills. Households have also had help with running costs, such as the Warm Home Discount and the Winter Fuel Payment, whatever their heating. For heat pumps, the comparison between electricity and gas prices matters most; the October 2026 price cap and VAT change shows how that comparison can shift from one quarter to the next.
What home energy support is there in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Government home energy grants are largely devolved, so Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each run their own schemes, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers only England and Wales.
- Scotland runs its own Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan, covering clean heating such as heat pumps as well as energy efficiency measures such as insulation. Grants of up to £7,500 are available for clean heating and for energy efficiency (up to 75% of costs for energy efficiency), each with an optional interest-free loan of up to £7,500; rural and island homes can get an extra £1,500 grant.
- Wales has the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, plus Nest, which gives free energy advice and home improvements, such as heat pumps, insulation and solar panels, for eligible households. Separately, Green Homes Wales, run by the Development Bank of Wales, offers interest-free loans of £1,000 to £25,000 for energy efficiency and low-carbon heating.
- Northern Ireland is outside the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. It ran its own Renewable Heat Incentive, the scheme behind “cash for ash”, and now offers energy efficiency grants through the Affordable Warmth Scheme, for owner-occupiers and private tenants with household income under £23,000, and through the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme.
The Warm Homes Plan includes funding for all three governments. Their schemes change often, so each nation’s current offer needs checking at the time of planning.
What do 25 years of changing schemes mean for installers?
Twenty-five years of changing schemes show that home energy support rarely stays the same for long, so an installation business whose order book rests on a single scheme is exposed if that scheme changes or closes.
Three shifts stand out across the period:
- From saving energy to changing the system. Support has moved from insulation to changing how homes are heated and powered.
- From ongoing payments to one-off grants. The Feed-in Tariff and the Renewable Heat Incentive paid for years; today’s support is mainly upfront grants, tax relief and loans.
- From stable to stop-start. Schemes have closed early, as the Green Homes Grant did, and rules have changed within a year, as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme’s did in 2026.
Because today’s support is mostly upfront and can change within a year, the case for a heat pump, solar panels or a battery that rests on running costs as well as the grant is less exposed when a scheme changes. Dependence on one source of work is also a risk buyers price: how buyers value an HVAC company sets out how revenue concentrated in a few customers or contracts affects value.
For heat pump businesses whose quoting, commissioning and cash still depend on the owner, fractional COO support for heat pump installers covers how those operations can run without the founder at the centre. For installers looking further ahead, what the EU Electrification Action Plan means for UK installers covers the wider policy direction, and the podcast with Adrian Waddelove on heat pump policy discusses grants and incentives with the Energy and Utilities Alliance.
Frequently asked questions
No. There is no ban on gas boilers in existing homes in England, and the Future Homes Standard places no requirement on existing homes to change their heating. For most new homes, the Future Homes Standard comes into force on 24 March 2027, with the aim that they will not need retrofitting to become zero carbon in use; it includes routes for heat pumps and heat networks and does not mention gas boilers.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant is £7,500 towards an air-to-water or ground source heat pump, £2,500 towards an air-to-air heat pump and £5,000 towards a biomass boiler in rural homes off the gas grid. From 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027, off-gas homes replacing oil or LPG heating can get £9,000 towards an air-to-water or ground source heat pump.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme now runs to 2030, according to Ofgem’s guidance for installers, and the final date Ofgem can issue vouchers is 31 December 2029. The higher £9,000 grant for off-gas homes replacing oil or LPG heating ends earlier, on 31 March 2027.
Households with solar panels can be paid for the electricity they export under the Smart Export Guarantee, at rates set by their supplier. The Feed-in Tariff, which also paid for electricity used at home, closed to new applicants in March 2019.
Installing heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and other energy-saving materials in homes is zero-rated for VAT in the UK until 31 March 2027, after which the reduced rate of 5% applies. The zero rate applies to installation; materials bought on their own are standard-rated.
Yes. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme, which opened in October 2026, offers low- and zero-interest loans through participating lenders across the UK for heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and other clean energy technologies installed by MCS-certified installers. Loans can be combined with a Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant.
No supplier scheme is replacing ECO. ECO4 has been extended to 31 December 2026 so suppliers can complete existing targets and fix non-compliant installations, and support for lower-income households is moving to Warm Homes Plan grants.
Sources
GOV.UK: Budget 2026; Warm Homes Loan Scheme factsheet; Warm Homes Plan; Warm Homes Plan announcement; Future Homes and Buildings Standards: circular 01/2026; Hydrogen heating overview; Warm Front and ECO statement; Solar PV feed-in tariffs statement; Renewable Heat Incentive to open; Green Deal funding to end; Heat pump grants increased by 50%; Boiler Upgrade Scheme 2026 to 2030: summary business case; Final evaluation of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme; Notice of grant categories and values for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme; Feed-in Tariff review: government response, 2012; Extending the ECO4 end date; Smart Export Guarantee; Low Carbon Buildings Programme final report; Boiler Plus factsheet; Green Deal guidance for the property industry in GB
HMRC: VAT on energy-saving materials (Notice 708/6); Extension of VAT relief on energy-saving materials
Ofgem: Energy Company Obligation; Feed-in Tariffs; Boiler Upgrade Scheme: property owners; Boiler Upgrade Scheme: installers; BUS guidance for installers, v5.2; Summary of BUS guidance updates, April 2026; Boiler Upgrade Scheme launch; EESoP and the Energy Efficiency Commitment; CERT final report; Great British Insulation Scheme; Feed-in Tariff annual report, year 10; Domestic RHI annual report 2021-22
UK Parliament: Warm Homes Plan written statement, 21 January 2026; Green Homes Grant (House of Commons Library)
Scottish Government: Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan
Welsh Government: Nest; Green Homes Wales
Northern Ireland Housing Executive: Energy efficiency grants
RHI Inquiry: Chairman’s statement on the inquiry report, March 2020
Secondary sources: Boiler scrappage scheme launched, January 2010 (DECC press release, republished by Wired-Gov); Condensing boiler history (CREDS); Hydrogen town trials axed (edie)
Last updated: 13 November 2026
