Government release Boiler Upgrade Scheme plans

On 18^th October 2021, Government announced plans for a new initiative known as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (previously referred to as the Clean Heat Grant). The hope is that this the Boiler Upgrade Scheme will incentivise people to install low-carbon heating systems in a simple, fair, and cheap way as they replace their old boilers over the next decade.

What is the Boiler Upgrade Scheme?

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme looks to reduce the cost of low carbon heating technologies, such as heat pumps, so that they are more affordable for consumers to buy and run. Working with industry, Government wants to ensure that in the future low carbon heating technologies are no more expensive than fossil fuel boilers.

What is available for consumers through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme?

The £450 million Boiler Upgrade Scheme is set to see households benefit from Government grants. The following grants will be available:

• £5,000 for air source heat pumps and biomass boilers
• £6,000 for ground source heat pumps

When will the Boiler Upgrade Scheme be available to consumers?

The Scheme will be available for 3 years and grants will be available from April 2022.

What does Government set out to achieve with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme?

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is designed to help work toward Government’s ambition of all new heating systems installed in UK homes from 2035 to be low carbon heating.

Government believes it will help reduce the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels and exposure to global price spikes.

Additionally, the Scheme is set to support up to 240,000 jobs across the UK by 2035.

What does HIES think?

Faisal Hussain, HIES Chief Executive, comments:

“It is great to see that Government have launched a new incentive for consumers to transition to a greener way of living.

Government have previously set out an ambitious target of 600,000 heat pumps to be installed per year by 2028. The grant set out above will fund around 90,000 heat pumps over 3 years.

We must take into consideration the realistic price of having an air source heat pump installed. The prices vary greatly depending on the size of a consumer’s home but are also dependent on whether the consumer has sufficient insulation in place already. An average installation of an air source heat pump, according to our records, is between £12,000 and £14,000. We hope that the £5,000 incentive will ease the transition for consumers from gas boilers to low carbon heating.”

For further information on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, please click here.

For further Government guidance, please click here.

House photo created by creativeart – www.freepik.com