THOUSANDS of households can get extra cash to make a major home upgrade.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak has announced the grant for replacing gas boilers with heat pumps will increase to £7,500 in a major speech on green polices.
GettyHouseholds can get thousands of pounds of support to change their boiler[/caption]
He said: “The boiler upgrade scheme which gives people cash grants to upgrade their boiler will be increased by 50% to £7,500.
“There are no strings attached. The money will never need to be repaid.”
An expected ban on gas boilers in 2035 has also been postponed.
He added that the government will not force anyone to replace a gas boiler with a heat pump, and households will only be required to switch over when they are due to change their boiler anyway.
The PM also announced that a ban on new diesel cars will be delayed for five years until 2035, in a win for The Sun’s Give Us A Brake campaign.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is a £450million fund that offers grants to homeowners in England and Wales to purchase the devices.
The grant was first launched in 2022 and is worth £5,000 or £6,000, depending on the type of heat pump.
The increase means households can get an extra £1,500-£2,500 to cover the costs.
Most homes use boilers for their heating that mainly rely on gas.
One alternative is heat pumps, which provide a greener way to heat your home – and at a lower cost too.
But they have historically been expensive to purchase and install, costing between £5,000 and £8,000.
In total, the scheme is expected to pay for 90,000 installations and will run until the end of March 2025.
Heat pumps work like a fridge in reverse.
They take in heat from the air outside, even when it is cold, and use it to warm a liquid refrigerant to turn it into a gas.
This is then compressed and transferred to a central heating system to warm radiators.
They heat your home at a lower temperature than gas and oil boilers, which could reduce your energy bills at a time when they are reaching record highs.
How can you apply for a heat pump grant?
You will need to find an MSC-certified installer to claim the grant on your behalf.
MSC is the certification scheme for energy-efficiency product installers.
You can find the nearest ones to you on the MSC website, but it is worth shopping around to get a few quotes.
Once you agree a price, the installer will apply for the grant and you will then be contacted by Ofgem, the energy regulator, to confirm that the work is being done on your behalf.
You will need to pay the difference if the pump costs more than the grant.
While homeowners can purchase boilers from between £500 to £1,500, the Energy Saving Trust estimates that a heat pump can cost £6,000 to £8,000.
The latest increase to the grant could mean that you need to cover less of the cost, or nothing at all if it covers the full amount.
The scheme is open to households in England and Wales until 2025.
Your property will need to have enough power to support an installation capacity of 45kWth or kilowatt thermal, which covers most homes.
Additionally, your home will also need a valid energy performance certificate with no outstanding recommendations for loft or cavity wall insulation, unless you are exempt.
There are two types of air-source heat pumps, air-to-water systems and air-to-air systems.
Unlike gas boilers, heat pumps work on electricity and need less energy to operate.
This means lower emissions and hopefully cheaper bills as you won’t be using as much energy.
Typically for every one unit of heat in, you get three out, according to the ECIU.
In contrast, for a typical gas boiler, for every one unit of heat in, you get less than one out.
This means that overall, more than three times less energy is needed to operate a heat pump compared with a boiler.