Air Source Heat Pump Cost: What a Household Pays After the Grant
Last updated:
- The official median covers real installed jobs, grant value included
- Oil and LPG homes off the gas grid have a higher grant rate until 31 March 2027
- VAT on heat pump installs is 0% until 31 March 2027
- Your own price comes from a survey, not from a calculator
Want a price for your own home, not a national average?
Check If You Qualify- Gas Safe registered engineers
- Company No. 16100301
£12,826
Median installed cost
DESNZ
£7,500
Standard grant
Ofgem
£9,000
Off-grid oil or LPG grant
Ofgem
0%
VAT on installs
HMRC
What Does an Air Source Heat Pump Cost in 2026?
The air source heat pump cost for a typical air-to-water system in England and Wales was a median £12,826 in July to September 2026, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). That figure includes the grant value. Your own quote depends on your home.
Correct as of 6 November 2026. Sources: DESNZ Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics, September 2026 (published 29 October 2026) and the GOV.UK grant notice (updated 20 October 2026), whose amounts match this page.
The same release gives a range. Half of the air-to-water jobs paid for in that quarter cost between £10,717 (lower quartile) and £15,461 (upper quartile). The typical system in those figures was 8 kW.
Installers reported these totals for jobs where a grant was paid. They are a guide to the market, not a price list for your address. The tables give one total per job and no split between the unit, the cylinder and the labour.
What You Pay After the £7,500 Grant: Worked Examples
The air source heat pump cost after the government grant is the reported total minus £7,500. These sums are illustrations built from DESNZ's published figures. They are not quotes.
- Lower quartile: £10,717 total, so about £3,217 to pay
- Median: £12,826 total, so about £5,326 to pay
- Upper quartile: £15,461 total, so about £7,961 to pay
Homes heated by oil or LPG that sit off the gas grid can qualify for £9,000 instead of £7,500 until 31 March 2027. On the median total that would leave about £3,826. The higher rate applies to air-to-water and ground source heat pumps replacing oil or LPG. Coal or electric off-grid homes stay at £7,500.
The grant never reaches you as cash. Since 28 April 2026 installers have had to deduct it from the upfront price, and the certified installer then applies to Ofgem for it. Our Boiler Upgrade Scheme page covers who qualifies, and our heat pump grant page sets out the other funding routes.
Why Your Heat Pump Cost to Install Differs From the Median
DESNZ's quartiles show how wide the spread is: the middle half of jobs spans £4,744 from bottom to top. The tables do not say what caused the gap, so no official source can tell you what drove any one price.
What the figures do show is that a heat pump cost to install is not one number. Home size, the system fitted and the work needed in each house all sit behind a single reported total.
Online air source heat pump cost calculators can only estimate. A survey of your own home is what turns a national average into your price.
Prefer to talk it through with a person?
Spreading What Is Left
A Warm Homes Loan can cover up to £20,000 for an air-to-water heat pump, so it can be larger than the amount left after the grant. GOV.UK's factsheet says a loan and a grant can be taken together.
The factsheet sets no income test. Lenders run their own affordability and credit checks and set their own rates and terms, so this page gives no monthly figure. Our heat pump finance page covers how the two fit together.
Some households need neither. In England, the Warm Homes: Local Grant can fund agreed upgrades for eligible owners at no charge to them, usually when household income is £36,000 or less and the home is rated EPC D to G. Our Warm Homes Local Grant page sets out the rules, and our team can help with the application.
A Different Route With a £2,500 Grant
Ofgem lists an air-to-air heat pump at £2,500 under the same scheme, for residential properties only. It is a different product, not a smaller version of the same one.
DESNZ's September 2026 tables show no air-to-air price yet, so there is no official cost to compare. Our air to air heat pump page sets the two types side by side.
VAT on Heat Pumps: 0% Until 31 March 2027
HMRC's VAT notice sets a 0% rate on installing heat pumps in homes from 1 May 2023 to 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 the rate goes back to 5%.
As an illustration, 5% on a £12,000 job would add £600. Check that each quote states the VAT rate it assumes, so you compare like with like.
Getting a Price for Your Own Home
DESNZ's figures are installed totals, so they are the nearest official guide to the air source heat pump cost installed at your address, but only a survey gives your own price. Any extras are agreed in writing first.
To see what a heat pump involves from the first call, our heat pump installation page walks through it. FreeBoilerUpgrade.uk is run by Reliant Energy Solutions Ltd in Middleton, Manchester, and covers England and Scotland.
Ready for a price that fits your home?
Air Source Heat Pump Cost in Scotland
The scheme covers England and Wales only, so DESNZ's figures say nothing about the air source heat pump cost in Scotland. Households there go through Home Energy Scotland instead. Our Scotland page covers what we do there.
Common Questions
Has the cost of an air source heat pump come down?
Yes, in real terms. After adjusting for inflation, DESNZ's median for July to September 2026 is 14% lower than in July to September 2022 (£14,989 in today's prices). Treat it as a direction, not a promise.
What does a ground source heat pump cost?
DESNZ's median for ground source systems in July to September 2026 was £34,630, again including the grant value. That is far above the air-to-water figure, so the two types should never be compared on grant size alone.
Can I get the grant to replace an old heat pump?
The eligibility rules exclude properties already given government funding or support for a heat pump or biomass boiler. If your existing heat pump was funded that way, the grant is not available for a replacement.
Not sure where your home sits in these numbers? Call and we will go through it.
Check If You Qualify
Four quick steps. Tap your answers and we'll do the rest.
Sources
- DESNZ Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics, September 2026, and the GOV.UK grant values notice
- GOV.UK: Warm Homes Loan Scheme factsheet
- GOV.UK: HMRC VAT Notice 708/6
- Ofgem: Boiler Upgrade Scheme
- GOV.UK: Boiler Upgrade Scheme eligibility
About This Page
FreeBoilerUpgrade.uk is an installer run by Reliant Energy Solutions Ltd (No. 16100301), incorporated on 25 November 2024. Every boiler is fitted by a Gas Safe registered engineer. We are not part of the government or Ofgem.
- Company: Reliant Energy Solutions Ltd, company number 16100301, address 16 Suite, Turner Business Centre, Middleton, Manchester M24 1RU
- Phone: 07599 995537
- Email: info@freeboilerupgrade.uk
Ready to Start Saving?
See if your household qualifies for funded ECO4 heating upgrades through the ECO4 scheme.
- 100%
- Free Service
- 60s
- Application
- ECO4
- Eligibility check