Costs
6 min readThe £2,500 air conditioning grant, and who actually gets it
Air-to-air heat pumps became eligible for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in April 2026 at £2,500 — not the £7,500 you'll see quoted. The catch is that any fossil fuel heating in the property disqualifies you.
The short answer
Air-to-air heat pumps have been eligible for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme since 28 April 2026, and the payment is £2,500 — not the £7,500 widely quoted, which applies to air-to-water systems. The disqualifying condition catches most people: the property must have no fossil fuel heating system. If you have a working gas or oil boiler, you don’t qualify, and nothing about the installation changes that.
Do you qualify?
Work through these in order. The third one is where most enquiries stop.
- The property is in England or Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate schemes with different values and rules.
- It's a domestic property — a home you own, or a small non-domestic building in some cases. Not a new build in most circumstances.
- There is no fossil fuel heating system in the property. A working gas boiler, an oil boiler or an LPG system disqualifies you, even if the heat pump is going in a room the boiler doesn’t reach.
- The installation is carried out by an MCS-certified installer using an MCS-certified product.
- You haven't already claimed a BUS grant for the same property.
| Air-to-air (what we fit) | Air-to-water | |
|---|---|---|
| Grant | £2,500 | £7,500 |
| What it heats | The air in a room, directly | Radiators and hot water |
| Cooling | Yes — the same unit, reversed | No |
| Typical installed cost | £1,895–5,995 | £8,000–14,000 |
| Fossil fuel heating allowed in the property | No | No — it's replacing it |
| Typical disruption | A day, and one wall | Pipework, a cylinder, often new radiators |
What changed in April 2026
Two things, and the second one gets missed because it was a removal rather than an addition.
- Air-to-air heat pumps were brought into the scheme for the first time, at £2,500 and residential only. Previously they were outside it entirely.
- The EPC requirement was dropped. Applicants used to need a valid Energy Performance Certificate with no outstanding loft or cavity wall insulation recommendations. That condition is gone, which removes a step — and a cost — that a great many pages still describe as mandatory.
There is also a planning consequence to being a heat pump rather than an air conditioner, and it’s an easy one to trip over: air-to-air equipment only sits within permitted development if it isn’t installed solely for cooling. That’s covered in the planning permission guide.
How the money reaches you
You don't apply and you don't receive the cash. The installer applies to Ofgem on your behalf and the grant is taken off your invoice, so what you see is a reduced price rather than a payment.
- The installer confirms the property is eligible before quoting — this is where a fossil fuel system gets caught.
- They apply to Ofgem for a voucher against the specific property and system.
- Ofgem contacts you directly to confirm you consented to the application. This is a real step and it is not a scam call, but Ofgem will never ask you for payment.
- The installation is completed and certified.
- The installer redeems the voucher, and the £2,500 is already deducted from what you pay.
- Grant value, air-to-air
- £2,500
- In force since
- 28 April 2026
- Who applies
- Your installer, not you
- How you receive it
- Deducted from the invoice
If you don't qualify
Which, to be plain about it, will be most readers of this page. A few things are still worth knowing.
- Removing a gas boiler purely to qualify almost never makes sense. You'd be giving up whole-house heating and hot water to save £2,500 on one room.
- Properties with electric-only heating — storage heaters, panel heaters, a loft conversion with no radiator — are the ones that do qualify, and they're also where the running-cost saving is largest.
- Scotland has its own funding through Home Energy Scotland, and Northern Ireland is different again. The values and conditions don't match England and Wales.
- VAT on energy-saving materials has been at 0% for domestic installations, which is a smaller saving than the grant but applies far more widely. Check the current position, as this has changed before.
If you have electric heating and no boiler, you’re in the group this grant was written for, and the case is unusually strong — the grant is largest relative to the installed cost, and replacing direct electric heat is where the running-cost saving is at its biggest. We’ll tell you which side of the line you fall on before you commit to anything.
Where this comes from
We’d rather you checked. These are the primary sources behind the claims above, in the order they matter.
- The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2026In force 28 April 2026. Brought air-to-air heat pumps into the scheme at £2,500 and removed the EPC requirement.
- Ofgem — Boiler Upgrade Scheme guidance for applicantsScheme administrator. The authority on current eligibility and grant values.
- MCS — installer and product certificationThe grant is claimed by an MCS-certified installer against a certified product; you cannot apply yourself.
Not yet independently reviewed. This guide was written from the primary sources listed above and is accurate to the best of our understanding on the date shown. It hasn’t been checked by an independent compliance professional, and it isn’t legal advice. Where a decision turns on it, verify with your local authority or with Ofgem directly — and tell us if we’ve got something wrong.