Most of what you’ll read about home energy upgrades, heat pumps, solar panels and government grants is written by someone who wants to install them. That’s not automatically wrong, but it does mean you rarely get told when the answer is to leave things alone.
The Energy Upgrade covers what home energy upgrades in the UK actually cost, which grants you can genuinely claim, and where the numbers do and don’t stack up. We publish the awkward figures alongside the encouraging ones, because a decision that costs ten thousand pounds deserves better than a sales page.
UK Home Energy Upgrades: Where Things Stand
£7,500
Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant towards an eligible heat pump, with no income test
£9,000
£9,000 BUS grant for eligible off-gas-grid oil or LPG homes, until 31 March 2027
£8,100
What a 4kW solar system costs, from 177,000 official installations
2.8
The efficiency a heat pump needs to beat gas on running cost
Figures verified against Ofgem scheme guidance, the current price cap and DESNZ solar PV cost data, 22 September 2026.
UK Home Energy Upgrades We Cover
Heat pumps
What a heat pump costs to install and run, whether it’s worth it for your property, how to choose an installer, and the cases where the honest answer is no. Our full heat pump cost breakdown covers installation prices, running costs and the numbers behind the decision.
Grants and funding
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme, the £9,000 uplift for oil and LPG homes, and ECO4 before it closes in December. Who qualifies, what the real deadlines are, and the eligibility traps that stop applications going through. Including the route into ECO4 that works without any benefits at all.
Solar panels
What solar costs according to 177,000 official installations, why published payback figures are shorter than the arithmetic supports, and whether a battery earns its place. Our solar payback calculator works it out for your roof and shows every step, with no email required.
Energy bills
Every decision here comes back to what you pay for a unit of electricity or gas. What the price cap actually caps, where your standing charge goes, and whether a time-of-use tariff would save you money or quietly cost you more.
Research
Original analysis of the official data, including what Ofgem’s own figures show about where Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants actually go, and the applications that never end in a paid grant.
Insulation, EV charging and air conditioning are in progress and will follow.
How we work
We’re a publisher, not an installer. We don’t fit anything, we don’t sell equipment, and we have no stake in you choosing one technology over another.
Every figure on this site is sourced and dated. Grant values, energy prices and scheme rules all change, sometimes quarterly, so pages carry a last-updated date and we revisit the numbers rather than letting them go stale. Where we’re working from an estimate rather than a verified figure, we say so.
Start Your Home Energy Upgrade
If you’re weighing up a heat pump, start with whether it’s worth it, which works through the running costs with current prices.
If you’re thinking about solar, start with the payback calculator, which asks the daytime occupancy question that decides the answer and that almost nobody else asks.
If you’re off the gas grid and heating with oil or LPG, start with the £9,000 grant, because it has a deadline attached and one disqualifier that catches a lot of rural properties.
If you’re on a low income or receive certain benefits, start with ECO4, which can fund eligible energy-efficiency improvements, but closes on 31 December 2026.
If you already know what you want and need someone to fit it, start with choosing an installer, for a heat pump or solar.