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Heat pumps are now a mainstream choice for UK homes. This is what the figures show, and what to check before you ask for a quote.
How many are being installed
Almost 60,000 heat pumps were installed under MCS certification in the UK in 2024, a record year and 43% more than 2023. In England and Wales the Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £7,500 towards one (how the heat pump grant works), and several suppliers offer heat pump tariffs with cheaper off-peak electricity.
What a heat pump changes
- Efficiency: in the Electrification of Heat trial, air source heat pumps delivered a median of 2.8 units of heat for every unit of electricity. A gas boiler delivers less than one.
- Running cost: on a flat-rate tariff about the same as an efficient gas boiler; on a heat pump tariff, lower, on the Energy Saving Trust’s analysis. Running costs against a gas boiler are set out separately.
- Heating pattern: a heat pump runs at a lower temperature for longer, so rooms hold a steady temperature rather than heating up fast and cooling down.
What it costs
The median cost of an air source heat pump installed under the scheme was £13,021 in the 2025/26 scheme year, including the unit, the installer’s fees and the home upgrades done alongside it, on the government’s scheme statistics. After the £7,500 grant that is about £5,500. Larger radiators, a new hot water cylinder or new pipework push it higher.
Will a heat pump work in an older house?
The Electrification of Heat trial fitted 742 heat pumps across every property type it tested, from EPC A to G, and a third of them were high-temperature models designed for houses with existing radiators. Age alone does not rule a house out. What decides it is heat loss, radiator sizes, cylinder space and a place for the outdoor unit, which is what a survey measures.
Your next step
Book a heat pump survey before you ask installers for quotes. The survey report tells you whether the house is suitable, what size system it needs and what has to change first, so every quote you then get is for the right system. The guide to how heat pumps work covers air source and ground source systems.
Sources
- 2024 was a record year for small-scale renewables, MCS
- Heat pumps shown to be three times more efficient than gas boilers and project summary, Energy Systems Catapult
- Heat pump fact check, Energy Saving Trust
- Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics: July 2026, Table A1.3A, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, from Ofgem and MCS installation data
