Heat pump grants in the South West: what the official data shows

What is the same everywhere

Cornwall to Gloucestershire, the rules of the scheme are the same. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is a single England and Wales scheme with one set of rules: £7,500 off an air-to-water or ground source heat pump (air-to-air is £2,500), and £9,000 where the home has no mains gas and the heating being replaced is oil or LPG (applications from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027). The installer applies, Ofgem contacts the owner to confirm consent, and the grant comes off the price on the quote, so no local postcode changes the amount. The detail is in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme guide and the £9,000 off-gas guide.

Take-up in the South West

The South West has had 17,168 grants paid (including 110 biomass boilers) by the end of September 2026, 17.8% of the England and Wales total and second only to the South East on volume. On rate it leads England by a distance: 66.6 grants paid per 10,000 households, against 37.4 for England and 36.4 for Wales. Voucher applications run at 96.0 per 10,000 households, against 56.1. The per-household rates count domestic grants only, against ONS households, so dividing the total above by households will not reproduce them.

It also leads on July and August 2026 applications: 2,500, first in England. These are the first weeks of the £9,000 off-gas band (from 21 July 2026), and DESNZ does not split applications by region. August 2026 applications were 1,086 against 646 a year before, up 68%. The region took 5,649 grants paid in the financial year 2025/26.

Source: DESNZ, Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics: September 2026 (published 29 October 2026; read 31 October 2026). Grant counts are all redemptions (Table 1.2A, including biomass boilers); per-10,000 rates are domestic grants against ONS 2025 household counts (Table 1.2B), so one cannot be derived from the other. DESNZ warns that regions differ in how many properties are eligible and of what kind, which shapes both the totals and the mix of technologies.

What homes are replacing

The fuel mix is distinct. Over four financial years, only 38.6% of grant-funded installations in the South West replaced mains gas, the lowest of any region and against 56.2% for England. Oil was 23.7%, the highest, and 18.8% went into homes with no previous heating system, also the highest, against 13.4% nationally. DESNZ estimates 24.2% of properties had no gas connection in 2024, the highest of any English region, or about 651,000 properties.

For a South West buyer, that means the £9,000 band matters more than elsewhere: more than a quarter (27.5%) of grant-funded installs here replaced oil or LPG, the highest of any region. Cottages, farmhouses and village homes on oil or LPG may qualify for it, which adds £1,500 to the standard £7,500. The test is exact, though: no mains gas, and an oil or LPG system being replaced. A home heated by direct electric gets £7,500, and the ground source grant follows the same bands.

Fuel shares: DESNZ Table A1.9, summed over four financial years (coal, other and unknown fuels not shown). Final row: DESNZ Subnational estimates of properties not connected to the gas network (published 18 December 2025; read 8 October 2026), which subtracts domestic gas meters from the property count. The estimate counts properties without a gas meter; Ofgem decides the off-gas band for your own property, on the evidence your installer sends.

Inside the region

Cornwall (3,145) and Devon (3,065) between them account for 6,210 of the 15,508 heat pump grants paid in the region to June 2026, about two-fifths, and Gloucestershire and Wiltshire follow. Heat pump grants make up the whole of the Q1.2 county counts below; the region’s 110 biomass boiler grants are counted separately. The region also stands out for technology: it has 493 ground source grants (about a third of England’s) and 110 biomass boiler grants (over two-fifths of England’s).

• Cornwall: 3,145 heat pump grants paid to June 2026
• Devon: 3,065 heat pump grants paid to June 2026
• Gloucestershire: 1,679 heat pump grants paid to June 2026
• Wiltshire: 1,622 heat pump grants paid to June 2026

Source: DESNZ Table Q1.2, heat pump grants paid by county or unitary authority (counties and unitary authorities, such as Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire), May 2022 to June 2026. DESNZ suppresses counts below five.

Cornwall: the most grants of any county

Cornwall leads every county and unitary authority in the region, with 3,145 heat pump grants paid to June 2026 (DESNZ Table Q1.2). The region as a whole has the highest estimated share of homes without a gas connection in England, 24.2% in DESNZ’s 2024 estimate, and the highest share of installs that replaced oil, 23.7%. That is the setting in which the off-gas band matters. Cornwall Council also leads its own Warm Homes: Local Grant project with the Isles of Scilly (GOV.UK list, updated 2 July 2026), so low-income households in private homes there have a council route as well as the national grant.

If your home in Cornwall is heated by oil or LPG and has no mains gas connection, the £9,000 off-gas heat pump grant applies to applications up to 31 March 2027. Ask the installer to state in writing which band they will apply for, because the test is on your property, not on the county.

Bristol and the West of England council route

Bristol is the region’s largest Warm Homes: Local Grant lead by funding: GOV.UK lists Bristol, with Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset, at £12,662,001. That is a council programme for low-income households in privately owned or rented homes with an EPC of D to G, and it sits alongside the Boiler Upgrade Scheme rather than replacing it. A home on mains gas gets the standard £7,500 grant; the council route is worth asking about if your household income qualifies.

Heat pump cost in the South West

There is no official South West price: DESNZ publishes the installed-cost median nationally, not by region. Nationally, the median grant-funded air source heat pump cost £12,826 in 2026 Q3 including the grant, so about £5,326 after the £7,500 grant and about £3,826 on the £9,000 band. In this region the band is the biggest cost lever, because more installs here replaced oil or LPG than anywhere else in England. Ground source is the other: the region has 493 ground source grants, the most in England, and the national ground source median is £34,630.

The heat pump vs oil boiler comparison sets out the running-cost side for oil homes. To ask us about a South West quote, use the form below.

Council-led help in the South West

GOV.UK’s Warm Homes: Local Grant list, updated 2 July 2026, names 9 lead authority projects in the South West. Bristol leads a consortium with Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset (£12,662,001). Devon leads seven councils, Stroud leads six Gloucestershire-area councils, and Cornwall, Dorset, Plymouth, Somerset, West Devon and Wiltshire each lead a project of their own.

The grant is for low-income households with an EPC of D to G in privately owned or rented homes. The lead authorities are:

• Bristol (with Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset)
• Cornwall (with Isles of Scilly)
• Devon (with 7 councils)
• Dorset (with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole)
• Plymouth
• Somerset
• Stroud (with 6 Gloucestershire-area councils)
• West Devon (with South Hams)
• Wiltshire

Source: GOV.UK, Warm Homes: Local Grant: successful local authorities (updated 2 July 2026; read 8 October 2026). GOV.UK does not tag the list by region; we grouped the councils by geography. A council on the list may still have closed its scheme or set its own income test, so ask it directly. On GOV.UK’s terms the grant helps low-income households in privately owned or rented homes rated EPC D to G, and an air source heat pump can be funded where it suits the home. How council money and the national grant fit together is on other heat pump funding.

Your grid operator

National Grid Electricity Distribution operates the South West licence area, which its website places among its Midlands, South West and South Wales networks. SSEN Distribution’s southern England licence area, according to its own report, reaches the western edge of its licence area at the borders of south Somerset and west Dorset and includes Weymouth, Bournemouth, Swindon, parts of Wiltshire and the Cotswolds, so parts of the region are on SSEN’s network.

The installer’s survey should say whether your supply is adequate for a heat pump and which notification route applies. Notification is usually the installer’s job. MCS sets out two routes: new maximum demand of 60 amps or less can be connected and notified within 28 days; between 60 and 100 amps the operator must be asked first and has 10 working days to assess capacity (MCS, Notifying DNOs; read 8 October 2026). Get the route and who is responsible written into the quote.

What to ask for locally

• Ask the installer to apply the off-gas test to your address in writing. More than a quarter of South West installs replaced oil or LPG, so the £9,000 band comes up often, and a wrong assumption either way changes your price.
• For larger plots, ask for a ground source quote as well. The region has the most ground source grants in England (493), though costs are higher; see the ground source cost guide.
• If your house is old or listed, ask about the planning position before design starts. The old houses guide covers the evidence.
• Ask who will check the electricity supply and notify the network operator.

Before you sign, run the quote through the heat pump quotes checklist and the eligibility rules; the heat pump installation cost guide explains each line. London, at the other end of the take-up table, has its own page, and the regions hub compares all nine. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run different schemes: see grants by country.

What this page does not tell you

Everything above describes the region, not your house. Your enquiry comes to SEO-DONS LTD, the publisher of this guide, and we reply by email. Climate, housing age and local planning policy are left out because we have not sourced them for the South West. None of these figures is a price for your home or a guarantee that a grant will be paid.