Homeowners can get £5,000 to replace gas boilers with heat pumps from next month

Households in the UK could get £5,000 towards replacing their gas boiler as part of a new government scheme.

The one-off grant is eligible from April for homeowners who want to make their homes more energy-efficient by switching to a low-carbon heat pump.

The initiative was first revealed in the autumn budget in October 2021 as part of a £3.9 billion project to make all heating systems low carbon by 2035.

By installing heat pumps in homes, the government says the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels and exposure to global price spikes will be significantly reduced.

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As well as reducing emissions, the £450 million boiler upgrade scheme also aims to cut the cost of fitting heat pumps so that it is more affordable.

The £5,000 grant will allow households who choose to install a heat pump to pay a similar amount to a traditional gas boiler.

But the scheme will operate on a first-come, first-served basis - with the government only offering payments for 30,000 heat pumps every year for three years.

Households will also have to pay the difference if the cost of the heat pump comes to more than the £5,000 grant.

Heat pumps run on electricity by extracting energy from the air or the ground.

They work very differently to a gas boiler - which boils water and releases carbon into the atmosphere every time you use it.

To ensure electric heat pumps will not be any more expensive to run than gas boilers, the government wants to reduce the price of electricity over the next decade.

Most homeowners, public landlords and private landlords in England and Wales will be eligible for the scheme.

However, the grant won't be available to