Heat pumps in the UK: 2026 grant + cost guide by town

How heat pumps work in UK homes

An air-source heat pump (ASHP) extracts heat from outside air using a refrigerant cycle — even at -5°C, there’s enough ambient heat to extract usefully. The compressor lifts that heat to 45–55°C for your radiators or underfloor heating, vs. the 70–80°C a gas boiler runs at. The lower flow temperature is why ASHP installs need bigger radiators (or wet underfloor) than a gas system — the heat has to come out more slowly to warm the room.

The seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) measures efficiency. SCOP 3.5 means every 1 kWh of electricity in produces 3.5 kWh of heat out. A typical UK home using 12,000 kWh of heat per year at SCOP 3.5 needs about 3,400 kWh of electricity to deliver it. On a heat-pump tariff at 18p/kWh that’s £612/year before standing charges — usually less than the equivalent gas bill at 2026 prices.

Browse by town

Each town page below carries live EPC band data drawn from the GOV.UK EPC Register, the local BUS-eligibility context, and install cost ranges for the area. Sample size is shown next to each town. We’re expanding coverage steadily — if your town isn’t listed yet, the suitability checker below works for every UK address.

Browse by property type

Heat-pump sizing, fabric prerequisites, and BUS grant considerations vary by the kind of home you have. Pick the archetype that best matches your property for a deep-dive on what install scope looks like.

Check your specific home

Town pages give the local context; the actual answer for your property depends on three factors only a pre-survey can resolve: heat-loss range (set by your floor area, fabric and air-tightness), radiator sizing (most pre-2000s homes need at least one or two upgraded), and outdoor unit placement. Propertoasty’s free pre-survey check combines your address, an EPC pull, the Google Solar API’s roof data, and a floorplan vision analysis to produce an installer-ready report — typically takes about five minutes.

Run a free pre-survey check on your home — installer-ready report, BUS-eligibility verdict, sizing range, and a list of MCS-certified installers covering your area.