Energy Efficient Homes 2026: Grants & Savings Guide
Cut your bills and access up to £7,500 in grants. Real costs, real savings, and which upgrades actually pay back in 2026.
Government schemes
Three live schemes fund solar, heat pumps and insulation. ECO4 can cover the full cost. BUS gives £7,500 off a heat pump. Check which ones apply to your home in 60 seconds.
Every scheme at a glance
Four live schemes right now. Each one funds different upgrades and applies to a different type of household. Skim the table, then click through for the detail.
| Scheme | What you get | Who qualifies | Status | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme | £7,500 off a heat pump | All homeowners replacing fossil fuel heating (England & Wales) | Openuntil March 2028 | View scheme |
| ECO4 | Fully funded insulation, heating, solar | Low-income households on qualifying benefits | Ending soonuntil December 2026 | View scheme |
| Warm Homes Local Grant |
Reviewed against primary sources
Two minutes, no phone number, no obligation. We cross-reference every active scheme against your property details.
GBIS closed on 31 March 2026. That was the Great British Insulation Scheme, which had paid for cavity wall and loft insulation on homes in EPC bands D to G. No direct replacement has been announced. DESNZ has said the Warm Homes Plan covers similar ground, though that runs through specific English councils rather than a national scheme.
BUS got bigger. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme was £5,000 until late 2025, when the government raised it to £7,500 for air source and ground source heat pumps. The insulation prerequisite was scrapped in April 2026 too, which removed the single biggest barrier keeping people out.
Meanwhile, the Warm Homes Local Grant launched in spring 2025 and is now live across roughly two-thirds of English councils. Funding levels vary widely. Some authorities are offering substantial grants for external wall insulation and heat pumps. Others have barely started processing applications.
ECO4 plus BUS. That's the combination most people miss.
ECO4 can fund your insulation, heating controls and sometimes solar. BUS can fund a heat pump. The two pots don't exclude each other because the money comes from separate sources. If you qualify for ECO4 and you want a heat pump, your installer applies for BUS on top of the ECO4 package.
Not every installer mentions this. Some only do ECO4 work, some only do BUS installations. The firms that handle both will pull more funding into a single project. Ask upfront whether they can run a combined application. The Warm Homes Local Grant is the one to check separately, because a few councils restrict stacking with ECO4 on the same measure. Read your local policy before assuming.
If you only check one thing, check ECO4 eligibility. Roughly a third of UK households meet the income criteria, and the eligibility checker tells you in two minutes.
Recently published
Cut your bills and access up to £7,500 in grants. Real costs, real savings, and which upgrades actually pay back in 2026.
Cut your energy bills and carbon footprint with our 2026 guide to home energy efficiency. Grants, upgrades and practical steps. Check eligibility free.
Scheme detail pages
Full eligibility criteria, how to apply, and what's changed this year. One page per scheme.
£7,500
Off an air source or ground source heat pump
The biggest single grant for most homeowners. Covers anyone in England or Wales replacing a gas, oil or LPG system.
Common questions
A few questions about your home, two minutes of your time. We cross-reference BUS, ECO4, the Warm Homes Local Grant and every other active scheme against your property.
| Varies by council |
| Income under £36,000, EPC D-G, England |
Openuntil December 2028 |
| View scheme |
| 0% VAT Relief | Saves ~£1,200 on solar or insulation | All UK homeowners | Openuntil March 2027 | Read guide |
Recently closed |
| Great British Insulation Scheme | Up to £3,000 for insulation | Replaced by ECO4 and Warm Homes for most homeowners | Closedclosed March 2026 | Read context |
£7,500 off a heat pump
All homeowners replacing fossil fuel heating (England & Wales)
View schemeFully funded insulation, heating, solar
Low-income households on qualifying benefits
View schemeVaries by council
Income under £36,000, EPC D-G, England
View schemeRecently closed
Up to £3,000 for insulation
Replaced by ECO4 and Warm Homes for most homeowners
Read contextNot sure which applies? Check all schemes against your home in 60 seconds
Last reviewed: 16 May 2026 · Next review due: 14 August 2026
There isn't one pot of money. That's the first thing to know. UK energy grants come from three different places, which is why the rules for BUS look nothing like the rules for ECO4.
ECO4 is funded by the big energy suppliers. British Gas, EDF, Octopus, E.ON. Ofgem legally obliges them to improve the worst-performing homes on their books, and that obligation funds the entire scheme. The energy companies write the cheques. The government sets the rules. DESNZ oversees the whole thing.
Compare that to BUS. It's a direct government grant, administered by Ofgem, paid from Treasury budget. Any homeowner replacing a fossil fuel heating system qualifies. No income test, no benefit requirement. That's why eligibility feels broader compared with ECO4. If you're weighing your options on heating, our boiler grants guide covers every grant-funded replacement route, from a like-for-like combi swap to switching to a heat pump under BUS.
Then there's Warm Homes Local Grant. Central government allocates the budget, councils run the applications. Sheffield's rules aren't Cornwall's rules aren't Nottingham's rules. Some councils prioritise external wall insulation. Others focus on heat pumps. You apply through your local authority, not a national portal.
Your EPC rating sits underneath all of this. ECO4 and Warm Homes target homes in bands D to G, BUS ignores the band entirely, and the cheaper 0% VAT relief works on every band. Our EPC ratings guide breaks down what each band means for the schemes you can apply to.
One thing most guides skip: you can combine schemes from different pots. ECO4 might cover your insulation while BUS covers your heat pump on the same property, because the money comes from separate sources and each scheme has its own criteria. That's the detail worth knowing, and it's where most of the value gets left on the table.
Find out which government grants can replace your storage heaters for free or cheap in 2026. Check eligibility in 2 minutes.
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Fully funded
Insulation, heating upgrades, sometimes solar
Means-tested scheme run through the energy suppliers. About a third of UK households qualify. Ends December 2026.
Varies
By council, up to several thousand pounds
Income-based grant administered by English local authorities. Households earning under £36,000 in EPC D-G homes.
Featured guides
Whichever upgrade you're after, the dedicated grants guide for that cluster covers it in full.
Which grants can help pay for solar panels in the UK? BUS, ECO4 and local schemes explained. Check what your home qualifies for.
Two main schemes fund a new boiler: ECO4 if you're on benefits, the £7,500 BUS if you switch to a heat pump. Plus what to do if neither applies.
GBIS closed March 2026. Find out which insulation grants are still open, what you qualify for, and how to apply. Free eligibility check in 2 minutes.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant funds free insulation and heating upgrades. Find out if you qualify and how to apply through your council.
What does your EPC rating mean? Costs, how to improve, what each band means for grants, and landlord rules. Updated April 2026.