ECO4 doesn’t just offer grant support to pensioners, but since it aims to target the lowest income households living in poor performing homes in terms of energy efficiency in England, Scotland and Wales, this often applies to pensioners. So if you:
then you could qualify for support for an ASHP under ECO4.
One of the main ways of measuring your eligibility is through the government benefit you or someone in your household receives, as often these are income-based or means-tested and can be indicative of the sort of households ECO4 aims to support.
And the good news for pensioners is that some of those government benefits could be especially relevant to you:
Although there aren’t any air source heat pump (ASHP) grants specifically for pensioners, there are plenty of free funding grants for ASHPs out there that will be applicable to a range of people, including pensioners. There are really three main key routes you can take to see if you qualify.
Remember, you can only apply for one of the grants mentioned above, and if you’re unsure which is best for you, contact us today and we’ll discuss your best options to ensure you get the most support possible.
There are a number of reasons why you might consider installing an air source heat pump, but here are a few that explain why it’s particularly good to consider an air source heat pump installation as a pensioner:
If you want to find out if you’re eligible for government grants for air source heat pumps for pensioners, then we can help. With so much grant support available for greener heating systems such as air source heat pumps, it can be confusing for anybody to work out which grants they can and can’t apply for.
But don’t worry, when you work with Eco Grants by ZOA Energy Solutions, we make the whole process as simple as possible. We’re grant experts, so when you fill out our 60 second form with the information we need, we’ll be able to get in touch and discuss your grant options. And all we need from you to get started are your:
To be clear, not everybody will qualify for an air source heat pump (ASHP) under ECO4. Other measures will be prioritised above this where applicable, such as insulation. However, some people will qualify for an ASHP where necessary so it’s certainly worth learning how pensioners could qualify for an ASHP under ECO4.
ECO4 offers wonderful support to pensioners living in energy inefficient homes with an annual household income below £30,000 per year.
A range of measures could be offered to support in raising the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of your property, from insulation measures all the way to a new, more efficient heating system such as ASHPs if required. But how do you qualify?
LA Flex is very similar to ECO4, so it can certainly support pensioners with making their homes more energy efficient. The main difference between the schemes is that LA Flex provides local authorities and councils greater flexibility when it comes to offering support to certain households.
And whilst it still focuses on supporting low income households with energy inefficient homes, other additions to the eligibility criteria could mean more pensioners can benefit from support for ASHPs, if deemed an appropriate energy efficiency measure.
You ought to qualify for grant support under LA Flex so long as you have an annual household income of £30,000 per year or below, and live in a home with an EPC rating of D or below. However, with LA Flex, support can be offered to pensioners who:
If this means you now qualify for support where you didn’t under ECO4, then it’s worth speaking with our team today to see whether a heat pump could be fitted at your home to help reduce your energy bills and increase your home’s energy efficiency.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) was extended in September 2023, meaning the scheme can support households in switching to a ground or air source heat pump until 2028. It’s important to note that this, again, isn’t a grant scheme designed exclusively for pensioners.
In fact, the eligibility criteria is so wide open that it applies to almost anybody… but we’ll explain more about that below.
For now, you’ll mostly be concerned about how much support is on offer. Well, if you’re successful, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme can offer £7,500 towards the cost of your ASHP.
You’ll qualify for the BUS, so long as you:
In addition, your property will only be considered eligible if it has a valid EPC with no outstanding recommendations for loft or cavity wall insulation in order to ensure that the heat pump is able to perform effectively and heat your home to a comfortable level.
The BUS will therefore apply to you as a pensioner if you meet the criteria above. And if you’re unsure, just fill out our form today and we’ll let you know which grant route is best for you based on your circumstances.
It’s difficult to say exactly how much cheaper or more expensive your bills will be after switching to an ASHP because it all depends on the price of electricity vs gas (if your old system was a gas boiler) at the time of any comparison you make. However, according to Energy Saving Trust you can typically save anywhere between £115 and £1,100 per year depending on what your old heating system was before making the switch to an ASHP. This is based on fuel prices as of October 2023. This doesn’t necessarily give a full picture, though, because if you’re switching from an A-rated gas boiler to an air source heat pump, you may actually find that the cost of heating your home goes up. But why is that the case?
With the right scheme (provided you qualify), you might not have to pay for your air source heat pump at all. For other schemes, you may need to contribute to the cost of your ASHP installation, but the final cost will be significantly reduced by the grant support on offer from the different schemes.
Whilst we’ve focussed on air source heat pumps today, you could also qualify for a ground source heat pump when applying for a heat pump installation through the various schemes we’ve talked about today. Any heat pump grant for pensioners will consider which heat pump (air source heat pump vs ground source heat pump) is right for your property. Don’t worry though – both types of heat pump work in much the same way and are great at replacing fossil fuel heating systems.