The government programme will offer £15bn ($20.1bn) to install heat pumps, solar panels, home batteries and complete energy efficiency measures until 2030 — aiming to reduce gas consumption and energy bills and increase energy security.
The government will allocate £2.7bn to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (Bus) until 2030, with funding starting at £295mn in 2025-26 and increasing steadily every year, to reach £709mn in 2029-30. This will expand the already existing universal grant support for the switch to clean heat, which will continue offering grants of £7,500 towards the upfront cost of installing hydronic heat pumps in England and Wales. It will also now provide £2,500 in grants towards the cost of installing air-to-air heat pumps and heat batteries for central heating. The Bus already provides £5,000 grants for biomass boilers, whole house heating and hot water.
The scheme will include £5bn for low-income schemes and £2bn for universally-accessible new zero and low-interest consumer loans giving access to these technologies. These schemes could be used to fund the installation of a single technology or package of measures.
Yearly grants for the low-income scheme will start at £462mn in 2025-26, increasing to £960mn in 2026-27 and reaching £1bn per year until 2030.
And the government will offer £2.7bn innovative finance for in home upgrades.
With these and other measures presented, the government aims to deliver more than 450,000 heat pump installations per year, triple the number of homes with solar today, by deploying panels on the rooftops of up to 3mn more homes and upgrading up to 5mn homes in total.
The government will also allocate £1.1bn to expand heat networks, which will amount to £215mn in 2025-26 and £212mn every year thereafter. These networks will be steadily decarbonised, with carbon limits introduced from 2030.
The UK aims to more than double the amount of heat demand met via heat networks to 7pc by 2035 — from 3pc today — and to meet a fifth of total building heat demand in 2050.
The remaining funds will be allocated for devolved administrations, supporting businesses and innovation.
The Warm Homes Plan will also roll out a new minimum energy efficiency standard that privately rented properties will be required to meet by 2030. Landlords will need to upgrade their properties to meet EPC Band C across two metrics by October 2030, unless their property has a valid exemption. A range of financing options will continue to be available to landlords to ensure homes are compliant with new regulations.
The government will also create a Warm Homes Agency to lead home upgrades.
