The short answer for Suffolk: if your home is heated by oil or LPG and has no mains gas connection, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £9,000 towards a heat pump for applications from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027 — £1,500 more than the standard grant. On today's prices a well-designed heat pump costs less to run than an oil or LPG boiler in the same house; how much less depends on its efficiency.
13.2% of Suffolk households heat with oil alone — 3.8 times the England and Wales average of 3.5% — and Suffolk had 1,885 Boiler Upgrade Scheme heat pump grants paid by June 2026. Timber-framed and listed houses, thatch, two National Landscapes and the edge of the Broads mean the survey and the siting of the outdoor unit matter more here than on a modern estate.
How many Suffolk homes are off the gas grid
| Area | Households | Oil only | LPG only | Electric only | Mains gas only |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suffolk | 333,543 | 13.2% | 1.3% | 10.1% | 61.9% |
| England and Wales | 24,783,199 | 3.5% | 1.0% | 8.5% | 73.8% |
Census 2021, table TS046 (central heating), share of households using each fuel as their only type of central heating. Homes with two or more heating types are not in these columns, so the true number using some oil or LPG is higher.
A further 10.1% of Suffolk households (33,818) heat with electricity alone, many with storage heaters. Replacing direct electric heating qualifies for the standard £7,500 grant; the £9,000 rate is only for oil and LPG homes with no mains gas connection.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme heat pump grants paid by district, May 2022 to June 2026: East Suffolk 699, Mid Suffolk 420, West Suffolk 384, Babergh 293 and Ipswich 89 (DESNZ, table Q1.2).
Running costs: oil and LPG vs a heat pump in Suffolk
| Heating | Fuel bought a year | Price | Annual running cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oil boiler (85% efficient) | 17,650 kWh (about 1,710 litres) | 8.75p/kWh | £1,540 |
| LPG boiler (85% efficient) | 17,650 kWh | 9.50p/kWh | £1,680 |
| Heat pump, efficiency 2.78 (trial median) | 5,400 kWh electricity | 26.61p/kWh | £1,440 |
| Heat pump, efficiency 3.05 (trial upper quartile) | 4,920 kWh electricity | 26.61p/kWh | £1,310 |
| Heat pump, efficiency 3.5 (low-temperature design target) | 4,290 kWh electricity | 26.61p/kWh | £1,140 |
Illustrative 15,000 kWh of heat a year — a larger, older rural house; yours may be more or less, which is what the installer's heat-loss survey finds out. Oil and LPG prices: heating oil 90.01p a litre (DESNZ Quarterly Energy Prices, August 2026, including VAT), about 8.75p/kWh at 10.29 kWh per litre (DESNZ conversion factors 2025); LPG 9.5p/kWh (Energy Saving Trust fuel price assumptions, updated 22 September 2026). Electricity: Eastern direct-debit price cap, 1 October to 31 December 2026. Standing charges and boiler servicing excluded. Heat pump efficiencies: 2.78 is the median measured seasonal performance across 428 homes in the government's Electrification of Heat trial and 3.05 its upper quartile; 3.5 is the kind of figure a system designed to run at 45°C or below is designed to achieve, not a measured average.
Eastern electricity is 26.61p a kWh this quarter, a little above the GB average of 26.32p, so at the trial's median efficiency a heat pump is only modestly cheaper to run than oil. A low-temperature design running at an efficiency around 3.5 widens the gap considerably, and the saving over LPG is larger. Oil prices also swing more than the capped electricity price, and there are no deliveries or tank to look after.
What it costs after the £9,000 grant
| Air source heat pump | |
|---|---|
| Typical installed price under BUS (median, April–June 2026) | £12,900 |
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant | −£9,000 |
| What you would pay | about £3,900 |
Median installed cost of an air-to-water heat pump under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, April–June 2026 (lower quartile £11,128, upper quartile £15,627): DESNZ BUS Statistics: July 2026, published 27 August 2026. This is the middle figure across all installations — a small, well-insulated house can come in well under it; a large, older house needing new radiators and a cylinder can come in well over it.
Off-gas homes are often larger, older and less insulated than average, so expect quotes above the national median: a bigger heat pump, some larger radiators, a new cylinder and removing the oil tank. The extra £1,500 exists precisely because these jobs cost more.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme take-up to June 2026: Suffolk 1,885 grants paid.
Suffolk homes: what to expect from the survey
An older Suffolk house may well have a timber frame behind its plaster: Mid Suffolk District Council notes that timber framing "has been a traditional method of building construction in East Anglia for a thousand years", peaking in the 15th and 16th centuries (Mid Suffolk). The councils' heritage guidance, which also covers clay lump and soft brick walls, warns against hard cement renders and says that once a "timber framed, clay lump or soft brick building has been encased in a hard cement render the best course of action is often to remove it all" (Babergh and Mid Suffolk). Ask the surveyor to identify the wall construction, because it changes the heat loss and which insulation is safe to add.
35.2% of Suffolk households live in detached homes (England and Wales: 23.2%), which usually means room for a freestanding outdoor unit. On a thatched or timber-framed cottage, a unit on the ground away from the walls is the sensible default.
Insulate first if the house is listed. Babergh and Mid Suffolk have a Local Listed Building Consent Order that lets owners of Grade II listed buildings fit secondary glazing to historic windows without making an individual application, provided they follow its conditions (council page). Less heat loss means a smaller, cheaper heat pump.
On the coast and around the Broads, ask for the outdoor unit to be raised above likely flood levels with electrical connections kept high, and near the sea for corrosion protection suited to salt air and a warranty that doesn't exclude coastal sites. Removing the oil tank is usually a separate line on the quote.
The 31 March 2027 deadline
The higher rate is time-limited: it covers voucher applications up to 31 March 2027, after which oil and LPG homes return to the standard £7,500 unless the government extends it. A survey, design and voucher application take weeks, and installers get busier as a deadline approaches, so if your boiler is nearing the end of its life, getting a quote this autumn leaves room to decide without rushing.
Planning
In England, an air source heat pump on a house is normally permitted development — no planning application — under rules relaxed on 29 May 2025. The old rule that the unit had to be at least 1 metre from the boundary has gone; the outdoor unit can be up to 1.5 cubic metres (0.6 on a block of flats); a detached house can have two units and other homes one; and the installation must meet the MCS 020(a) noise standard, which your installer checks. It can't go on a pitched roof, and at a listed home it is never permitted development: you need planning permission, plus listed building consent if the work (fixing the unit, or running pipes through walls) would affect the building's character. In a conservation area or World Heritage Site the unit can't go on a wall or roof that fronts a road, or be nearer to a road bounding the property than the house itself — so it normally goes at the side or rear.
Suffolk has two National Landscapes — the Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths (site) and Dedham Vale on the Essex border (site) — and the southern edge of the Broads, where the Broads Authority, not East Suffolk Council, handles planning (Broads Authority). They count as "article 2(3) land" (GPDO Schedule 1), but that doesn't change the heat pump rules: the extra limits come from conservation areas and listed buildings.
East Suffolk has Article 4 directions in conservation areas including Beccles, Bungay, Halesworth, Southwold, Walberswick and parts of Lowestoft. There, the council says planning permission is required for "any change of design or material to any part of the property facing" a highway, waterway or open space (East Suffolk Council). If your house is in one of them, ask the council before putting a unit on a front or riverside elevation.
Listed homes: a heat pump at a listed house always needs planning permission. Babergh and Mid Suffolk's heritage guidance (October 2025) adds that units "directly attached to listed/curtilage listed buildings generally require Listed Building Consent. Freestanding units generally do not", although the pipework may; it says "mounting units directly on the historic core should be avoided" and suggests screening with walls, hedging or willow fencing (Babergh and Mid Suffolk).
Do you qualify?
- £7,500 off an air source or ground source heat pump (£2,500 for air-to-air, not claimable until MCS certifies air-to-air installers). From 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027, an air source or ground source heat pump replacing oil or LPG heating in a home with no mains gas connection gets £9,000 instead (not air-to-air).
- England and Wales only. Owner-occupiers and private landlords can apply, including for second homes and business premises; most new-build homes and social housing can't.
- The heat pump must replace fossil-fuel heating (gas, oil, LPG, coal) or direct electric heating. Since 28 April 2026 an EPC is no longer mandatory — if the home doesn't have a valid one, the installer provides other evidence.
- The installer applies, not you. An MCS-certified installer requests the voucher and takes it off your price; Ofgem contacts you to confirm. It is a discount on the price, not a free installation — you pay the balance.
- There is no income test and no benefits requirement.
Source: GOV.UK, Apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (updated 16 Sep 2026); DESNZ notice of grant values (effective 21 Jul 2026); Ofgem BUS guidance for property owners v5.1 (2 Jul 2026). Full detail: Boiler Upgrade Scheme guide.
Getting a quote in Suffolk
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Get your heat pump quote in Suffolk
One MCS-certified heat pump installer who covers your postcode. They apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme on your behalf if you're eligible. Nothing is shared until you submit.
What the quote must contain is set out on the heat pump quotes page. For the national rules on the uplift, see the oil and LPG boiler replacement grant guide.
Questions from Suffolk homeowners
Do I get £9,000 or £7,500 in Suffolk?
£9,000 if the heat pump replaces oil or LPG heating in a home with no mains gas connection, for applications up to 31 March 2027. Homes replacing electric storage heaters, other direct electric heating or solid fuel get £7,500.
Is there a free heat pump scheme in Suffolk?
Not open to new applicants at the moment. Warm Homes Suffolk, which has funded air source heat pumps and insulation for eligible lower-income households, says applications are closed and that details will be published on its website if they reopen (checked 30 October 2026). The councils' Warm Homes Suffolk loan scheme closed on 1 September 2025; Mid Suffolk says it expects news of a future scheme in autumn 2026. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is still open and has no income test, but it is a discount on the price, not a free installation.
My house is listed. Can I have a heat pump?
Usually, with permission. A listed house always needs planning permission for a heat pump, and in Babergh and Mid Suffolk a unit fixed to the building generally needs Listed Building Consent too; a freestanding unit generally does not, though the pipework into the house may. Speak to the council's heritage team before paying for a full design.
I'm in the Coast & Heaths, Dedham Vale or the Broads. Do I need planning permission?
Not for that reason alone. National Landscapes and the Broads don't change the permitted development rules for an air source heat pump on a house; conservation areas, Article 4 directions and listed buildings do. In the Broads, the Broads Authority handles planning.
Is a heat pump cheaper to run than oil?
At October–December 2026 Eastern prices, modestly at the trial's median efficiency and clearly with a well-designed low-temperature system. The saving against LPG is larger. See the table above.
Other areas
- Heat pumps in Birmingham
- Heat pumps in Sheffield
- Heat pumps in Bristol
- Heat pumps in Newcastle
- Heat pumps in Doncaster
- Heat pumps in Nottingham
- Oil to heat pump: Cornwall
- Oil to heat pump: Somerset
- Oil to heat pump: Fens & Peterborough
- Oil to heat pump: Northumberland
- Oil to heat pump: Carmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire
- Oil to heat pump: Norfolk
Sources
- GOV.UK, Apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (updated 16 September 2026); DESNZ notice of grant categories and values (effective 21 July 2026); Ofgem, BUS guidance for property owners v5.1 (2 July 2026).
- DESNZ, Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics: July 2026 (27 August 2026) — median installed cost 2026 Q2; redemptions paid by local authority, May 2022 to June 2026.
- Office for National Statistics, Census 2021 tables TS044 (accommodation type), TS046 (central heating), TS050 (bedrooms) and TS054 (tenure), local authority level, via Nomis.
- Ofgem, Changes to energy price cap between 1 October and 31 December 2026 (26 August 2026) and regional unit rates and standing charges; electricity at 0% VAT from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027 (HMRC).
- DESNZ, Quarterly Energy Prices table 4.1.1 (heating oil, August 2026); DESNZ conversion factors 2025 (burning oil energy content); Energy Saving Trust, Our data (LPG, updated 22 September 2026).
- Energy Systems Catapult for DESNZ, Electrification of Heat demonstration project, summary report (December 2024): median measured air source heat pump seasonal performance (SPFH4) 2.78, interquartile range 2.55–3.05, 428 homes.
- General Permitted Development (England) Order 2015, Schedule 2 Part 14 Class G, as amended by SI 2025/560 from 29 May 2025.
- Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape; Dedham Vale National Landscape; Broads Authority, About the Broads and Article 4 Directions; GPDO 2015 Schedule 1 (checked 30 October 2026).
- East Suffolk Council, Article 4 Directions; Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils, Energy efficiency and historic buildings (October 2025), Renders and plasters, Local Listed Building Consent Order – Windows and Timber framing (checked 30 October 2026).
- Warm Homes Suffolk, home and applications closed notice; Mid Suffolk District Council, Warm Homes Suffolk loan scheme (checked 30 October 2026).
- DESNZ, Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics: July 2026, table Q1.2 — redemptions paid by local authority, Suffolk and its districts, May 2022 to June 2026.