UK Heat Pump Install Price Tracker

This tracker records what UK heat pump installers advertise an install for, before and after the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant, and counts what each headline price leaves out. It is desk research: we read each installer's public price page, kept a screenshot, and set the figures against the government's own record of what installers reported. We did not request quotes or visit homes. This page carries no affiliate links or quote form. It recommends no installer.

Capture 1: 29 October 2026. Four installers priced, two checked but not priced. The government comparison is the DESNZ Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics release for September 2026, published the same day. Next capture: 26 November 2026.

Prices and specs last checked by Look Into on 29 October 2026 · next check 26 November 2026 · how we picked

Advertised heat pump prices on 29 October 2026

Sorted from the lowest price after the grant. "From" means the lowest price the installer advertises for its smallest standard job. "Typical" is a median of real quotes the installer has issued. Where a page states only one of the two prices, we add or subtract the £7,500 grant and mark the result as derived.

The median of the three "from" prices is £4,486 (£4,100, £4,486 and £7,150, middle value). We do not mix Octopus's typical price into that median, because a median of finished quotes and a starting price measure different things. It is shown alongside instead.

Worked arithmetic for the prices before the grant: EDF states both, £11,600 less £7,500 is £4,100. Octopus £4,064 plus £7,500 is £11,564. E.ON Next £4,486 plus £7,500 is £11,986. Aira £7,150 plus £7,500 is £14,650. The median of those four is the average of the middle two, (£11,600 + £11,986) ÷ 2 = £11,793.

One stated-figure note. Octopus's page body gives £4,064, with the quote window it was measured over. The same page's search description says "around £4,460". We use the body figure because it carries its dates.

What each headline price leaves out: the spec gap score

Headline prices are not comparable as they stand, because each assumes a different job. So we fix one reference install, an air-to-water heat pump replacing a gas boiler in a three-bed home, with seven items. For each price we mark every item as included, excluded or not stated, using only what the installer's page says. The spec gap score is the number of items marked excluded. Items that are not stated are listed but never counted: we score what the page says, not what we suspect.

The seven reference items are the outdoor unit, a new hot water cylinder, at least one radiator upgrade, pipework and any buffer, controls and electrics, MCS commissioning with the grant application, and removal of the old boiler. All four prices include the outdoor unit, so that column is left out of the table below.

EDF is the only installer whose price says it leaves something out, and it is also the lowest "from" price. Its page states that the £4,100 "assumes reuse of a suitable existing hot water cylinder", that homes needing a new cylinder will pay more, and that the price requires no radiator upgrades. Aira's £7,150 is £3,050 higher and states a cylinder and two radiator upgrades are included. E.ON Next says its typical three-bed figure includes the hot water tank and radiators. None of the four pages says whether removing the old boiler is in the price.

A score of 2 is not a criticism of EDF. Its page says exactly what the price assumes, which is why it can be scored at all. The score tells you which questions to ask when the quote arrives.

Advertised prices against what installers reported

Every install paid under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme needs an MCS certificate, and installers record the cost on it. DESNZ publishes the median, lower quartile and upper quartile each quarter. For July to September 2026 the median for an air-to-water heat pump was £12,826, the lower quartile £10,717 and the upper quartile £15,461, with a median capacity of 8kW. A year earlier, July to September 2025, the median was £13,000, so it is down £174, or 1.3%.

DESNZ notes that these costs are self-reported, include VAT and labour, and "should also include the grant value, but this may be subject to interpretation by different installers". They also exclude the top and bottom 10% of reported costs.

The gap is £12,826 less £11,793, which is £1,033, or 8.1% of the reported median. All four advertised prices before the grant sit between the lower and upper quartile, from £11,564 to £14,650. In other words, the advertised prices are not outliers. Three of the four sit below the reported median, and Aira's sits above it.

Installers checked but not in the median

• British Gas. Its heat pump page shows a representative finance example with a cash price of £6,699 over 120 months at 9.9% APR. The page does not say whether that cash price is before or after the grant, so we cannot place it in either column. Recorded, not counted.
• OVO. Its heat pump cost guide gives no OVO price. It quotes the Energy Saving Trust's estimate of around £14,000 before the grant. Recorded as no price.

Other national installers will be checked at the next capture and added only if they show a price without a postcode, email address or phone number.

What this means for your quote

• Ask for the cylinder and radiator lines in writing. They are the two items the cheapest starting price leaves out.
• Compare your quote before the grant with the reported median of £12,826 and the middle-half range of £10,717 to £15,461. A quote above £15,461 is dearer than three in four installs reported to the scheme in July to September 2026.
• Check which grant applies. The standard grant in England and Wales is £7,500. Homes replacing oil or LPG heating may get £9,000 from 21 July 2026, which E.ON Next expects to run until March 2027. Scotland has its own Home Energy Scotland grant and loan.
• Running costs are a separate question. The heat pump flow temperature cost index and the heat pump versus gas boiler cost page work those out at the current price cap.

How we worked this out

• The basket. National installers that show a heat pump price on a public page, readable without entering a postcode, email address or phone number. Fixed at this capture. A new installer joins only at a later capture and is excluded from month-on-month change until it has two captures.
• The capture. On 29 October 2026 we opened each page in a browser, read the price text from the page itself, and kept a screenshot. We record the headline exactly as written, whether it is a starting or typical price, which grant it assumes, and the small print.
• The government comparison. DESNZ Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics, September 2026 release, published 29 October 2026, table Q1.1A, row "Air-to-Water Heat Pump". Cost figures are updated quarterly, in January, April, July and October.
• Missing data. A page with no price, or a price behind a form, keeps its row with that status and is left out of the median. Nothing is carried forward or filled in. A missed month is shown as a gap.
• Revisions. Captures are never edited. A correction is added as a new, dated entry in the change log below.
• Cadence. Monthly, on the day DESNZ publishes its Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics, usually the last Thursday of the month. Extra captures run within seven days of any grant change.

What this tracker cannot tell you

• These are advertised prices, not prices anyone paid. Most installers price after a survey, so a starting price may rarely be the price you are quoted.
• We cannot see individual quotes, regional price differences, or any price that sits behind a quote form.
• The spec gap score only counts what each page states. An item marked not stated may well be included.
• The government figures are self-reported by installers, cover England and Wales only, and cover only installs paid under the grant.
• With four installers priced, one change can move the median a long way. We always give the count with the figure.

Change log

Frequently asked questions

How much does an air source heat pump cost to install in the UK in October 2026?
Installers reported a median of £12,826 for an air-to-water heat pump installed under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in July to September 2026, before the grant, in DESNZ statistics published on 29 October 2026. Take off the standard £7,500 grant and that is £5,326. The median advertised starting price from the installers we checked on 29 October 2026 was £4,486 after the grant.

Why are advertised heat pump prices lower than what people pay?
Starting prices assume a particular job. The lowest one we found, EDF's £4,100, assumes your existing hot water cylinder can be reused and that no radiators need upgrading. Across the four installers with a price, the median price before the grant was £1,033 below the median installers reported to the scheme.

What is the spec gap score?
It is a count Look Into uses in this tracker. We fix a reference install of seven items, from the outdoor unit to removing the old boiler, and count how many of them an advertised price says it leaves out. Items the page does not mention are reported separately and are not counted.

How often is this tracker updated?
Monthly, on the day DESNZ publishes its Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics, which is usually the last Thursday of the month. The next capture is due on 26 November 2026. Earlier captures are never edited.

Sources

• DESNZ, Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics: September 2026, published 29 October 2026, tables Q1.1A and Notes, read 29 October 2026.
• Octopus Energy, How much does a heat pump cost?, read 29 October 2026.
• EDF, Air source heat pumps, read 29 October 2026.
• E.ON Next, How much do heat pumps cost?, read 29 October 2026.
• Aira, Air source heat pump prices and running costs, read 29 October 2026.
• British Gas, Air source heat pumps, read 29 October 2026.
• OVO, What's the cost of an air source heat pump?, read 29 October 2026.