BUS £9,000 Grant for Oil and LPG Homes (July 2026)

On 21 April 2026, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) announced an uplift to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant for households currently heated by oil or LPG. Eligible off-gas-grid homes will be able to claim £9,000 off the cost of an air-to-water or ground-source [heat pump](/blog/best-heat-pumps-uk-2026/) install — £1,500 more than the £7,500 grant available to gas-heated homes. The uplift is expected to open for applications in July 2026 and run until 31 March 2027. Crucially, as of this writing the grant change is not yet formally in force: Ofgem still needs to issue a formal grant change notice before applications can be accepted at the new level.

The uplift specifically targets households that currently rely on oil or LPG for primary space heating — the two fossil heating systems most exposed to international price volatility, since neither is protected by Ofgem's domestic price cap. As DESNZ framed it in the 21 April briefing, oil and LPG households have been hit hardest by recent price spikes; the £9,000 grant is intended to close the rural decarbonisation gap.

To claim the uplift, all of the following will need to apply:

• Property is in England or Wales — Scotland is covered by Home Energy Scotland and Northern Ireland by the NI Renewable Heat schemes; both run separately from BUS.
• Existing primary heating is oil or LPG — the system being replaced has to be the household's main source of space heating, not a backup. A property on mains gas with a secondary LPG hob does not qualify.
• Off the mains gas grid — the £9,000 tier is explicitly for off-grid properties. A connected gas property switching from oil to a [heat pump](/blog/heat-pump-cost-uk-2026/) (rare but possible) would still apply at the standard £7,500 tier.
• Replacement is air-to-water or ground-source — the £9,000 uplift does not apply to air-to-air heat pumps (which remain at £2,500) or biomass boilers (which remain at £5,000).
• [MCS-certified installer](/blog/best-heat-pump-installers-uk-2026/) — the grant is installer-claimed, so the installer applies on your behalf and deducts £9,000 from your invoice. As with the standard BUS grant, an unregistered installer cannot claim.
• EPC requirements — the standard BUS rules continue to apply: the property needs a valid EPC and no outstanding loft / cavity wall insulation recommendations on it (or you'll need to have those works carried out first).

The standard BUS grant is £7,500. The oil/LPG uplift adds £1,500 to take the total to £9,000. Practically, this either reduces the homeowner's net spend by £1,500, or — depending on installer pricing — can absorb some of the higher install cost typical of rural off-grid properties (longer pipe runs, larger heat-loss properties, more substantive radiator upgrades).

What the uplift does not do:

• Doesn't replace the £7,500 baseline — the £9,000 is the total grant, not £7,500 plus a separate £1,500.
• Doesn't apply to air-to-air systems — air-to-air heat pumps (those that distribute via fan-coil units rather than wet radiators) remain on the £2,500 tier even for oil/LPG households.
• Doesn't extend to biomass — biomass boiler grants stay at £5,000.
• Doesn't affect Cross-Pavement Charging Grant or other grants — these are independent schemes; an oil-heated rural household with off-street parking can claim £9,000 on the heat pump and £500 on the cross-pavement charger separately.

The single biggest practical question for oil/LPG-heated households planning an upgrade in 2026 is whether to wait. The maths breaks down into three scenarios:

• You're ready now and your installer is booked: Going ahead at £7,500 means certainty but a £1,500 lower grant. Whether this is worth it depends on your current heating bills (every month on oil at 2026 prices is meaningfully more expensive than every month on a heat pump at the Cosy Octopus tariff). For most households, 4–6 months of avoided oil/LPG heating costs roughly equals the £1,500 difference; if you'd save more by switching now than by waiting for the higher grant, going ahead is the rational call.
• You're flexible on timing: Wait for the formal notice. The £1,500 saving is real, and a July 2026 install gives you the entire 2026/27 winter on the heat pump. The risk is the formal notice slipping past July; if you'd be uncomfortable being heatpump-less through autumn, line up an installer for an October-or-later install date that's contingent on the notice landing.
• Your existing system is failing: The decision is forced — wait for the notice if you can keep heating reliably, switch immediately if you can't. A failed oil boiler in November is a worse problem than a £1,500 lower grant.

One more wrinkle: installer demand. If the £9,000 grant lands on schedule in July 2026, MCS-certified installers in oil/LPG-heavy regions (the South West, Wales, Scottish borders) will see a meaningful demand spike. Lead times that are currently 2–3 months could stretch to 5–6 months by Q3 2026. Booking the survey early — even if the install date is contingent — can secure a slot before the queue forms.

The political and economic logic for the uplift is reasonably clear. Three threads converge:

• Decarbonisation gap: Off-gas-grid households account for around 4 million UK homes. Oil and LPG together represent the heating-fuel category least likely to switch under a flat £7,500 grant, because the absolute cost of installing a heat pump is typically higher in rural properties (heat-loss factors, radiator upgrades, longer pipework) and the price-of-fuel pressure is already extreme. Net-zero pathways depend on this segment switching at a meaningful rate; a flat grant has not delivered that.
• Price volatility: Oil and LPG prices are set on international markets and are exposed to events the Ofgem domestic price cap doesn't insulate against. The 2022–2024 price spikes hit rural off-grid households disproportionately. The £1,500 uplift is partial compensation for that exposure.
• Heat pump industry capacity: The UK heat pump install rate has been below MCS targets for several years. Concentrating an extra incentive on the segment most likely to convert — oil/LPG households — efficiently uses Treasury budget without spreading the uplift across already-converting gas households.

None of this changes how the grant works for households — £9,000 is £9,000 regardless of the rationale — but understanding the policy logic helps predict whether the grant is likely to extend beyond March 2027 (probably yes, in some form) or be reduced (politically difficult given the rural-vote signal in 2026).

The £9,000 uplift is a targeted, time-limited grant aimed at the UK rural decarbonisation gap. For oil and LPG-heated households who were already considering a heat pump, it tilts the maths meaningfully — £1,500 is the difference between several months' heating bills, and on rural off-grid installs with longer pipe runs and larger heat-loss demands, every additional pound of grant matters more. For households not already considering a switch, the policy nudge is real but the practical decision still hinges on house suitability, installer access, and replacement-system economics rather than on the grant alone.

The single most important thing to do now: bookmark the Ofgem BUS page so you can check the formal commencement, and read our complete Boiler Upgrade Scheme 2026 guide for the full eligibility detail covering the standard grant and recent [v5](/blog/bus-guidance-v5-changes/) guidance changes. We'll update this page when DESNZ issues the formal notice.