Heat Pump UK Market: Statistics, Trends & Facts [October 2026]

Heat Pumps: Key details, analysis and insight into the picture on heat pump adoption, primarily in the UK, but also including Europe and across the globe.

UK heat pump statistics 2026

Sales, installations, costs and the numbers behind the transition to low carbon heating

Research checked 13 October 2026. Installation data cover January to June 2026; grant data run to August 2026. Annual figures refer to 2025 unless stated otherwise.

Britain’s heat pump transition has grown substantially, but its progress is uneven. Manufacturers reported 125,037 UK heat pump sales in 2025, while the latest official series records 53,263 certified installations in existing homes that year. Both numbers are valid. They measure different things.

The more recent picture is mixed. Certified domestic retrofit installations fell 21.9% in the first half of 2026, compared with the same six months of 2025. Meanwhile, applications to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme reached 7,486 in August 2026, more than double the number a year earlier. An application is an expression of demand within one scheme; it is not a completed installation across the whole market. S01 S02 S03

This reference page brings together government statistics, industry sales data and published research. It includes our calculations from the underlying official tables, downloadable chart data and the definitions needed to use the figures accurately. It covers heat pumps used for heating and hot water, rather than heat pump tumble dryers.

Heat pump statistics at a glance

Measure	Latest figure	Period and coverage	Source
UK heat pump factory gate sales	125,037	2025; HPA UK categories, excluding air-to-air	S03
Hydronic heat pump sales	110,353	2025; UK water-based heating systems	S03
Certified domestic retrofit installations	53,263	Full year 2025; UK; revised September 2026 series	S01
Certified domestic retrofit installations	20,895	January–June 2026; UK	S01
Change in first-half retrofit installations	−21.9%	January–June 2026 against January–June 2025	S01; our calculation
Heat pump grants paid through BUS	92,943	May 2022–August 2026; England and Wales; biomass excluded	S02; our calculation
Median air-to-water installation cost	£12,908	Q2 2026; BUS-supported installations; before grant deduction	S02
Standard air-to-water BUS grant	£7,500	England and Wales; eligibility applies	S04
Higher eligible oil or LPG replacement grant	£9,000	Specified off-gas-grid air-to-water and ground-source categories	S04
Air source heat pump awareness	78%	UK adults aged 16+; Spring 2026 survey	S05
Renewable share of UK electricity generation	52.1%	2025; generation, not total energy consumption	S06
Current annual installation ambition	450,000	UK government aim for 2030; includes new builds	S07

Sources: S01 S02 S03 S04 S05 S06 S07. BUS means Boiler Upgrade Scheme. A grant’s published value does not establish an individual property’s eligibility.

How many heat pumps are installed in the UK

For existing homes, the latest DESNZ series records 53,263 installations during 2025. This is a flow: the number installed during a year. It is not the total number of heat pumps operating in British homes.

The Climate Change Committee’s 2026 progress report describes heat pumps as heating fewer than 2% of UK homes. That gives a useful indication of penetration, but it should not be converted into a supposedly precise national stock count without a matching housing denominator and definition. S08

There is no single number in the sources used here that can stand unqualified for all heat pump units, all buildings, all technologies and all installation routes. A heating system may serve several properties; one installation may contain several units; and reversible air conditioners complicate international comparisons further.

Choose the right measure for the story

Question	Best starting point	What the number measures
How quickly are existing homes switching?	DESNZ heat pump deployment tables	MCS-certified domestic retrofit installations, recorded by installation date
How large is the manufacturers’ market?	HPA UK sales statistics	Factory gate sales across specified product categories
How much demand is entering the grant scheme?	BUS voucher applications	Applications received in England and Wales
How many grants have actually been paid?	BUS redemptions paid	Paid grants; separate heat pumps from biomass
How widespread is heat pump heating?	A stock or household measure	Systems in use or homes heated, rather than annual sales
Is one area ahead after allowing for its size?	A clearly defined per-household or per-dwelling rate	A numerator divided by the matching geographical denominator

Sources and definitions: S01 S02 S09. Do not add these series together: they overlap.

An especially tempting mistake is to subtract installations from sales and call the difference “unsold heat pumps”. The series have different technology, building and timing boundaries. Such a subtraction cannot identify stock sitting in warehouses.

UK heat pump installations by year

The table below sums the four quarters in the September 2026 vintage of DESNZ’s retrofit dataset. Using one release for the whole series avoids comparing a newly revised year with an older, unrevised baseline.

Year	Certified domestic retrofits	Annual change
2018	7,406	—
2019	10,358	+39.9%
2020	11,327	+9.4%
2021	23,548	+107.9%
2022	26,416	+12.2%
2023	32,686	+23.7%
2024	48,857	+49.5%
2025	53,263	+9.0%

Source: What Heat Pump calculations from DESNZ Table 1.1. S01

The 2025 total was 4.7 times the 2020 total. However, growth slowed from 49.5% in 2024 to 9.0% in 2025, on this revised series. Those rates describe certified domestic retrofits, not manufacturers’ sales.

The distinction also explains why an older report may give a different historical total without having made a mistake at the time. Administrative records can arrive late, and the classification of buildings can improve. DESNZ updated address matching and domestic-property identification in the September release. Its series remains

Official Statistics in development. S01a

What the installation series includes

The dataset covers certified hydronic heat pumps up to 45 kW installed in existing UK homes, including air-to-water and ground/water-source systems. Hydronic means that heat is distributed through water, for example through radiators or underfloor heating. Both standalone and hybrid systems are in scope.

New dwellings and non-MCS-certified installations are excluded. The methodology aims to remove non-domestic properties, although a small residual may remain where records cannot identify them. Earlier Scottish and Northern Irish records also have a stated limitation in separating some new builds from retrofits. S01

For a news story, “certified heat pump installations in existing UK homes” is a much more useful description than an unqualified “UK heat pump installations”. The extra words tell readers what has actually been counted.

What happened to heat pump installations in 2026?

There were 20,895 certified domestic retrofit installations in January–June 2026, compared with 26,768 in January–June 2025. That is 5,873 fewer installations, a fall of 21.9%. The same period in 2021 recorded 10,605, so the longer-term comparison still shows a near doubling. S01

A sentence to cite: What Heat Pump analysis of DESNZ’s September 2026 dataset finds that certified domestic retrofit heat pump installations fell 21.9% year on year in the first half of 2026, despite remaining 97.0% above the equivalent period in 2021.

Air-to-water systems accounted for 20,705 of the 20,895 installations, or 99.1%. Ground/water-source systems accounted for the remaining 190. This shows how strongly the recorded retrofit market is concentrated in air-to-water technology. It does not establish the technology mix of all heat pumps sold. S01

Half-year data should remain half-year data. Doubling 20,895 produces an arithmetic annualisation, not a forecast: it assumes away seasonal patterns, policy changes and the time needed to convert new enquiries into completed work. Similarly, a first-half fall cannot establish whether the full calendar year will finish down.

Where heat pump installations are growing

The South East recorded the largest volume of certified domestic retrofits in the first half of 2026. London and Northern Ireland were the only areas in this table with year-on-year growth. Northern Ireland’s percentage change comes from a particularly small base.

Country or English region	Jan–Jun 2025	Jan–Jun 2026	Change
North East	702	666	-5.1%
North West	2,338	1,900	-18.7%
Yorkshire and The Humber	2,054	1,578	-23.2%
East Midlands	2,443	1,678	-31.3%
West Midlands	1,810	1,265	-30.1%
East of England	3,051	2,714	-11.1%
London	832	1,065	+28.0%
South East	3,840	3,673	-4.3%
South West	3,630	2,908	-19.9%
Wales	3,152	1,318	-58.2%
Scotland	2,903	2,064	-28.9%
Northern Ireland	9	36	+300.0%

Source: What Heat Pump calculations from DESNZ Table 1.2. S01 Unknown locations are excluded from the regional rows: four installations in January–June 2025 and 30 in January–June 2026. UK totals include them.

Three findings are particularly useful for regional reporting:

London grew by 28.0%, from 832 to 1,065 installations. That was an increase of 233, rather than a claim that London had become the largest market.

Wales fell by 58.2%, from 3,152 to 1,318. Its reduction of 1,834 accounts for 31.2% of the net UK reduction of 5,873. This is an arithmetic contribution, not evidence of the cause.

The South East accounted for 17.6% of the UK total, with 3,673 installations. Large counts partly reflect the number of homes in an area.

These calculations create local story leads, but they do not prove why an area changed. A proper explanation may require evidence about scheme delivery, property types, installer capacity and household finances. Nor can this table rank the proportion of homes already using heat pumps: it records recent additions, rather than installed stock.

Which regions have the highest heat pump grant uptake

Raw totals favour larger places. For a size-adjusted comparison, DESNZ publishes domestic BUS figures per 10,000 households, using the ONS 2025 household estimates. We have summed the heat pump categories and excluded biomass boilers.

These are cumulative paid domestic heat pump grants from May 2022 to August 2026, rather than the retrofit installations in the previous table. The scheme operates in England and Wales, so Scotland and Northern Ireland are not ranked here.

Area	Paid domestic heat pump grants per 10,000 households
South West	64.0
East of England	46.9
South East	46.7
East Midlands	42.5
Yorkshire and the Humber	36.1
Wales	33.7
West Midlands	27.6
North East	24.2
North West	23.3
London	14.2

Source: What Heat Pump calculations from BUS Table 1.2B. S02 Values rounded to one decimal place after summing the unrounded heat pump rates.

Download the data: Regional retrofit CSV (publishing package) · Household-adjusted grant uptake CSV (publishing package).

The South West’s rate of 64.0 per 10,000 households is about 4.5 times London’s 14.2. This supports a specific claim about take-up of this grant scheme. It does not mean that the South West has 4.5 times London’s overall heat pump ownership rate.

The denominator is all households in the published regional estimate, not just households eligible for a grant. Differences in housing, tenure and existing heating therefore remain relevant. A per-household rate improves on raw counts, but does not make every region otherwise comparable.

UK heat pump sales and manufacturing

HPA UK reported 125,037 factory gate sales in 2025, up 27% on 2024. Within that total, 110,353 were hydronic heat pumps. Its market estimate uses manufacturer submissions and extrapolation rather than a register of completed installations. S03

The association’s headline series includes air-to-water monobloc and split units, ground/water-source systems, domestic hot-water heat pumps and other specified products. It excludes air-to-air heat pumps. That exclusion matters when comparing the UK with countries where reversible air conditioners are widely used for heating. S09

HPA UK also reported that 36% of 2025 sales were UK-manufactured, with that volume up 38% year on year. These figures are useful for industrial and supply-chain stories. S03

“UK-manufactured” follows the association’s definition, which can include assembly or a substantial manufacturing process in the UK. It does not mean every component originated here. Likewise, the share is a share of reported sales, not a measure of British ownership of manufacturers. S09

The sales and installation figures answer complementary questions. Factory gate sales can indicate supplier demand and manufacturing activity. Certified retrofits show recorded changes in existing homes. Journalists should retain both measures rather than choosing whichever produces the more dramatic headline.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics

By the end of August 2026, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme had received 151,136 voucher applications and paid 93,364 redemptions, including biomass boilers. Removing biomass leaves 92,943 paid heat pump grants. S02

Administrative stage	All technologies	Heat pumps only
Voucher applications received	151,136	150,528
Vouchers issued	125,321	124,797
Redemption applications received	94,764	94,331
Redemptions paid	93,364	92,943

Source: BUS Table 1.1, England and Wales, May 2022–August 2026. S02 Heat pump totals include air-to-water, air-to-air, ground-source and shared-ground-loop categories; the air-to-air column has no paid redemptions in this release.

This table is a snapshot of administrative stages, not a matched cohort funnel. Dividing paid redemptions by all applications would mix recent applications that have not had time to complete with older ones. It is not a reliable completion or rejection rate.

Recent demand has strengthened

The scheme received 7,486 applications in August 2026, compared with 3,401 in August 2025: an increase of 120.1%. August was below July’s 8,150, but remained the second-highest application month since launch in this release. There were 3,260 paid redemptions in August across all technologies. S02

Those summer figures and the earlier fall in retrofit installations are not contradictory. They refer to different months, cover different populations and measure different stages. A stronger pipeline may lead to more installations later; it is not itself proof that completed installations have recovered.

How much does a heat pump cost in the UK

For BUS-supported installations in England and Wales, the median reported air-to-water installation cost was £12,908 in Q2 2026. The equivalent ground-source median was £27,232. These are gross installation costs, with the grant included in the reported total rather than already deducted. S02

Technology	Lower quartile	Median	Upper quartile
Air-to-water	£11,128	£12,908	£15,627
Ground source	£18,136	£27,232	£42,110

Source: BUS Table Q1.1A. S02 The quartiles describe the middle half of the retained observations after the department’s data-cleaning rules; they are not the minimum and maximum prices available.

Download the data: Installation cost CSV (publishing package).

A median is the middle observation when costs are ordered. It is often a better headline than a mean for a market where expensive, complex installations can pull the arithmetic average upwards. Even so, a median cannot price a particular house.

The official cost data are installer-reported through MCS certificates. They include equipment, labour and VAT and should include the grant value, although DESNZ notes that reporting may vary. Zero costs and extreme observations are removed under the published rules. This is a grant-supported sample, not a representative price survey of every UK installation. S02

For a homeowner, the useful comparison is an itemised, property-specific quote: heat-loss calculation, proposed unit, cylinder, emitters, controls, electrical work and commissioning. A low headline price can cover a different scope of work from a higher quote. Energy Saving Trust recommends obtaining quotes from at least three certified installers. S10

What would that cost after a grant

Subtracting the standard £7,500 grant from the £12,908 air-to-water median gives £5,408. This is an illustrative calculation, not a separately observed median household payment. Grant eligibility, work outside the installation quote and the household’s actual price still matter.

It would be misleading to label that figure “the cost of a heat pump in the UK”. It uses an England-and-Wales scheme sample from one quarter, and the right-hand side of a quote can change considerably with the home and installation design.

Heat pump grants in 2026

The published BUS grant values applying from 21 July 2026, in the notice updated 29 September 2026, include the following categories. S04

Installation category	Grant value	Geographical and eligibility boundary
Air-to-water heat pump in a property on the gas grid	£7,500	England and Wales; scheme conditions apply
Ground-source heat pump in a property on the gas grid	£7,500	England and Wales; scheme conditions apply
Air-to-water or ground-source heat pump replacing oil in an eligible off-gas-grid property	£9,000	Specific replacement category, not every off-grid home
Air-to-water or ground-source heat pump replacing LPG in an eligible off-gas-grid property	£9,000	Specific replacement category
Air-to-air heat pump	£2,500	Published BUS categories; wider eligibility requirements apply

Source: official notice of approved grant categories and values. S04 Other off-grid replacement categories have different treatment; use the full notice rather than inferring eligibility from the table alone.

Ofgem currently lists the higher £9,000 grant as available until 31 March 2027. Funding policy can move faster than annual statistics. A page can carry a 2026 date and still be wrong if it repeats a grant figure checked several months earlier. For an application, use Ofgem’s current property-owner guidance and an eligible installer, rather than relying on a statistics page to confirm entitlement. S11

Heat pump running costs and efficiency

The most useful running-cost statistic is not a universal annual saving. It is the relationship between electricity price, gas price and seasonal efficiency.

A heat pump transfers heat into a building. Its seasonal performance factor, or SPF, is useful heat delivered over a period divided by electricity used over that period. An SPF of 3 means three units of heat for each unit of electricity within the stated measurement boundary. A single laboratory coefficient of performance, or COP, measures performance under particular conditions and is not a whole-year bill prediction. S19

For an equal amount of useful heat, a simple variable-cost comparison is:

Heat pump cost per unit of heat = electricity unit price ÷ SPF

Gas boiler cost per unit of heat = gas unit price ÷ boiler efficiency

Therefore:

Break-even SPF = electricity-to-gas unit-price ratio × boiler efficiency

The table assumes a 90% efficient gas boiler. These are transparent scenarios, not claims about today’s tariff or the efficiency of every boiler.

Electricity costs this much relative to gas	SPF needed to match variable heating cost
2.5 times	2.25
3.0 times	2.70
3.5 times	3.15
4.0 times	3.60
4.5 times	4.05
5.0 times	4.50

Source: What Heat Pump calculations. Excludes standing charges, maintenance, financing and installation costs. S16 (publishing package)

Download the calculation: Break-even efficiency CSV (publishing package).

At an illustrative electricity price of 28p/kWh, gas price of 7p/kWh and boiler efficiency of 90%, gas heat costs 7.78p per useful kWh. A heat pump at SPF 3 costs 9.33p; at SPF 4 it costs 7.00p. For 10,000 kWh of useful heat, that means approximately £778, £933 and £700, respectively.

The purpose of the example is to show the conditions behind a saving. A well-performing heat pump can still face an unfavourable electricity-to-gas price ratio. Equally, a suitable tariff can change the comparison. A quoted “300% efficiency” should never be translated automatically into a two-thirds reduction in bills.

For a complete household comparison, add maintenance and any standing charges that actually change. Gas standing charges may disappear only if the household no longer needs and disconnects its gas supply. For a time-of-use tariff, use the electricity price weighted by when the heat pump runs, not simply the cheapest overnight rate advertised.

What field research tells us

Energy Systems Catapult’s Electrification of Heat Demonstration Project installed 742 heat pumps across different property types in three British delivery areas. Its final findings reported successful installations across the property types tested, including older homes. That supports the feasibility of a wider rollout; it is not a guarantee that every home can be upgraded without additional work. S12

The project also reported that 85% of participants had recommended, or were likely to recommend, a heat pump. It identified practical challenges involving disruption, space, building fabric and system design. This is a finding from a demonstration project, not a national satisfaction score for every heat pump owner. S13

When comparing performance studies, check whether the electricity measurement includes circulation pumps, immersion heaters and backup heat, and whether the heat measurement includes both space heating and hot water. A narrower measurement boundary can produce a higher-looking efficiency figure without the household receiving a better overall result.

Public attitudes to heat pumps

In the Spring 2026 DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker, 78% of UK adults had heard of air source heat pumps, while 28% said they knew a lot or a fair amount about them. For ground-source systems, the figures were 73% and 24%. S05

Survey measure	Air source	Ground source	Population
Had heard of the technology	78%	73%	UK adults aged 16+
Knew a lot or a fair amount	28%	24%	UK adults aged 16+
Already installed or very/fairly likely to install	26%	17%	People living in owner-occupied accommodation

Source: Spring 2026 Public Attitudes Tracker, fieldwork 16 March–21 April; published 2 July 2026. Awareness question bases: 3,386 air source and 3,380 ground source. Installation question bases: 2,614 and 2,600 respectively. S05

The gap between awareness and knowledge is commercially and politically relevant, but the survey does not measure confirmed orders. The third row includes people who already have a heat pump, and its base is owner-occupiers rather than all adults. Treating 26% as the share of British households about to buy one would overstate what the evidence says.

Heat pumps renewables and net zero

Heat pumps connect the decarbonisation of heating with changes in the electricity system. That makes electricity generation and emissions statistics relevant background—but their boundaries need to be preserved.

More than half of UK electricity generation was renewable in 2025

Renewables supplied 52.1% of electricity generated in the UK in 2025, up from 50.5% in 2024, according to DUKES 2026. The increase was 1.6 percentage points, not 1.6%. It was the second consecutive year above half. S06

That statistic concerns domestic electricity generation. It does not mean 52.1% of all UK energy use was renewable, nor that every unit consumed by a heat pump at every hour had the same generation mix. Electricity imports, seasonal demand and the timing of operation matter when assessing a household or system-level emissions claim.

Buildings are a major source of emissions

Provisional government figures put buildings and product uses at 22% of UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions in 2025. Within that sector, 66% came from fuel combustion in residential buildings. The sector is broader than home heating: it also includes other buildings, cooking and certain product uses. S14

Electricity-generation emissions are allocated to the electricity supply sector in those source-based accounts. Switching heating from gas to electricity therefore changes where emissions appear as well as their amount. It is incorrect to call a heat pump “zero carbon” solely because it does not burn fuel at the house.

How to calculate a carbon comparison

For an operational comparison, divide the electricity emissions factor by the heat pump’s seasonal performance and compare that with the fuel emissions factor divided by the boiler’s efficiency. Use factors from the same year and make clear whether they include upstream fuel emissions, transmission losses and other lifecycle effects.

The arithmetic resembles the running-cost comparison, but the inputs are carbon factors rather than prices. A lower-carbon grid and a higher SPF reduce emissions per unit of delivered heat. A complete lifecycle study also needs equipment manufacture, refrigerant leakage and end-of-life treatment. That is why a single unsupported claim such as “every heat pump cuts emissions by 80%” is unsuitable as a general reference statistic.

Energy security is another part of the story

The IEA estimates that heat pumps avoided approximately 53 billion cubic metres of gas consumption for building heating across Europe, Japan and China in 2025. This is a modelled avoided-demand estimate for those regions, not a measured reduction in UK gas imports. S15

It is useful context for explaining why heat pumps feature in energy-security policy as well as climate policy. The counterfactual—what gas demand would have been without heat pumps—should stay attached to the number.

European and global heat pump statistics

Different markets did not move in the same direction in 2025. The IEA reported that global heat pump sales fell by about 2%, with US sales down around 13% and European sales up 11%. China and Japan were broadly stable in its assessment. S17

Market measure	Change or volume	Time period	Boundary to retain
Global sales	Approximately −2%	2025	IEA market assessment; product coverage differs from UK retrofit data
United States sales	Approximately −13%	2025	IEA assessment
European sales	+11%	2025	IEA assessment; not a UK or EU-only statistic
Sales in 12 European countries	About 1,163,000; +11%	January–June 2026	EHPA reporting countries; UK not included

Sources: S17 S18.

The EHPA half-year comparison is against approximately 1,048,000 sales in January–June 2025. Its 12 countries are Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. It is neither an EU-wide total nor an all-Europe census. S18

International league tables are only helpful when they use compatible products and denominators. A country selling many air-to-air systems cannot be compared directly with the UK’s hydronic retrofit series. Installed capacity in gigawatts, equipment sales and homes using heat pumps are also different measures. The most credible comparison may be a narrower one with fewer countries and clearly matching categories.

Heat pump targets and the size of the remaining task

The government’s current Warm Homes Plan ambition is 450,000 installations per year by 2030. The Climate Change Committee describes approximately 250,000 of these as retrofits. These are different figures from the previous government’s 600,000-per-year ambition for 2028, which should not be presented as the current target. S07 S08

The revised 2025 domestic retrofit total of 53,263 is 21.3% of 250,000. Reaching 250,000 in 2030 from that baseline would require annual volumes to grow by approximately 36.2% each year for five years, if growth were constant. That is a calculation of the scale of change, not a prediction that it will happen.

The formula is (250,000 ÷ 53,263)^(1 ÷ 5) − 1. The retrofit measure is the closer comparison; dividing 53,263 by the all-installation ambition of 450,000 would compare a narrower population with a wider one.

A trajectory can also accelerate unevenly. Manufacturing, installer availability, new-build requirements, household demand and grant-funded programmes do not necessarily change at the same speed. For progress reporting, track the observed annual series and the policy ambition separately, with the assumptions behind any bridging forecast made explicit.

Heat pump installers training and jobs

The workforce question contains at least three different populations: people trained, businesses certified and people actively installing systems. None is an automatic substitute for another.

HPA UK’s training statistics count successful completion of specified courses eligible for the Heat Training Grant. Its notes exclude apprenticeships from that course series and separately report 441 completions of the Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heat Pump Engineering Technician apprenticeship by the end of Q1 2026. That apprenticeship covers a wider field than domestic heat pump retrofits alone. S09

A course completion shows that training has taken place. It does not prove the person currently works in the sector, installs systems full time, or represents additional workforce capacity. A certified-business count can also change without a proportionate change in individual installers, because firms differ in size.

The useful question for workforce reporting is therefore capacity: how many properly designed and commissioned installations can the active workforce deliver? Training totals can inform that question, but cannot answer it unaided. Employment forecasts should also retain their sector coverage rather than relabelling all clean-heating and energy-efficiency jobs as “heat pump installers”.

Frequently asked questions

How many heat pumps were installed in the UK in 2025?

The latest DESNZ retrofit series records 53,263 certified domestic installations in existing homes in 2025. It excludes new builds and non-MCS-certified installations. HPA UK’s larger figure of 125,037 concerns factory gate sales, not the same installation population. S01 S03

Are heat pump installations increasing?

Over the longer term, yes: the revised annual retrofit total rose from 11,327 in 2020 to 53,263 in 2025. The latest half-year comparison moved the other way, falling from 26,768 in January–June 2025 to 20,895 in January–June 2026. A statement about “growth” should specify its period. S01

What is the average cost of a heat pump?

For BUS-supported air-to-water installations, the median reported gross cost was £12,908 in Q2 2026, with a lower quartile of £11,128 and upper quartile of £15,627. These England-and-Wales scheme figures are not a quote for an individual property. S02

Are heat pumps cheaper to run than gas boilers?

It depends on the unit-price ratio and achieved seasonal efficiency. With electricity costing four times as much per kWh as gas and a boiler at 90% efficiency, a heat pump needs an SPF above 3.6 to have lower variable heating costs. Installation, maintenance and changing standing charges belong in a separate whole-cost comparison. S16 (publishing package)

What percentage of UK homes have heat pumps?

The CCC’s 2026 progress report says fewer than 2% of UK homes. That stock measure is different from annual sales or the share of surveyed owner-occupiers reporting an installation. Do not calculate national prevalence by dividing one year’s sales by the number of homes. S08

Which area has the most heat pumps?

That depends on the measure. The South East had the largest number of certified domestic retrofits in January–June 2026. The South West had the highest cumulative domestic BUS heat pump grant rate per 10,000 households in the comparison here. Neither establishes a complete ranking of systems currently in use. S01 S02

Do heat pumps work in older homes?

The Electrification of Heat project demonstrated installations across the property types and ages it tested. Suitability and cost still depend on heat loss, emitters, available space and system design. The evidence supports assessing the individual building rather than rejecting a home solely because it is old. S12

Can I cite these statistics in an article?

Yes. Cite the original data producer and identify What Heat Pump where you use our calculations or charts. Include the measurement period and link to the relevant section so readers can inspect the definition and source. For example: “What Heat Pump analysis of DESNZ data, released September 2026, covering certified domestic retrofit installations.” Underlying sources retain their own reuse terms.

Sources methodology and downloads

How this page was researched

The research cut-off is 8 October 2026. Publication dates and measurement periods are kept separate. The latest dataset is not always a measurement of the latest month: for example, the August BUS release contains quarterly cost data through June.

The UK deployment and BUS figures were extracted from the official downloadable Excel workbooks. Annual totals sum four quarters; first-half totals sum January–March and April–June. Year-on-year change is the newer value divided by the older value, minus one. Regional shares use the published UK total, including unknown locations. No regional count is described as a rate without a denominator.

For the BUS regional comparison, we sum the four heat pump columns for domestic redemptions paid per 10,000 households and exclude biomass. We do not add those paid grants to the retrofit installation series. Cost comparisons preserve the source’s treatment of grants and its cleaning rules.

This page is desk research and analysis of published evidence. It does not claim an original household survey, hands-on product testing or independently measured installation performance. Trade-association data, government administrative statistics, survey responses and modelled scenarios are identified separately.

Download the evidence

Annual UK retrofit installations (publishing package)

Quarterly UK retrofit installations (publishing package)

Regional first-half comparisons (publishing package)

Household-adjusted BUS uptake (publishing package)

BUS applications and payment stages (publishing package)

Installation cost distribution (publishing package)

Running-cost break-even calculations (publishing package)

Claim and source register (publishing package)

Chart files are available beside the downloads in PNG and SVG formats. Each chart carries its source, period and scope. When reproducing a chart, retain those details so that it remains understandable away from this page.

Source register

S01 — DESNZ. Heat pump deployment statistics June 2026 downloadable tables. 10 September 2026. 2018 Q1 to 2026 Q2; Tables 1.1 and 1.2; official statistics in development. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S01a — DESNZ. Heat pump deployment June 2026 summary and methodology. 10 September 2026. Revisions, coverage, exclusions and administrative matching. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S02 — DESNZ and Ofgem. Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics August 2026 downloadable tables. 24 September 2026. Tables 1.1, 1.2B, M1.1, Q1.1A and Notes; costs through Q2 2026. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S03 — HPA UK. UK heat pump sales reach record high in 2025. 26 March 2026. 2025 factory gate sales and manufacturing; trade association estimates. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S04 — DESNZ. Notice of approved grant categories and values for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Updated 29 September 2026. England and Wales; published grant categories effective 21 July 2026. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S05 — DESNZ. Public Attitudes Tracker heat and energy use in the home Spring 2026. 2 July 2026. UK survey; fieldwork 16 March to 21 April 2026; question-specific bases. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S06 — DESNZ. Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2026 chapters 1 to 7. 30 July 2026; PDF revision September 2026. 2025 annual electricity generation; chapters 5 and 6. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S07 — DESNZ. Warm Homes Plan. 21 January 2026; updated 18 March 2026. Policy ambition, not observed installations; see also S08. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S08 — Climate Change Committee. Progress in reducing emissions 2026 report to Parliament. 2026 report. Home heating penetration and 2030 ambition split; older deployment estimates superseded here by S01. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S09 — HPA UK. Statistics and methodological notes. Live page checked 8 October 2026. Sales categories, manufacturing definition, training and apprenticeships. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S10 — Energy Saving Trust. Air source heat pumps costs savings and benefits. Live page checked 8 October 2026. Consumer guidance on property-specific quotes and system choices. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S11 — Ofgem. Boiler Upgrade Scheme property owners. Live page checked 8 October 2026. Application eligibility and current operational guidance. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S12 — Energy Systems Catapult. Electrification of Heat summary reports and datasets. 19 December 2024. Demonstration project with 742 installations; access point for underlying research. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S13 — Energy Systems Catapult. Heat pumps recommended by 85 percent of consumers. 19 December 2024. Project participant result, not population-wide satisfaction estimate. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S14 — DESNZ. 2025 UK greenhouse gas emissions provisional statistical release. March 2026. 2025 territorial emissions by source; provisional estimates. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S15 — IEA. Heat Pump Monitor 2026 key findings. 2026 report. Modelled avoided gas demand; Europe Japan and China. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S16 — What Heat Pump. Transparent running-cost calculations (publishing package). 8 October 2026. Illustrative assumptions; formulas in article; not measured tariffs or performance. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S17 — IEA. Global Energy Review 2026 technology heat pumps. 2026 report. 2025 global and selected market sales assessment. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S18 — European Heat Pump Association. Post Hormuz heat pump sales climb 11 percent. 28 September 2026. January to June 2026 sales in 12 named European countries; UK excluded. Accessed 8 October 2026.

S19 — IEA. The Future of Heat Pumps how a heat pump works. 2022 report. Technical explanation of heat transfer and COP; not current market statistics. Accessed 8 October 2026.