Heat pump grant for coal heating
Replacing coal with an air-to-water or ground source heat pump is a £7,500 row. The £9,000 oil and LPG uplift does not include coal.
Key takeaways
- Coal plus air-to-water or ground source: £7,500.
- Oil and LPG are the £9,000 fuels.
- This split comes from the grant values notice. One source decides it.
Looks eligible to apply
£7,500
An air-to-water heat pump in England or Wales is the standard £7,500 grant when the £9,000 oil and LPG category does not apply.
Coal is off the gas grid, but the £9,000 category on the grant values notice is oil and LPG only. A coal replacement is listed at £7,500.
A typical air-to-water install is often quoted around £10,000 to £16,000 before the grant, so the amount after a £7,500 grant would commonly sit around £2,500 to £8,500. That is a published range, not your quote.
See how quotes workThis is a guide, not a decision. Your installer applies and Ofgem decides.
Amounts come from the GOV.UK grant values notice and the Ofgem property owner page. This is a guide, not a decision. Your installer applies and Ofgem decides.
The amount
On the values notice updated 29 September 2026, an air-to-water heat pump replacing a coal heating system in an off-gas property is £7,500. The ground source coal row is £7,500. The air-to-air coal row is £2,500. The £9,000 rows name liquefied petroleum gas and oil, not coal.
Ofgem’s shorter property owner page describes a £9,000 grant for eligible off-gas properties without repeating every fuel. Where that summary and the values table could be read differently, we follow the table, and we say so. This fuel split rests on that notice.
Coal can still be a grant
£7,500 is still a grant. It is the same amount as a gas home, not a refusal. Biomass replacing coal is listed at £5,000, which is a different product.
A house with coal in one room and oil central heating should be described as the system you are actually replacing. Do not pick coal in the checker if the boiler is oil.
Next
The checker is pre-filled for coal. If the result surprises you because you expected the higher amount, the reason is the table, not a glitch.
Ask the installer to name the row they will use. If they promise the oil amount for a coal-only system, ask them to show it on the notice.
Sources
- Ofgem: Boiler Upgrade Scheme for property owners
- Ofgem: Boiler Upgrade Scheme for installers
- Ofgem: Boiler Upgrade Scheme property owner guidance (April 2026)
- GOV.UK: Notice of approved grant categories and values (updated 29 September 2026)
- GOV.UK: Apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme — what you can get
- GOV.UK: Apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
Reviewed by
UK Heat Pump & Funding Specialist
MCIBSE and MCS certified retrofit specialist. Director of Thomson and Sons Low Carbon Consulting Firm Ltd, specialising in heat pump retrofits since 2005.