Heat pump ‘revolution’ accelerating according to energy provider
Emily Beament, Press Association Environment Correspondent
Octopus is seeing record heat pump sales as increasing numbers of people switch from boilers, the energy company said.
The energy firm said it had recorded its best-ever month for heat pump sales in July, which was the sixth consecutive month of growth and saw purchases up 71% on the same month last year.
Octopus also said its “boiler beater dashboard”, showing performance data from homes with the company’s Cosy heat pumps and Cosy Octopus smart tariffs, suggests customers are saving an average of £227 a year versus a gas boiler.
And 94% of the heat pumps are cheaper to run than a gas boiler at current rates, the company said.
The Government has subsidies in place for heat pumps, of £7,500 for replacing a gas boiler with the clean electric-powered technology, and a higher £9,000 grant to replace a heating oil or LPG boiler introduced to help people facing soaring oil costs in the wake of the Iran war.
Figures from energy regulator Ofgem found the latest year of the “boiler upgrade scheme”, from April 2025 to March 2026, saw a 19% increase in people applying for grants compared to the previous year.
Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, chief product and marketing officer at Octopus, said: “The heat pump revolution is accelerating.
“We’ve never seen demand like this – thousands more households choosing to go electric to save money and insulate themselves from global price shocks.”
The independent advisory Climate Change Committee has said households could save hundreds of pounds a year on bills by “electrifying” – switching to tech such as heat pumps and electric vehicles.
But the UK is not electrifying fast enough for households to make the savings they could on bills, which would also cut planet-heating emissions and reduce exposure to Iran war-style fossil fuel price shocks, the committee recently warned as it called for a faster switch to clean tech.
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Still find it difficult to manage through the options. They need to streamline it and make it simple. eg. not Wales options, UK wide, if not eligible for a grant but not exactly loaded puts you in the sort of ground where its just easier to get another gas boiler fitted with less fuss.