Working file 001, sheet 1 of 75

Retrofit cost UK, 2026.

Two quotes on the kitchen table: heat pump on its own, or a phased deep retrofit drawn out across the PAS 2035 measure stratigraphy. The cap, the grants and the process fees are all set out below, line by line, with a source against each end of every range.

£4,064–6,729
Heat pump, the three published post-BUS prices
£35–70k
Phased deep retrofit
£7,500
BUS grant, ASHP / GSHP
9.4p vs 9.5p
Per kWh of heat at the Q4 cap: gas boiler vs heat pump
Direct answer

Three UK suppliers publish a post-grant price for an air-source heat pump: Octopus £4,064 as its typical figure, E.ON Next from £4,946, Aira £6,729 as a worked example, all after the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant. A phased deep retrofit across fabric, ventilation, heating, renewables and controls under PAS 2035 runs £35,000 to £70,000. What the heat pump will not do is pay for itself out of running costs: at the cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026, a gas boiler at 85% delivers heat at 9.38p per kWh and a heat pump at the national trial median SPF of 2.78 delivers it at 9.47p. The grant is the case, not the fuel bill.

Anchors: BUS grant £7,500. Ofgem cap 1 Oct to 31 Dec 2026 (gas 7.97p, electricity 26.32p). Electrification of Heat final performance report (DESNZ, Dec 2024) for the SPF. Passivhaus Trust Benchmark v1.3 Jan 2026 for the deep range. PAS 2035:2023.
Quote A on the kitchen tableA1

Heat pump only

A 7 to 12 kW ASHP, low-temperature flow design, BUS grant of £7,500 applied at point of installation.

ASHPMVHRU 0.18 W/m²KU 0.15 roofU 0.18 wallU 0.22 floor
ASHP supply and install, 7 to 12 kW£8,000 to £14,000
Radiator upsize for low-temp design£1,800 to £4,500
Smart heating controls£350 to £950
Less BUS grant(£7,500)
All-in (post-BUS)£2,650 to £11,950
Quote B on the kitchen tableA2

Phased deep retrofit

PAS 2035 stratigraphy across fabric, ventilation, heating, renewables, controls. Sequenced over five to ten years against the medium-term improvement plan.

  1. Stratum 1FabricEWI or IWI, loft top-up, suspended-floor insulation, glazing review£14,000 to £30,000
  2. Stratum 2VentilationMVHR if airtight, otherwise PIV plus trickle review£500 to £11,000
  3. Stratum 3HeatingASHP plus low-temp radiator upsize and pipework checks£9,800 to £18,500
  4. Stratum 4RenewablesSolar PV 4 kWp plus 5 kWh battery (where roof and orientation suit)£8,300 to £14,050
  5. Stratum 5ControlsWeather and load compensation, zoning where worthwhile£350 to £950
Payback ribbonYears to break even, at the Q4 2026 Ofgem cap.
runs past 20 yr →
ECO4 cliff
BUS end (2030)
0 yr5 yr10 yr15 yr20 yr
Sixteen years at the most favourable end, forty to sixty-seven at the trial median, and no break-even at all where the delivered SPF lands in the bottom quartile. Quoted on the heat-pump leg only, against the published post-grant prices.

Line items in Quote A are gross of grants and the BUS row subtracts from them, so the column adds up as written. The Grant Ladder below subtracts the ECO4 (if eligible) and GBIS (if eligible) layers on top; the 0% VAT relief on energy-saving materials is netted at quote stage by the installer.

Who actually publishes a price
Octopus Energy, Cosy 6, typical (median) post-survey price, quotes 1 Jun to 30 Sep 2026£4,064
E.ON Next, Worcester Bosch Compress 2000 AWF, typical 2-bed, from£4,946
Aira, worked example, 6 kW system£6,729
Nesta, median install across the Boiler Upgrade Scheme 2025/26, before the grant£13,041

The first three are after the £7,500 grant and are each the supplier's own published figure, not an average of quotes we have seen. The Nesta line is gross: take £7,500 off it and the scheme-wide median lands at £5,541, inside the same band. British Gas, OVO, Heat Geek and the installer networks are survey-first with no published price, which is a legitimate model and not a dodge. See the installer file.

Grant stack ladder
  1. Boiler Upgrade Scheme£7,500 ASHP / GSHP, £5,000 biomass, £2,500 air-to-airEngland and Wales, owner-occupier or private rented, MCS installerLive
  2. ECO4Whole-house treatment, indicative £8,000 to £12,000Low-income or health condition, LA Flex routes availableClosing soon
  3. Great British Insulation SchemeSingle measure, average £1,200 to £1,800 to householdEPC D to G, Council Tax bands A to D in EnglandLive
  4. 0% VAT on energy-saving materialsSaved at point of installer invoiceEngland, Wales, Scotland and NI to 31 March 2027Live
  5. Warm Homes Plan + Warm Homes LoanTBC, £5 billion envelope (DESNZ)From early 2027Incoming

Pick the working file you need.

Risk path before measure list.

PAS 2035 tiers projects by EPC band and traditional construction. The path determines whether a Retrofit Designer is mandatory and how much survey work the Coordinator carries. The path is set on day one and cannot be unset.

ASHPMVHRU 0.18 W/m²KU 0.15 roofU 0.18 wallU 0.22 floorPath A, EPC D and above, post-1919, no protected featuresASHPMVHRU 0.18 W/m²KU 0.15 roofU 0.18 wallU 0.22 floorPath B, Pre-1919 or below EPC D, or two or more measuresASHPMVHRU 0.18 W/m²KU 0.15 roofU 0.18 wallU 0.22 floorPath C, Traditional construction, listed, system-built, or three or more measures

By archetype.

Surveyed 1 October 2026. Ofgem cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 applied (gas 7.97p, elec 26.32p, gas standing 29.68p, elec standing 54.83p). Next scheduled review 25 November 2026 (January cap announcement). [ref / home]
By Oliver Wakefield-Smith, Founder, Digital Signet. Corrections to oliver at digitalsignet dot com.