I already had ECO or another grant. Can I still get the Boiler Upgrade Scheme?
Last verified: 2 August 2026 Four primary documents
The four statements, in full
1. Installer guidance — the device
“A property will not be eligible for BUS funding if:
• a previous BUS grant has already been received for installing a heat pump or biomass boiler at the same address
• the heat pump or biomass boiler being installed under BUS has also been promoted as a measure under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme
• the heat pump or biomass boiler being installed under BUS has received any other grant from public funds towards purchase or installation costs”
The first bullet is about the address. The second and third are about the specific appliance being installed under BUS.
2. Property owner guidance — the property
“previous public funding — A property will usually not be eligible if public funding has already been received to install a low-carbon heating system at the same address”
This is the only one of the four containing the word usually. It is also the only one that says a low-carbon heating system rather than a heat pump or biomass boiler — a wider category.
3. The consent declaration — the installation
“When giving consent, you will be asked to confirm: … • that no other public funding has been used for this installation”
This is the one you sign. Ofgem emails you after your installer applies, and you confirm this list. It is the shortest of the four and carries no qualifier.
4. The Ofgem website — the property again, worded differently
Grants are not available for “properties that have already received funding from government or an Energy Company Obligation for the purchase or installation of the heat pump or biomass boiler”
What each one is counting
Set them side by side and the difference is not in the tone. It is in the noun.
| Source | What it counts | Qualifier |
|---|---|---|
| DESNZ, Warm Homes guidance 8.1 | the measure | “the same individual measure” |
| Ofgem installer guidance 3.36 | the device | “being installed under BUS” |
| Ofgem property owner guidance 3.14 | the property | “usually” |
| Ofgem consent declaration 4.38 | the installation | none |
A household that received insulation under ECO and now wants a heat pump is one set of facts. Under the DESNZ wording those are two measures. Under paragraph 3.36 the insulation is not the appliance being installed under BUS. Under paragraph 3.14 the question becomes whether insulation is “a low-carbon heating system”. Under paragraph 4.38 the question is what “this installation” covers.
What DESNZ says, and how far it goes
One government document does state a rule plainly. The Warm Homes: Local Grant policy guidance, section 8.1 “Interaction with other schemes”, on page 49 of 59:
“Blending of funds from other net zero schemes that are concurrently running is permissible and gives households the flexibility to access different sources of funding…
Funding received from the Warm Homes: Local Grant must not be blended simultaneously to install the same individual measure with other government energy performance schemes such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund schemes (SHDF), or the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF).
It is possible for installations to be undertaken at the same property, where the measure installed is not the same or where a measure installed under a previous scheme is topped-up by the Warm Homes: Local Grant. For example, a household may receive funding under Warm Homes: Local Grant to install a heat pump, alongside funding to install solid wall insulation under ECO.”
Read the scope carefully, because it matters. That paragraph is addressed to local authorities and governs how Warm Homes money may be spent. It states what a council may not do with its own allocation. It does not state what Ofgem will accept on a BUS application, and Ofgem’s own four statements are the ones that decide that.
The same section adds that the checking is intended to be real:
“LAs must introduce controls to ensure households are not in receipt of funding from the Warm Homes: Local Grant and other government schemes for the same measure. DESNZ intends to utilise data matching between schemes to monitor whether the same measure installed in the same property is not claimed for under different energy efficiency schemes.”
Recorded as found: the cover of that PDF reads “Updated June 2026”, while the GOV.UK attachment title and the file name both say July 2026. We note it rather than resolve it.
What to do about it
You cannot apply for BUS yourself — the scheme is installer-led, and your installer makes the application on your behalf. So the question has to travel through them. Concretely:
- Write down what the property has already received: which scheme, which measure, roughly when, and how much.
- Ask your installer to put it to Ofgem in writing before applying, phrased by measure rather than in general. For example: “This property received [measure] under [scheme] in [year]. The proposed BUS installation is an air-to-water heat pump. Is the property eligible?” Phrasing it by measure matches the language DESNZ uses in section 8.1 above.
- Keep the reply, with the date. If the answer later turns out to differ from what someone else was told, the written answer is what you have.
- Read paragraph 4.38 before you click consent. That declaration is the one with your name on it, and it is worded more absolutely than the guidance around it.
We are not lawyers, we do not administer the scheme, and nothing here is advice about whether you qualify. It is the published wording, quoted, with the references, so you can put the question properly.
Questions people ask
- I had ECO insulation years ago. Can I still get the Boiler Upgrade Scheme?
- We cannot tell you, and that is the honest answer. Ofgem sets out the restriction in four places and each one measures something different: the device being installed under BUS, the property, the installation, and in one case a low-carbon heating system at the same address. Insulation is not a heat pump, so on the narrowest reading it is irrelevant; on the broadest reading the question is about the address. Ask your installer to put the question to Ofgem in writing before applying, and keep the reply.
- Does the wording differ between Ofgem documents?
- The installer guidance at paragraph 3.36 refers to the heat pump or biomass boiler being installed under BUS. The property owner guidance at paragraph 3.14 refers to a property and to a low-carbon heating system at the same address, and says a property will usually not be eligible. The consent declaration at paragraph 4.38 asks you to confirm that no other public funding has been used for this installation. All three are quoted in full on this page with their paragraph numbers.
- What does the government say about combining Warm Homes: Local Grant with BUS?
- DESNZ addresses it directly in the Warm Homes: Local Grant Policy Guidance for Local Authorities, section 8.1, page 49: funding from Warm Homes: Local Grant must not be blended simultaneously to install the same individual measure with schemes including the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and it is possible for installations to be undertaken at the same property where the measure installed is not the same. Note the scope: that paragraph binds local authorities in how they spend Warm Homes money. It does not state what Ofgem will accept on a BUS application.
- What is the difference between a measure and an installation?
- It is the difference that decides the answer. DESNZ counts measures - a heat pump and solid wall insulation are two measures, and its own example describes a household receiving both. The Ofgem consent declaration asks about this installation. The installer guidance asks about the heat pump being installed under BUS. The property owner guidance asks about the property. The same set of facts can look eligible under one of those and not under another.
- Is there any checking between schemes?
- The Warm Homes guidance states that DESNZ intends to utilise data matching between schemes to monitor whether the same measure installed in the same property is not claimed for under different energy efficiency schemes, and that local authorities must introduce controls. So this is not a theoretical question.
- What should I actually do?
- Ask your installer to put the question to Ofgem in writing before the application is made, and to phrase it by measure: state what funding the property received, for which measure, under which scheme and when, and ask whether the property is eligible for BUS for a heat pump. Keep the answer. The application is made by your installer, not by you, so the question has to go through them.
- I have solar panels. Does that count as public funding?
- If you bought them yourself, no public funding was involved and the question does not arise. If you received a grant towards them, the question comes back — and it lands in exactly the same place as the rest of this page: the four statements above count four different things, and none of them addresses solar specifically. We do not know, and we are not going to guess. Put it to Ofgem in writing through your installer. If you are not sure what plug-in solar is or how it is treated in the UK, we cover that on a separate site we run — same owner, different subject.
Sources
- Ofgem — BUS: Guidance for Installers V5.1 (PDF, 99 pages): paragraph 3.36.
- Ofgem — BUS: Guidance for Property Owners V5.1 (PDF, 45 pages, published 2 July 2026): paragraphs 3.14 and 4.38.
- Ofgem — Boiler Upgrade Scheme, Property owners: eligibility section.
- DESNZ — Warm Homes: Local Grant, Policy Guidance for Local Authorities (PDF, 59 pages): section 8.1, page 49.
All four read on 2 August 2026. If any of them changes, this page changes and the date at the top moves.
Every statement above is also published as structured data: bus-scheme-interactions.json — one row per statement, with the document, the paragraph, the page where the document has numbered pages, and what each one counts. Where a document does not answer the question, the row records that rather than filling it in.
Related: The £9,000 grant and its full eligibility test · How the Boiler Upgrade Scheme works