Through the Heat and Buildings Strategy, the government in October 2021 published plans to incentivise people to install low-carbon heating systems in a simple, fair and cheap way as they come to replace their old boilers over the coming decade. This will significantly reduce the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels and exposure to global price spikes, whilst supporting up to 240,000 jobs across the UK by 2035.

The £450 million Boiler Upgrade Scheme (previously known as the Clean Heat Grant) is part of more than £3.9 billion of new funding being announced by the government for decarbonising heat and buildings. This will fund the next 3 years of investment through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, the Home Upgrade Grant scheme, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the Heat Networks Transformation Programme and reducing carbon emissions from public buildings through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme, known as BUS, is due to launch in spring 2022 and Ofgem has been consulting on their proposed administration of the scheme, with details of the consultation due imminently. BUS will be open to properties located in England and Wales with BEIS having published draft scheme regulations. Below we have highlighted some of the key elements which are likely to form the basis of the BUS.

It is proposed the BUS aims to incentivise and increase the deployment of heat pumps by providing targeted support to the supply chain. Upfront capital grants will be provided to support the installation of heat pumps and, in limited circumstances, biomass boilers in domestic and non-domestic buildings. Grants of £5000 will be available for ASHPs and biomass boilers, and grants of £6000 will be available for GSHPs. Grants will be offered at a flat rate and will not vary by capacity of the installation, which must not exceed 45 kWth.

MCS (or equivalent scheme) certified installers will need to apply to Ofgem for a voucher on behalf of the property owner, who must consent to the application. Vouchers will be valid from the time of issue. Vouchers for ASHPs and biomass boilers will be valid for three months from the time of issue and vouchers for GSHPs will be valid for six months. The installer will need to then apply to Ofgem to redeem the voucher once the installation is complete. Installers will need to submit evidence to demonstrate that eligibility criteria have been met at both stages of the process. Grant payments will be made direct to the installer.

For biomass to be an eligible technology it must replace fossil fuelled system (not including mains gas) or electric heating system (not including heat pumps). The total capacity limit is 45kWth, including for shared ground loop systems. Domestic and non-domestic buildings will be eligible, however, social housing and new builds are not eligible. Custom builds are eligible as long as evidence is provided confirming they are custom builds. Installations commissioned from 1st April 2022 will be eligible and must meet full space heating and hot water requirements. Biomass boilers must have an emission certificate from a certified body and it is proposed that Ofgem will consider an MCS certificate for a biomass appliance as evidence of technology eligibility.

HETAS operates a Microgeneration Certification Scheme for installers of biomass systems or boilers. To find out more, contact the team on 01684 278170 or email [email protected].

For details about MCS product approval through HETAS, contact [email protected].

HETAS will provide further updates as the scheme progresses.