Serving Aberdeen and surrounding areas
Scotland does not use the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. That single fact catches out more Aberdeen homeowners than anything else, because half the boiler grant articles online are written for England and Wales. Here is what funding really exists north of the border in 2026, what it will and will not pay for, and what it means if your own boiler is on its last legs.
If your gas boiler is 15 years old and you want a new gas boiler in its place, no Scottish scheme will fund it. The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan is built around clean heating and insulation, so a like-for-like gas replacement sits outside it.
We would rather tell you that on a blog than on your doorstep. Plenty of homeowners in Kingswells and Bridge of Don have called us after reading about “£7,500 boiler grants” and assumed the money applied to a combi swap. It doesn’t.
What does exist is worth knowing about, though, and some of it is generous. There are four routes: the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan, Warmer Homes Scotland, ECO4, and the Warm Home Discount. Only one of them is open to every homeowner regardless of income.
This is the Scottish Government fund that replaces the old loan-only scheme, and it is open to any homeowner in Scotland. You do not need to be on benefits. The property must be existing, in Scotland, and your only or main home.
Funding is split into clean heating and energy efficiency measures. Here are the headline figures, taken from Home Energy Scotland’s published funding tables:
| Improvement | Grant | Interest-free loan |
|---|---|---|
| Air, ground or water source heat pump | Up to £7,500 | Up to £7,500 |
| Heat network connection | Up to £7,500 | Up to £7,500 |
| Wood fuelled (biomass) boiler | Up to £7,500 | Up to £7,500 |
| Solid wall insulation | Up to £7,500 | Up to £2,500 |
| Flat roof or room-in-roof insulation | Up to £3,000 | Up to £1,000 |
| Loft, cavity or underfloor insulation | Up to £1,500 | Up to £500 |
| Heating controls | Up to £450 | Up to £150 |
| Double, triple or secondary glazing | Not available | Up to £8,000 |
A few rules worth knowing before you start planning:
Secondary measures like a cylinder thermostat, draught proofing or a hot water tank jacket carry small grants of £375 or so, but only alongside a primary improvement. They are not a standalone claim.
Homes in remote rural areas, islands, and off-gas accessible rural areas get an extra £1,500 on both the heating grant and the energy efficiency grant. That takes a heat pump grant to £9,000, and a full package of grant funding as high as £18,000 for a rural household.
Whether your postcode qualifies comes down to the Scottish Government’s Urban Rural Classification, and the boundary is not obvious. A cottage past Oldmeldrum can qualify while a similar house on the edge of Westhill does not. Home Energy Scotland advisers will confirm it for your address when you call them on 0808 808 2282, and that call is free.
For the off-grid homes we look after across rural Aberdeenshire, running on oil or LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), the bottled or bulk-tank fuel used where there is no mains gas, the uplift is the difference between a heat pump being a stretch and a heat pump being affordable.
Warmer Homes Scotland, delivered by Warmworks, is the fuel poverty programme, and it is the one scheme that can install a new gas boiler or central heating system at no cost. It is tightly targeted. You generally need to have lived in the property for at least six months and receive a qualifying benefit such as Pension Credit, Universal Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, and the property has its own condition tests.
Measures can include wall and loft insulation, draught proofing, central heating including a new gas boiler or air source heat pump, and in some cases renewables. Households with young children, older residents, or a health condition made worse by a cold home are often prioritised.
You apply through the same Home Energy Scotland number. They assess you and refer you to Warmworks.
ECO4 is funded by the large energy suppliers rather than the Scottish Government, and it was extended by nine months. It now ends on 31 December 2026. If you think you might qualify, this winter is the time to ask rather than next year.
One point causes real confusion: under ECO4 a like-for-like gas boiler replacement is no longer funded if your existing boiler still works, however inefficient it is. Boiler replacement happens in limited circumstances, usually where the system is broken or a heat pump is not practical. First-time central heating, heat pumps and storage heater upgrades are the more common measures.
The Warm Home Discount is separate and smaller. It is £150 off your electricity bill for qualifying households, applied over the winter, with rules set for the 2026/27 scheme year in Scotland. It is not a heating upgrade, but it is money you should not leave sitting unclaimed.
Most of the calls we take are from homeowners whose boiler has failed or is close to it, in a mains gas home, on a normal income. For them the grant schemes offer nothing, and pretending otherwise wastes everybody’s time. What actually reduces the cost is straightforward.
Grant rules are written nationally, and they land differently here. Two local realities are worth being blunt about.
Aberdeen’s granite tenements and older stone houses have solid walls, so cavity insulation is not an option. That pushes people towards internal or external solid wall insulation, which carries the biggest grant of the lot at up to £7,500. It is also the most disruptive work in the list, and in a conservation area or a flat with shared ownership it needs planning thought long before it needs an installer.
Out in the shire, from Banchory to Ellon to Stonehaven, many homes are off the gas grid entirely. A heat pump plus the rural uplift can genuinely work in a well-insulated bungalow. In a draughty stone farmhouse with single glazing and small radiators, a heat pump installed without the insulation and radiator upgrades first will disappoint you and cost more to run than the LPG system it replaced. Any honest heating engineer will tell you the fabric comes first.
We hold the LPG qualification as well as natural gas, which is why we spend a good part of the year in properties where none of the mains gas advice applies.
You can book a free survey with us, or read what is involved in a new boiler installation and our LPG packages for off-grid homes.
Can I get a grant for a new gas boiler in Scotland?
Not through the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan, which funds clean heating and insulation rather than gas boilers. Warmer Homes Scotland can install a new gas boiler or full central heating system free of charge, but only for households that meet its benefit and property criteria. ECO4 funds boiler replacement only in limited circumstances.
Does the Boiler Upgrade Scheme apply in Scotland?
No. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers England and Wales only. In Scotland the equivalent support is the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan, worth up to £7,500 in grant for a heat pump, plus an optional interest-free loan of up to £7,500.
How much is the rural uplift and who gets it?
It is an extra £1,500 on both the heating grant and the energy efficiency grant, for homes in remote rural, island, and off-gas accessible rural areas as defined by the Scottish Government’s Urban Rural Classification. That lifts a heat pump grant to £9,000 and total grant funding to as much as £18,000.
Do I need to be on benefits to apply?
Not for the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan. It is open to owner-occupiers regardless of income, as long as the property is your only or main home. Warmer Homes Scotland and ECO4 are means tested.
When does ECO4 end?
31 December 2026. It was extended by nine months from the original March 2026 date, and there is no ECO5.
Grant rules change, budgets run out, and every scheme has small print. What does not change is whether your heating system is safe, efficient and right for your home. That part we can answer for you.
Kelgas is a family-run heating company based in Cove Bay, Gas Safe registered 547324, covering Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. Call 01224 961610 or text 07897 012244, and we will tell you straight what your options are.
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