For anyone whose energy bill feels too high: two questions, three routes. At typical use, sticking with gas costs about £865 a year and a heat pump about £834, but your insulation decides whether the switch is wise at all. No installer behind this page and no leads sold, so the answer can afford to be honest.
1. How much gas does your home use per year?
The three bands are Ofgem's typical consumption values, updated 1 July 2026.
2. How well is your home insulated?
Your annual statement gives your own figure. To see whether it is high or low, compare it with the homes around you: the government counts every domestic gas meter in Great Britain, council by council.
Source: DESNZ, Subnational gas consumption statistics 2005-2024 (weather corrected), gas year mid-May 2024 to mid-May 2025, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Your gas kilowatt-hours times the capped gas rate is what staying on the boiler costs. A heat pump delivers the same heat from about a third of the energy (the Energy Saving Trust says more than three times the efficiency of a gas boiler; I use three, the cautious end), but pays the electricity rate for it. That is the whole calculation, and it is why insulation matters twice: it shrinks both bills, and it decides whether the heat pump can keep the house warm at all.
A heat network pipes hot water to homes from a shared source, so a home on it does not need its own boiler. Before you pick a heat pump, check whether one is coming near you. Type your council: I show the district heat network projects that the government's Heat Networks Planning Database lists there.
Sources, all opened 29 August 2026: Ofgem price cap unit rates (1 October to 31 December 2026), Ofgem typical domestic consumption values (decision of 27 May 2026, in force 1 July 2026), Energy Saving Trust on air source heat pumps (16 July 2026) and boilers (20 May 2026). Rates are averages for Direct Debit in England, Scotland and Wales and vary by region and payment method.
Insulation and radiator sizing, not the age of the house. A heat pump heats water to a lower temperature than a boiler, so the heat has to stay in: an insulated loft, insulated walls and decent glazing matter more than anything else. An MCS installer confirms it with a heat loss survey; be wary of anyone quoting without one.
Installed prices run £8,000 to £14,000; the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant (England and Wales, applied for by your MCS installer) brings that to £500 to £6,500. Scotland has Home Energy Scotland loans and grants instead; Northern Ireland currently has no equivalent scheme.
On the standard tariff the routes end up close together: at typical use, gas heating costs about £865 a year including the standing charge, a heat pump about £834. What tips it: a heat pump time-of-use tariff cuts the electricity price. The heat pump figure already assumes you disconnect the gas; keep the connection and add the £108 a year standing charge to it. Cap rates reset every three months, so the exact figures move.
Every figure on this page is computed from named sources: Ofgem's price cap rates for 1 October to 31 December 2026, Ofgem's typical consumption values as revised on 1 July 2026, and the Energy Saving Trust's efficiency and cost figures. No number here is typed in by hand, so when the sources move, the page moves with them.