The Home Energy Scotland Scheme is now open for grants of £7,500 to install heat pumps.

£42 million has been committed by the Scottish Government to the initiative for the year 2022-2023 – almost double last year’s amount.

Harry Mayers, Head of Home Energy Scotland, said:

“Having a warm home and reducing energy bills are big priorities for households in Scotland. The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan will help thousands of households make much-needed improvements to their homes to keep out the cold and drive down bills.

“The changes being made mean that homeowners can now apply for grant funding without a loan; this will be a huge help towards covering the cost of making energy efficiency improvements or installing renewable systems such as heat pumps.

“The updated scheme comes at just the right time as we’re going into winter with energy prices at record highs. The rural uplift, which will provide extra financial support for those who live in rural and island communities who often face increased costs for home improvements, is especially welcome.”

Home Energy Scotland

The new Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme provides a grant which can be taken on its own or alongside an interest free Home Energy Scotland Loan.  This replaces the previous Home Energy Scotland Loan and Cashback offer, where the cashback element had to be taken in tandem with an interest free loan.

Changes to the scheme involve:

• Grant funding for heat pumps up to £7,500. The remainder of funding requested can be taken up as an optional interest-free loan.
• Grant funding for energy efficiency improvements – up to 75% of the combined cost of the improvements and up to the maximum grant amount of £7,500.
• A rural uplift of £1,500 to both the heat pump and energy efficiency grants. This uplift increases the heat pump grant flat rate and the maximum limit of the energy efficiency grant to £9,000. 
• Packages of measures created to support the uptake of complimentary measures that offer substantial improvement to energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation of households.

The Home Energy Scotland service, and associated funding, is managed by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) on behalf of Scotland’s new national public energy agency, Heat & Energy Efficiency Scotland.

Patrick Harvie, Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, commented:

“The improvements to the Home Energy Scotland Scheme – including, importantly, targeted support for those in rural areas – will make it easier for people to access funding to ensure their homes are more energy efficient and use climate friendly-heating.

“I would encourage anyone that is interested to visit the Home Energy Scotland website. Advisors are also available to guide applicants through the process.”