OCTOPUS is seeing record heat pump sales as increasing numbers of people switch from boilers, the energy company said.
The energy firm said it had recorded its best-ever month for heat pump sales in July, which was the sixth consecutive month of growth and saw purchases up 71% on the same month last year.
Octopus also said its “boiler beater dashboard”, showing performance data from homes with the company’s Cosy heat pumps and Cosy Octopus smart tariffs, suggests customers are saving an average of £227 a year versus a gas boiler.
And 94% of the heat pumps are cheaper to run than a gas boiler at current rates, the company said.
Figures from energy regulator Ofgem found the latest year of the “boiler upgrade scheme”, from April 2025 to March 2026, saw a 19% increase in people applying for grants compared to the previous year.
What are heat pumps and how do they work?
According to the International Energy Agency, heat pumps use technology "similar to that found in a refrigerator".
It states that these pumps extract heat from a source such as the surrounding air and then amplify it.
Rather than generating heat themselves, these pumps take existing heat and transfer it to where it is needed.
It is because of this that heat pumps are more efficient than conventional heating technologies such as electric heaters and boilers.
How do I apply for a heat pump grant in Scotland?
Applying for a heat pump grant in Scotland differs from the process in England and Wales with homeowners interested needing to go through Home Energy Scotland.
You could get up to £15,000 as a grant with:
- up to £7500 for energy efficiency improvements – for example, insulation
- up to £7500 for clean heating systems – for example, heat pumps
If you live in a rural area, you can apply for extra grant funding:
- up to £1500 extra for energy efficiency improvements
- up to £1500 extra for clean heating systems
The amount you can get depends on what improvements you want to make, but for some improvements the maximum grant is less.
You do not have to pay it back and could also get an interest-free loan to cover some of your costs.
What are Octopus saying about heat pumps?
Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, chief product and marketing officer at Octopus, said: “The heat pump revolution is accelerating.
“We’ve never seen demand like this – thousands more households choosing to go electric to save money and insulate themselves from global price shocks.”
The independent advisory Climate Change Committee has said households could save hundreds of pounds a year on bills by “electrifying” – switching to tech such as heat pumps and electric vehicles.
But the country is not electrifying fast enough for households to make the savings they could on bills, which would also cut planet-heating emissions and reduce exposure to Iran war-style fossil fuel price shocks, the committee recently warned as it called for a faster switch to clean tech.
