We looked at over a million heat pump, technology and tariff combinations. Here’s what really cuts energy bills

Our energy experts designed this research to reflect real homes and real systems. 

In simple terms, we: 

• Measured performance data from 546 homes. 
• Looked at heat pumps, solar panels and batteries – both on their own and combined with other technologies. 
• Compared multiple types of standard, specialist and export energy tariff.
• Looked at around 1.1 million combinations using a full year’s worth of data. 

All savings shown are scenario-based. Actual outcomes depend on your home, system performance and choice of tariff. 

Many people who adopt clean heating technology expect their energy bills to go down straight way. The reality is more mixed for a few reasons. 

Energy choices are now much more complex 

These days there are far more time-of-use tariffs, where energy prices change by time of day. Many of these are designed for specific technologies like heat pumps or electric cars. And at the moment, it’s difficult for people to know which tariff actually suits their home.  

Heat pumps can cost more vs a gas boiler if they’re on a standard tariff 

Our research found that most heat pumps on a standard flat-rate tariff cost the same or even more to run than an efficient gas boiler. 

However, heat pumps that used a dedicated heat pump tariff tended to have significantly better running costs, saving money vs a gas boiler. 

This shows that standard tariffs aren’t suited to heat pumps. Even with an efficient heat pump, the wrong tariff can still see you paying more than you should. 

One-size-fits-all advice no longer works 

There are many tariff and technology combinations now available. With this in mind, it’s clear that generic advice isn’t enough to ensure people select the right combination for their home. 

At the moment, there isn’t a robust advice service to help you choose the right tariff to match the technology in your home.

One of the clearest findings is how much your choice of tariff affects a heat pump’s running costs. 

Our research shows that switching from gas to a heat pump without changing your tariff often means little or no saving on your energy bills. 

But switching to a heat pump appropriate tariff can save up to £330 a year on your heating bills. When we say ‘heat pump appropriate’, we mean: 

• Dedicated, specialist heat pump tariffs.
• Dynamic tariffs (where the cost of electricity can change every 30 minutes).

Dynamic tariffs often performed similarly to specialist heat pump tariffs in our research. 

We looked at typical heat pump costs (around £11,700, on average) and added the £7,500 discount available in England, Wales and Scotland through the: 

• Boiler Upgrade Scheme (England and Wales). 
• Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan (Scotland). 

We also considered the fact that getting a heat pump means you don’t need to replace the gas boiler when it eventually fails/ This would cost around £3,700, on average.

This brings the additional cost of a heat pump down considerably, to £500.

According to research from Clasp, around half of UK homes still use gas for cooking. Where people fully move away from gas for heating and cooking, they can also avoid paying the gas standing charge. 

Based on July 2026 prices, this is worth around £105 a year. Fully disconnecting from the gas network significantly increases the number of homes that could save money with a heat pump. 

So, if you’re able to upgrade to an electric cooker when you install a heat pump, you can save even more each year. 

A good tariff is essential for heat pump savings, but they’re only as good as the heat pump installation itself. 

In our research, even the best tariff can’t fully protect against a badly performing heat pump. 

This is why we always recommend speaking to several heat pump installers who are certified with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). This ensures that certain standards are met, and that you get a heat pump installation that works for your home. You also need to use an MCS installer to take advantage of any available grants. 

The current thinking in the industry is that solar panels and battery storage is a solid combination to maximise your energy bill savings. 

But one of the most surprising findings of our research is that batteries are better paired with heat pumps than with solar panels. That’s assuming you get the appropriate tariff to take advantage of them. 

How this works: 

• Batteries get electricity from the grid during off-peak periods when electricity is cheapest. 
• The batteries store the energy for your heat pump and other appliances to use. 
• Rather than paying for peak-rate electricity, your heat pump uses the stored energy from the battery. 

Using the right tariff, a heat pump / battery storage combination could mean a substantial saving on your energy bill. 

If you’re looking at it strictly from a savings angle, the extra money you make by adding a battery to your solar panels may not be enough to justify the cost. This is because current solar export tariff rates are good enough that you can save almost as much by selling excess electricity at peak times. 

But adding a battery to solar panels has other benefits, including: 

• Protecting your setup from any changes in solar export tariffs. If rates go down, using the electricity from your battery will become more cost effective. 
• Adding a battery to your solar panels puts you one step closer to having the best renewable technology setup for maximum savings. 

This is what we’ve called our ‘integrated electric home’.  

When heat pumps, solar panels and batteries were combined and matched with the right tariffs, our research found: 

• Energy bills went down by around £800 a year, in general. 
• The best-performing combinations saved around £1,000 or more.

In these strongest scenarios, heating bills reduced by almost 80%. This would turn your typical energy bill into a few hundred pounds a year.

The UK Government’s Warm Homes Plan aims to make buying a heat pump, battery and solar panels much more affordable. This includes: 

• Fully funded support for low-income families (worth up to around £12,000). 
• Low and zero-interest loans for homeowners regardless of income 

Stripping out the initial cost of installing renewable technologies means getting these energy bill savings is now much more achievable. 

Our research tested over a million combinations across hundreds of homes. One thing that’s clear is that there’s no single ‘best’ solution for every home. 

We also appreciate that it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to make all these changes at once. And many people might not be able to install certain technologies. 

With that in mind, here are your next steps depending on your situation: 

I don’t have any renewable technologies 

Speak to a certified energy assessor who can look at your home and give recommendations on what to focus on.

Tell them that the aim is to have renewable technologies working together to give you the biggest savings. They’ll help you come up with a ‘whole house’ plan, which makes sure that each upgrade works with the next. 

I already have battery storage 

If you want to maximise your savings, speak to a certified heat pump installer. Tell them that you already have a home battery and want to make sure the two are integrated. 

I already have a heat pump 

You’ve made the biggest upgrade already. The next step is to add a home battery to make that heat pump run for as little as possible.  

I already have solar panels 

If you’re looking for the most cost effective solution right now, look at adding a heat pump. If you want to future-proof your energy setup, consider adding in a battery as well. 

For all renewable technologies, we always recommend speaking to at least three installers who are certified with the MCS. You can find local, certified installers using the MCS ‘find an installer’ tool. 

Find MCS-certified installers

In our research, the choice of tariff was a key factor that decided whether a heat pump saved or lost money vs a gas boiler. 

But the UK currently doesn’t have an easy way for people to find and compare these tariffs. For many heat pump owners, finding the right tariff requires extra research on forums, speaking to other owners and working things out themselves. 

As heat pump ownership increases, we believe that there needs to be a more robust service for providing tariff comparison advice for renewable technologies. 

With that in mind, our energy experts have created a guide on which tariff types are best for which technology combinations. 

This in-depth analysis is just the beginning. Our energy experts are already looking at the next phase and how we can use our expertise to make this research even more useful. This includes: 

• Looking at the impact of renewable technologies on private tenants and social housing. 
• Researching the impact of EV charging into these systems. 
• Updated information on tariff choices. 
• Improved analysis of battery charging patterns. 
• Looking at the impact of these scenarios on your carbon footprint. 

Sign up for Energywire, our monthly newsletter, to get the latest energy tips, news and more.