Is a heat pump cheaper to run than a gas boiler?
A heat pump can turn one unit of electricity into three units of heat, but at the October 2026 cap electricity cost about 3.3 times as much as gas per unit.
Sometimes: it depends on a simple sum. The cost of a unit of heat is the price of a unit of fuel divided by how efficiently the appliance turns that fuel into heat. A heat pump is far more efficient than a boiler, but its fuel, electricity, costs more per unit than gas, so the answer depends on energy prices and on how well the heat pump performs.
A heat pump moves heat rather than generating it, so for one kWh of electricity it can transfer 1 to 4.5 kWh of heat into a building. Its efficiency over a year is measured by the , or SCOP: a SCOP of 3 means three units of heat for each unit of electricity. A gas boiler typically runs at around 85% efficiency. Under the October 2026 cap, though, electricity cost 26.32p per kWh and gas 7.97p, about 3.3 times as much.
Try it
What does a unit of heat cost from a heat pump?
y = 0.4x + 0
Challenge · At 26p per kWh, lower the slope until heat costs about 9.4p, the boiler's price. What SCOP is that (1 divided by the slope)?
Do the sum with those rates. A boiler at 85% gives heat for about 9.4p per kWh. A heat pump with a SCOP of 2.5 gives it for about 10.5p, more than gas; at 2.9 for about 9.1p, slightly less; at 3.5 for about 7.5p. At these prices the break-even point is a SCOP of about 2.8.
So real-world performance decides it. In the UK government's Electrification of Heat project, the median SCOP was 2.9, just on the cheaper side of that line. The sum leaves out standing charges, installation costs and special tariffs.
Cost of one kWh of heat at the October 2026 cap
pence per kWh of heat
| Cost of heat | |
|---|---|
| Gas boiler, 85% | 9.4 pence per kWh of heat |
| Heat pump, SCOP 2.5 | 10.5 pence per kWh of heat |
| Heat pump, SCOP 2.9 | 9.1 pence per kWh of heat |
| Heat pump, SCOP 3.5 | 7.5 pence per kWh of heat |
Quiz me
0/3
Recap
Cost of heat equals price per unit divided by efficiency, so a heat pump wins only when its SCOP more than closes the price gap with gas.
💡 A trick to remember it · A heat pump is a ferry, not a furnace: it carries heat in, and what counts is how many passengers per tank of fuel and what the fuel costs.
Surprising fact · The UK electricity-to-gas price ratio has been above 3.0 for more than fifteen years.
Connects to
- 🌍 How do other countries price energy: Sweden, Germany, France, Spain and the UK?
- 🧾 What is in your energy bill, and why is there a standing charge?
- 🔥 What is natural gas, and how does it get to your home?
- ⚡ Why does gas set the price of electricity, even when most power is cheaper?
- 🌡️ How do we know humans are warming the planet?
- Energy price cap in great britain
Sources (5)
No source, no claim. Every fact in this lesson (14 claims) cites at least one of these.
- [1]Heat pump · Wikipedia
- [2]Heat Pump Deployment and the Electricity-to-Gas Price Ratio · UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence
- [3]Factcheck: 18 misleading myths about heat pumps · Carbon Brief
- [4]Ofgem announces 4% energy price cap increase from October 2026 · LexisNexis (LNB News)
- [5]Energy price cap unit rates and standing charges · Ofgem