The Boiler Upgrade Scheme should make it cheaper for most households to install heat pumps than gas boilers, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said. The scheme has also been extended by three years to 2028, giving people more time to take advantage.

A heat pump takes heat at a low temperature from the air or ground and increases it to a higher temperature before transferring the heat into homes for heating and hot water. The technology is significantly more efficient than traditional boilers and, unlike gas boilers, can be run on clean electricity rather than fossil fuels.

The UK needs to retrofit around two houses per minute between now and 2035 to meet the government’s targets on energy efficiency.

Last year, research from Wunderflats ranked the UK near the bottom of 28 European nations for having the coldest, oldest and leakiest housing stock. A recent analysis found that domestic gas use in the UK would have been significantly lower...