How the warm homes loan scheme works, step by step
You borrow from an approved lender, not the government, which pays that lender a grant to cut your rate; here is the mechanism end to end.
Knowledge Hub
Guides to the Warm Homes Loan Scheme, one a day
Plain, sourced answers on the Warm Homes Loan Scheme, heat pumps, solar, battery storage, biomass and the funding routes around them. Every figure is dated and traceable to its source.
The scheme
Heat pumps
Solar
Battery
Biomass
Grants to loans
Finance
Landlords
Local authority
The warm homes plan: what it covers and who runs it
How the warm homes plan works as policy and money: its roughly £15 billion budget, the three schemes delivered under it, who runs them, and how it replaces ECO4.
Warm Home Discount vs the Warm Homes Loan
The Warm Home Discount is a £150 electricity bill rebate for lower-income homes, while the Warm Homes Loan is reduced-rate borrowing for a low-carbon retrofit, and the two are unrelated schemes.
Home energy grants: the full 2026 map
A route-by-route map of UK home energy funding after ECO4 and GBIS close, showing which are grants, which are loans, and who each one is for.
The free boiler scheme: what is true in 2026
The truth behind free boiler scheme searches: no grant buys a new gas boiler, but heat pumps and, for lower-income homes, means-tested grants are funded.
Heat pump loan and grant: the full maths
Why a heat pump is grant first then loan, worked through on a typical install to show the balance you actually borrow and roughly what it costs a month.
Green home improvement loans compared
A government-backed green home improvement loan and an ordinary one compared on rate, what each funds, security and timing.
Home battery storage: cost, size and funding
What a home battery costs, how to size it by usable kWh, the time-of-use tariff economics that make it pay, and how the Warm Homes Loan funds one to £15,000.
Biomass boiler cost and the rural-only loan cap
What a biomass boiler really costs, the rural-only £20,000 Warm Homes Loan cap, and when wood pellets beat oil or a heat pump off the gas grid.
How landlords use the warm homes loan
Private landlords qualify for the Warm Homes Loan on a personal basis, with no income threshold and no EPC minimum to enter.
ECO4 scheme closure: what replaces it
No ECO5 is coming. When ECO4 shuts and which of three routes, a council grant, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme or the Warm Homes Loan, picks up afterwards.
Warm homes plan 2026: what it is and what it funds
One umbrella name, several pots of money. Which part is a loan, which is a grant, and what each one pays for.