I’ve worked on gas boilers, oil boilers, and LPG systems throughout my career as a heating engineer in Cheshire. And the question I get asked more than any other right now is some version of this: “Is a heat pump actually worth it, or is it just hype?”
It honestly depends in your utility room, and what’s happening with energy prices right now, so let’s go through it boiler type by boiler type.
Why this comparison matters more now
The UK government has made its position clear. New-build homes are moving toward low-carbon heating as the new normal, with the Future Homes Standard set to make it standard practice. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) is actively subsidising the switch for existing homes, up to £7,500 for gas households and £9,000 for oil and LPG homes specifically.
This isn’t just environmental policy. It’s a signal about where heating costs, technology, and regulation are heading. If your boiler is approaching the end of its life, the question of what comes next is more relevant than it’s ever been.
What is a heat pump and how does it compare to a boiler?
A boiler burns fuel, gas, oil, or LPG, to generate heat. A heat pump doesn’t burn anything. It moves heat from the outside air into your home using electricity, in the same way a fridge moves heat in reverse.
The key metric is COP (Coefficient of Performance). A heat pump with a COP of 3.0 produces three units of heat for every one unit of electricity it uses. A modern condensing gas boiler maxes out at around 0.9 units of heat per unit of fuel. The efficiency gap is significant, and it’s what makes heat pumps genuinely compelling from a running cost perspective when designed and installed correctly.
Heat pump vs gas boiler
Gas remains the most common heating fuel in the UK, and a modern condensing gas boiler is a decent system. If yours is relatively new and your home is well-supplied, there’s no urgent reason to replace it tomorrow.
But the long-term direction is clear. Smart electricity tariffs, particularly overnight rates from suppliers like Octopus Energy, are making heat pumps increasingly competitive on running costs, even against gas. An air source heat pump in a well-designed system, running at low flow temperatures with the right emitters, will typically deliver lower running costs than gas over time, particularly as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise.
The upfront cost is higher than a boiler replacement, but the £7,500 BUS grant narrows that gap considerably, and in a home where the system is properly designed, the long-term savings are real.
Heat pump vs oil boiler
Of the three fuel types, oil is the one where I tell customers not to wait
Oil prices aren’t regulated. There’s no Ofgem price cap protecting you. When global events push energy markets, and they have, repeatedly, in recent years, you feel it immediately and in full. I’ve worked in oil-heated homes my entire career. They smell. The boiler is noisy. You have to remember to book a delivery, and running out mid-January is not something anyone should have to deal with.
Replacing an oil boiler like-for-like will cost somewhere between £7,000 and £12,000. An air source heat pump installation in Cheshire, after the government’s £9,000 BUS grant specifically for oil households, can land at a comparable or lower net cost, with significantly lower running costs, no fuel deliveries, no tank to maintain, and no vulnerability to oil price spikes driven by events on the other side of the world.
A heat pump gives you energy independence. Your heating runs on electricity, increasingly generated from British wind and solar. When oil markets move, it’s no longer your problem.
For a full breakdown of the grant and eligibility, read our air source heat pump grant guide for oil homes.
Heat pump vs LPG boiler
LPG sits in a similar position to oil: off-grid, unregulated, and increasingly expensive. Two bottles of LPG in a cold fortnight can cost upwards of £170, and there’s no ceiling on what that number can reach depending on where global gas markets move.
The £9,000 BUS grant applies to LPG households too. If you’re on bottled or tanked LPG, the running cost saving from switching to a well-designed heat pump is one of the most meaningful financial improvements you can make to your home, and right now, the grant makes the upfront cost more accessible than it’s ever been.
Electric boiler vs heat pump
I get asked about electric boilers occasionally, so here’s the short version: Electric boilers are simple, compact, and relatively cheap to install. But they run at a COP of 1.0, one unit of electricity in, one unit of heat out. A heat pump runs at 3.0 or above. On electricity costs, that difference compounds significantly over a year of heating bills. An electric boiler is rarely the right long-term answer for a whole-home heating system.
So which is right for your home?
There’s no single right answer here; it comes down to your current fuel type, your home’s insulation, and your budget. A heat pump isn’t right for every home, and I won’t tell you it is until I’ve actually looked at yours.
What I can tell you is that one of our installations in Cheshire currently ranks in the UK’s top 5 for heat pump efficiency on the Heat Pump Monitor leaderboard; independently verified, meter-grade data, not a marketing claim. When a heat pump is designed and installed properly, the results are there in black and white.
At Hohm, every recommendation starts with an on-site heat loss survey, not a sales pitch. If a heat pump doesn’t stack up for your specific home and fuel setup, I’ll say so before you spend a penny.
Get in touch to arrange a survey, or use our free heat pump estimate tool to get an initial idea of costs.