Home Energy Scotland funding

The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan is the main Scottish Government funding route for owner-occupiers improving an existing home. It combines non-repayable grants with optional interest-free loans for clean heating and energy-efficiency work. It is not means-tested, but the applicant must own the property as an individual, live there as their only or main private residence and wait for a written funding offer before work starts.

All amounts below were checked on 22 July 2026. Funding is first come, first served and subject to availability within the financial year, so the live Home Energy Scotland terms and the written offer control the amount.

Heat pumps and heat networks

An air, ground or water source heat pump, or a qualifying heat-network connection, can receive up to £7,500 as a grant and a further £7,500 as an optional interest-free loan. That gives maximum combined funding of £15,000 before any rural uplift.

The system must meet the whole home’s space-heating and hot-water needs. A hybrid heat pump that retains a fossil-fuel boiler as part of the normal heating system is not eligible. Replacement heat pumps do not receive grant funding, although a case-by-case loan of up to £7,500 may be available under the published conditions.

Biomass can receive the same maximum grant-and-loan amount only where written evidence shows that a zero-emission system, including a heat pump and high heat-retention storage heaters, is unsuitable. It should not be presented as an unrestricted alternative to a heat pump.

Other technologies

The current owner-occupier limits include:

Improvement	Maximum support checked 22 July 2026
High heat-retention electric storage heaters	£8,000 combined, subject to evidence that a heat pump is unsuitable
Solar water heating	£5,000 loan only
Hybrid solar PV/water heating (PV-T)	£5,000 loan only
Warm-air unit	£5,500 loan only
Wind turbine	£2,500 loan only
Hydro turbine	£2,500 loan only

Standalone solar PV panels and electrical battery storage are not funded by the homeowner Grant and Loan. Their grant and loan support was removed in June 2024. PV-T remains eligible because it is a combined electricity-and-water-heating technology, not ordinary solar PV.

Insulation and energy efficiency

Energy-efficiency grants cover up to 75% of eligible cost, subject to a combined grant ceiling of £7,500. The rest can be taken as an interest-free loan up to the individual measure limit.

Improvement	Maximum combined grant and loan checked 22 July 2026
Solid-wall insulation	£10,000
Flat-roof or room-in-roof insulation	£4,000
Loft insulation	£2,000
Floor insulation	£2,000
Cavity-wall insulation	£2,000
High heat-retention storage heaters	£8,000
Glazing replacing single glazing	£8,000 loan only
Insulated doors	£4,500 loan only

Glazing does not qualify merely because newer double or triple glazing would be more efficient: the published loan is for replacing single glazing. Secondary items such as controls, cylinder thermostats, draught proofing and hot-water tank jackets are only funded with a primary improvement and have their own lower limits.

Rural and island uplift

Qualifying remote rural, island and off-gas accessible rural homes can receive an extra £1,500 on the clean-heating grant and an extra £1,500 on the combined energy-efficiency grant ceiling. A household undertaking enough eligible work in both categories could therefore receive up to £18,000 in grants: £9,000 for heating and £9,000 for efficiency. Optional loans sit on top of those grants, so £18,000 is not a ceiling on total grant-and-loan support.

Home Energy Scotland decides eligibility using the Scottish Government Urban Rural Classification. The uplift is attached to the grant, not added separately to every individual measure.

Loan terms

The loan is interest-free. The current maximum repayment periods are five years for a loan up to £4,999, ten years for £5,000 to £9,999 and 12 years for more than £10,000. A successful loan carries an administration fee of 1.5%, capped at £150; a grant-only award has no loan administration fee. Early repayment is allowed without a penalty under the current terms.

Funding is not reserved when an enquiry or application is submitted. It is reserved only when Home Energy Scotland issues the written offer. The offer is normally valid for nine months. Starting work earlier can make the project ineligible.

Application and evidence

The process starts with Home Energy Scotland rather than an installer. An adviser checks the home and proposed improvements, then provides access to the application where appropriate. The owner must submit the application personally; installers and letting agents cannot do it on the owner’s behalf.

The improvement normally needs to be recommended in a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) or a Home Energy Scotland specialist report. Current terms require a post-installation EPC with the claim. Renewable systems generally need an MCS-certified installer and eligible certified products; solid-wall, underfloor, flat-roof and room-in-roof insulation have TrustMark requirements.

The practical sequence is:

Contact Home Energy Scotland and establish which report and measures are eligible.
Obtain compliant quotes without ordering the work.
Submit the owner’s application and supporting evidence.
Wait for the written funding offer.
Complete the work within the offer period using the required installer and product.
Submit the claim, invoices, certificates and post-installation EPC.

Published processing targets only run from receipt of complete information and are not a guarantee of a project start date. Do not book installation around an assumed approval time.

Warmer Homes Scotland

Warmer Homes Scotland is a separate route for owner-occupiers and private tenants who struggle to heat their home. Current baseline conditions include living there as the main residence for at least six months, a poor energy rating assessed by Warmworks, a floor area no greater than 230m² and Council Tax band A to G, alongside the scheme’s financial or vulnerability criteria.

Home Energy Scotland makes the referral and Warmworks assesses the home and arranges appropriate improvements through approved installers. It is not a cash grant that the householder spends with a contractor of their choice. Some households may have to contribute, and support remains subject to eligibility and available funding.

Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan

Private landlords cannot use the homeowner Grant and Loan. The separate Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan currently offers up to £38,500 per property. Landlords with no more than five properties can borrow up to £100,000 at 0% interest; those with more than five can borrow up to £250,000 at 3.5% APR. Its administration fee is 1.5%, capped at £250, and its maximum repayment period is eight years.

The landlord scheme has different technology rules. Up to two renewable systems can receive up to £17,500 per property, with one energy-storage system up to £6,000 in addition. Solar PV and storage qualify only as part of the specified package with a heat pump or high heat-retention storage heaters; neither is an unrestricted standalone loan. The property and landlord must meet the registration, occupancy and energy-report conditions on the live page.

ECO and council-led schemes

The Energy Company Obligation can fund efficiency and heating measures for qualifying low-income or vulnerable households in Scotland. It is a supplier obligation with different eligibility and technical rules, not an extension of the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan. A household cannot assume that being accepted by one scheme makes it eligible for the other or that both will pay for the same work.

Local-authority Area Based Schemes target inefficient homes and fuel-poverty areas. Availability and measures vary by council and project. Home Energy Scotland’s funding finder is the safer starting point than an old list of participating postcodes.

VAT and EV charging

The installation of qualifying energy-saving materials is temporarily zero-rated for VAT through 31 March 2027. The zero rate began in Great Britain on 1 April 2022 and extended to Northern Ireland on 1 May 2023. Installed heat pumps, insulation, solar PV and electrical storage batteries can qualify; materials bought without installation remain standard-rated. From 1 April 2027 the legislation currently moves qualifying installations to the 5% reduced rate.

An EV chargepoint is not a qualifying energy-saving material and the Home Energy Scotland home-improvement Grant and Loan does not fund it. EV chargepoint support has separate OZEV and Transport Scotland rules.