If you live off the gas grid and heat your home with oil, switching to a heat pump has become considerably cheaper.Under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), eligible households in England and Wales can now receive £9,000 towards the cost of an air-to-water or ground source heat pump, up from the standard £7,500 grant. The higher rate has been available since 21 July 2026 and runs until 31 March 2027.Households appear to be taking notice. Government figures published in August show that 8,150 households applied for a heat pump through the scheme in July, an 81 per cent increase on June. The government said additional interest from heating-oil households helped drive the record month.Why has the grant increased for oil-heated homes?The £9,000 grant is designed specifically to encourage households that are not connected to the mains gas grid to move away from oil and LPG heating.To qualify for the higher rate, your property must have no mains gas connection and you must be replacing an oil or LPG heating system with an eligible air-to-water or ground source heat pump. Other eligible households can still receive the standard £7,500 BUS grant.There is no income test and you do not have to be receiving benefits. As we explain in our guide to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, the scheme is installer-led: an MCS-certified installer checks your eligibility, applies for the grant and deducts it from the cost of the installation.For households relying on heating oil, the appeal is not only the larger upfront grant. Moving to an electric heating system also means no longer having to monitor tank levels and arrange fuel deliveries, while reducing your exposure to fluctuations in heating-oil prices.Would a heat pump work in an older rural home?A rural or older property is not automatically unsuitable for a heat pump. What matters is how much heat the home loses and whether the system is properly designed around the building.Heat pumps work differently from oil boilers. Rather than producing short bursts of very hot water for radiators, they generally run for longer at lower flow temperatures, keeping the home at a steadier temperature. An installer therefore needs to assess factors such as insulation, radiator sizes, pipework and the amount of heat each room requires.Some homes will need radiator upgrades or other alterations, but not all will. Our guide on what to expect from a heat pump installation explains how the survey, system design and installation process works.If you’re new to the technology, our heat pump explainer also covers how heat pumps work, what they cost and the factors that affect their performance.How Octopus can helpOctopus Energy installs heat pumps in eligible off-grid homes and can manage the BUS application as part of the installation process.If your home qualifies for the £9,000 grant, Octopus says it will apply the higher amount to your quote and take care of the application. Its home survey assesses your property’s heat loss, radiators and pipework, as well as suitable locations for the outdoor unit and hot water cylinder.Octopus says the number of its customers replacing oil and LPG heating systems with heat pumps nearly tripled after the government announced the higher grant. Across its heat pump business, enquiries were also up 330 per cent in the first half of 2026.Don't leave it until MarchThe extra £1,500 of BUS support for eligible oil and LPG homes is temporary. The £9,000 rate is available until 31 March 2027, and your installer must commission and install the heat pump within 120 days of applying for the grant.That means households considering making the switch shouldn't assume they can simply start the process at the end of March. Getting a quote and home survey earlier will establish whether your property is suitable, what work may be needed and how much you would have to pay once the grant is deducted.