Heat pumps often cost more to install than a gas boiler, from £1,000 to £20,000 after the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant, but can provide lower running costs.

How much you could save on your energy bills depends on factors such as:

• What system you’re replacing

• Your electricity tariff

• How well your radiators match your system

• How the heat pump is controlled

• Overall system design.

At present, heat pump running costs are about the same as a gas boiler, but careful design and larger radiators can make them cheaper to run. Using Time-of-Use (TOU) tariffs, smart controllers, and pairing with solar PV or batteries can cut costs further. See the Energy Saving Trust for detailed comparisons.

At BWCE, we focus on quality, efficient designs tailored to your home. During your survey, we’ll explore all these factors and recommend the most efficient setup for you.

If you decide to go ahead with a heat pump after your survey, we want to support you in making that happen. We do this through relationships with local installers — although importantly, so we can remain independent, our partnerships are non-financial (we don’t accept referral fees).

Our goal is to build relationships with local installers so that they can use the heat loss calculations from our surveys to provide cost estimates without having to visit your home and re-do the calculations – some will do this, others may want to do their own calculations.

Our calculations, which are based on a home survey, can enable a more accurate initial estimates than the high-level desk-based software that installers typically use for providing initial estimates. They can also save the installers time since they may not have to do full heat loss calculations themselves when visiting your home to provide a detailed quote.

Building these relationships is a work in progress, since the mutual trust takes time to develop and our service is relatively new. Whilst we can provide names of companies based on our experience of their work, at present we can’t guarantee installers will respond or estimate against your BWCE survey. We also can’t guarantee the ultimate performance of the installation since we don’t control their work.

However, we can provide useful insight and context through post-survey support to help you progress all the way to installation. This can include sending your survey to local installers to request estimates – as well as helping you evaluate the estimates they provide. There are a range of local installers with different products, approaches and price points, we discuss this with you.

Yes – we can produce an efficient design for homes at any stage of construction, including from paper plans. Our service is half price if no site visit is required. Please see the pricing above, and enquire through our booking form.

Yes – we offer several hours of free post-survey support on the path to installation. This can include:

• Sending your survey to local installers to request quotes

• Helping you evaluate and compare estimates

• ‘Translating’ your report into language that installers understand

• Following up with installers on your behalf, if needed.

If you want further support after our free support has ended, we can discuss continuing on an hourly paid basis.

Usually, installers have two stages to their quoting process:

1. An initial estimate, often produced using desktop tools and assumptions, with no home visit

2. A detailed quote, after a full home survey, which can cost several hundreds of pounds (typically absorbed if you go ahead with the work).

We’re working with local installers to make it easier for them to quote using our surveys — and some now do. This means you may be able to avoid paying for an additional heat loss assessment. However, not all installers will be comfortable quoting without doing their own survey, as they may use different methods or equipment.

The main benefit of a BWCE survey is our independence. Because we're not tied to any installer or product, we can recommend a wide range of heat pump options — including more efficient or less standard solutions that might not be offered by every company.

We'll help future-proof your designs by factoring in plans for extensions or other energy efficiency upgrades. We also take the time to explain key trade-offs such as choosing the right system flow temperature, whether to upgrade your radiators, and how to ensure your heat pump delivers comfort, performance and efficiency tailored to your home.

To help us prepare and keep survey costs low, we ask that you:

• Attend a free Heat Pump Webinar, which covers principles of heat pumps with time for questions. See the events page for upcoming sessions

• Complete a questionnaire about your home and energy use

• Provide us with a plan of your home, if you have one

• Share your energy bill data, or (if you’re with Octopus) half-hourly smart meter data – this is optional, but helpful for our modelling.

During the 2-3 hour home visit, we will: 

• Ask about your home, preferences, timeframe any other planned work

• Measure the building and assess the fabric to model heat loss

• Explore potential locations for the heat pump and hot water cylinder, including any trade-offs

• Discuss whether new radiators or underfloor heating may be needed, and where

• Take internal photos (used only for the report and stored securely).

After the visit, we’ll write your bespoke report. Once you’ve had time to read it, we’ll book in a debrief call, where you can ask questions and request small changes.

After this, you may want help in using your report to get quotes from installers. We can provide further follow on support after your survey to help you, all the way through the installation process if you wish. We can discuss this on our debrief call, or please contact us for further details.

And if you’re interested, we can let you know about BWCE community projects you might like to get involved in – such as Home Energy Neighbourhoods or our Community Energy Network.

Recent changes to permitted development rules make it easier to install a heat pump without planning permission (known as ‘permitted development’).

The Planning Portal has a full description, but here’s a summary of what’s new:

• Noise control: Heat pumps can now be placed closer to the edge of a property than what was allowed before

• Updated sound calculation: A new method reduced the likelihood of needing planning permission due to the noise of a heat pump

• Volume restrictions clarified: There’s now clearer guidance on the size of units allowed under permitted development.

Below are exemptions to permitted development for historic areas:  

• Permitted development rights do not apply for installations within the curtilage of a Listed Building or within a site designated as a Scheduled Monument

• On land within a Conservation Area or World Heritage Site a planning application is needed if the air source heat pump needs is installed on a wall or roof which fronts a highway or is nearer to any highway which bounds the property than any part of the building.

Our assessment service will advise whether you need to apply for planning or listed building consent.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) gives homeowners in England and Wales up to £7,500 towards the cost of a heat pump. It’s a simple process that’s led by your installer. The grant has recently been extended, giving more households time to take advantage.

Retrofit West are currently offering discount vouchers (called Home Energy Assessment Vouchers) which provide a 70% reduction on energy assessments for households located in Bristol, Bath and South Gloucestershire. Every household is eligible for up to two vouchers.

For householders in BANES, we can apply for a voucher on your behalf. All you have to do is tick the box when you book in your survey with us.

It’s possible to swap a voucher from one survey option to another – please let us know if you would like to do that.

Alternatively, you can apply for a Retrofit West discount voucher yourself, by following these steps:

1. Visit Retrofit West’s voucher webpage and click the button that says ‘Apply for a voucher’.

2. Follow the instructions and enter your contact details.

3. Against ‘Which type of assessment are you using this voucher for?’ – select the option called ‘Heat Pump Assessment’.

4. Against ‘Please select your Heat Pump Assessment service provider’ – select ‘Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE)’.

5. Accept the Terms and Conditions (listed at the bottom of the web page, you’ll be directed to), and press ‘Submit’.

Retrofit West will then be in touch by email within a few days confirming your voucher code and that your address is eligible.

Any questions? Please get in touch with us so we can help.

We offer Heat Pump Assessments to residents in BANES and in some areas of Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire, at full price. Please get in touch for more information.

If you live elsewhere, we can signpost you to partners providing similar services in your area.