Guaranteed warmth: How the E.ON Next 5-Year Performance guarantees your home.

Key takeaways:

• Where to start: Upgrading begins with a bespoke heat loss calculation to ensure your home stays comfortably warm before you pay a penny.

• Guaranteed performance: We guarantee your system will meet its calculated heat pump SCOP performance for five full years.

• Explaining SCOP: SCOP stands for Seasonal Coefficient of Performance, which measures the year-round efficiency of a heating or cooling system like a heat pump.

• Exceptional real-world efficiency: While our design baseline is a conservative 3.57 SCOP, our real-world UK installations achieve an outstanding average SCOP of 4.08.

• Validated bill savings: Pairing an air source heat pump with smart tariffs and energy management tech could help you save money.

• Short payback periods: Government grants (£7,500 or £9,000) and avoided replacement boiler costs mean heat pumps can pay for themselves in as little as 2 to 4 years.1

• Never left in the cold: If your system ever experiences issues, we provide temporary heating within one working day while we sort it out.

Considering the switch to low-carbon heating? If you're feeling a bit of heat pump anxiety, you're certainly not alone. Questions about upfront costs, winter warmth, and whether a system will actually keep your energy bills manageable are completely normal.

We believe you should never have to guess how your new heating system will perform. That's why we back our installations with our performance guarantee and a dedicated 5-Year Performance Guarantee.

Are heat pumps actually worth it in the UK, or will they drive up my bills?

It's the question every homeowner asks before making the leap: Will an air source heat pump actually save me money, or is it going to push running costs through the roof?

The short answer is yes, they're worth it, provided your system is properly designed and installed to strict Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) standards. When designed correctly, an air source heat pump is far more efficient than even the newest condensing gas boiler.

The financial case has never been stronger. Independent research from the Energy Saving Trust shows that combining a heat pump with a smart tariff and disconnecting from the gas network entirely can cut energy bills by up to £800 every year.1

When looking at the upfront investment, government support and customer discounts can make a notable difference. Through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), eligible homes can claim a £7,500 grant towards installation. 2Plus, if you have an oil or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) home, you could receive up to £9,000.3 Combined with a £200 existing customer discount, air source heat pumps for a typical 2-bedroom property start from just £4,746.4

However, if you factor in the money you would have spent replacing an old, failing gas boiler anyway, the true net upgrade cost drops to as little as £500. When paired with smart tariffs, those savings can bring the payback period down to between 2 and 4 years,1 making low-carbon heating a potentially smart long-term investment.

I need to upgrade my heating system but don't know where to start.

Starting your heating upgrade can feel overwhelming with all the technical terms out there. The most important first step is to avoid any installer who gives you a quick, single-price estimate over the phone without looking at your property.

To get maximum air source heat pump efficiency in the UK, your installation must be tailored to your specific building. Here's what to look out for when you begin:

• A detailed, room-by-room heat loss calculation: This assesses your home's insulation, radiator sizes, and layout to determine the exact heat capacity you need. We'll only recommend an installation if we're 100% confident it will keep your home warm, even on the coldest winter days.

• Clear performance assurances: Look for guaranteed efficiency ratings rather than vague promises. Our Home Comfort Promise guarantees your system's performance for five years.

• Comprehensive protection: Ensure your installer provides strong warranties. We offer a 7-year product warranty, a 2-year workmanship warranty, a 5-year performance guarantee, and full HIES backing for complete peace of mind.

If you're ready to take the first step, you can explore our air source heat pump options to see how our team handles the whole process from start to finish.

What tech can I install to stop my heating system from wasting energy?

Getting the most out of your low-carbon setup is all about pairing the right hardware with smart technology. Modern heat pumps work wonderfully with smart home controls and smart tariffs.

By installing an automated smart controller, your system can automatically shift a portion of its operation to off-peak hours when grid electricity is significantly cheaper and powered by a higher percentage of renewable energy.

According to the Energy Saving Trust report on flexible smart tariffs, integrating this kind of smart energy management technology with your heat pump brings maximum bill reductions while keeping your living spaces consistently comfortable.1 You don't have to constantly adjust settings yourself, as the technology handles the heavy lifting in the background, ensuring not a single kilowatt-hour of energy goes to waste.

What is a good SCOP rating for an air source heat pump in the UK?

To understand efficiency, you need to know about SCOP, which stands for Seasonal Coefficient of Performance. While standard COP measures efficiency at a single snapshot in time, SCOP measures how efficiently a heat pump delivers warmth across an entire year, taking into account seasonal temperature changes.

A SCOP of 3.0 means that for every 1 kWh of electricity the system uses, it outputs 3 kWh of heat energy, making it 300% efficient.

That means our real-world systems consistently deliver over 408% efficiency, outperforming standard market expectations and saving you more on running costs. You can read more about how these numbers are calculated in our guide to heat pump efficiency.

How does heat pump SCOP affect annual energy bills?

The relationship between your heat pump SCOP performance and your energy bills is simple: the higher the SCOP, the less electricity your system requires to heat your home.

For example, running a system at a 4.0 SCOP uses noticeably less electricity over a cold winter season than running the same property at a 3.0 SCOP. That difference translates directly into lower monthly electricity bills.

Because heat pump SCOP performance is so vital to your household budget, we don't just walk away once installation is complete. We conduct quarterly performance checks and provide continuous optimisation support to ensure your system continues operating at its peak potential for the entire 5-year guarantee period.

If performance ever drops below your agreed design baseline, we step in to fine-tune the system and put things right.

Is it cheaper to leave a heat pump on 24/7?

Yes, when operated with a set-back schedule. Heat pumps deliver 300% to 400% efficiency when running continuously at low flow temperatures, making steady operation far more cost-effective than turning the system off for quick blasts of high-temperature heat.

To maximise your savings (especially on time-of-use tariffs like Next Pumped), use the set-back method during higher priced peak windows (4pm to 7pm). Instead of turning the system off completely, drop the thermostat by 1°C or 2°C to keep your home's thermal mass warm while avoiding peak electricity rates. Learn more about time of use tariffs for heat pumps.

Traditional gas boilers operate by firing up at high temperatures, quickly heating radiators, and switching off. Air source heat pumps work differently. They're designed to operate like a gentle cruise control, maintaining a consistent, comfortable temperature using low flow temperatures.

Trying to heat a cold house from scratch with a heat pump forces the compressor to work much harder, driving up electricity consumption. Running the system steadily allows it to maintain optimal heat pump SCOP performance year-round.

A quick note on our guarantee: To maintain your 5-Year Performance Guarantee, your system needs to be operated as intended, running continuously at low flow temperatures, and your home must maintain the insulation standards agreed upon during the initial survey.

The Home Comfort Promise vs the competition.

Choosing who installs your low-carbon heating is just as important as choosing the equipment itself. Here's how our Home Comfort Promise compares to standard industry practices:

Start your journey to lower energy bills today.

Upgrading your home heating doesn't have to come with uncertainty. With strong design standards, real-world efficiency that outpaces the market, and our 5-Year Performance Guarantee, we take the risk out of moving to low-carbon technology.

Every installation is carried out through a professional heat pump installation process that meets strict MCS standards, ensuring long-term reliability and peace of mind.

If you'd like to explore more expert insights, check out our selection of heat pump guides or look at our range of heat pump options.

• 1. https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/report/flexible-futures-integrating-smart-tariffs-with-low-carbon-home-technologies
• 2. The Government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme is valid for heat pumps that are commissioned from 1 April 2022. £9,000 funding is available for Oil or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) fueled homes, whilst other eligible properties can claim £7,500 in funding. Unfortunately, new build homes are ineligible for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Owner and property eligibility apply. To see the full eligibility criteria and exclusions, visit the Government Boiler Upgrade Scheme web page.
• 3. https://www.eonnext.com/blog/boiler-upgrade-scheme-9000-grant-oil-lpg
• 4. E.ON Next customers can save up to £200 off an air source heat pump. T&Cs apply.