What Is the Best Electricity Tariff for a Heat Pump?

The best electricity tariff for most heat pump owners is a smart time-of-use tariff built for heat pumps, such as Cosy Octopus, E.ON Next Pumped, British Gas Heat Power, EDF Heat Pump Tracker or ScottishPower Heat Pump Saver, provided you can run a good share of your heating and hot water in the cheap windows. If you cannot shift much of your use, a competitive fixed tariff or the price-capped standard variable tariff can work out just as well.

There is no single winner for every home. The right tariff depends on when your heat pump runs, whether you have solar panels or a battery, and how the supplier’s rates in your region compare. All prices and tariff details below were checked in late September 2026. Tariffs change often, so check current terms before you switch.

What Types of Electricity Tariff Can I Use With a Heat Pump?

You can run a heat pump on any domestic electricity tariff, but the main choices are a standard variable tariff, a fixed tariff, a two-rate tariff such as Economy 7, or a smart time-of-use tariff. Heat pump tariffs are smart time-of-use tariffs reserved for homes with a heat pump or other electric heating.

If you are on a fixed tariff with 50 days or more left, you may pay an exit fee to switch. With 49 days or less left, you can switch for free, according to Citizens Advice.

What Is the Price Cap Baseline for Comparing Heat Pump Tariffs?

From 1 October to 31 December 2026, the Ofgem price cap for a direct debit customer is 26.32p per kWh for electricity with a standing charge of 54.83p per day, as GB averages. Use these figures as your baseline: a heat pump tariff only saves money if your blended cost per kWh comes in below 26.32p once standing charges are included.

Ofgem states there is no VAT on electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. Gas still carries 5% VAT. The cap limits the unit rate and standing charge, not your total bill, and it only applies to standard variable tariffs. Your regional rates will differ from the GB average.

The cap covers England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has a separate electricity market and is not covered by the Ofgem cap, so compare local suppliers there directly.

Which Heat Pump Tariffs Are Available in September 2026?

As of late September 2026, the main heat pump tariffs in Great Britain are Cosy Octopus, E.ON Next Pumped, British Gas Heat Power, EDF Heat Pump Tracker and ScottishPower Heat Pump Saver. Each gives cheaper electricity in set windows, but the windows and the peak charges differ.

Suppliers set rates by region, and most only show them after you enter a postcode. We have described the structure rather than quoting every rate, because unit prices move with each price cap period. ScottishPower advertised 14p per kWh in its 11:00–16:00 window at the end of September 2026, and says the tariff may not suit homes using less than 30% of their electricity in that window.

OVO’s Heat Pump Plus, which gave a 15p per kWh rate for heat pump electricity through a rebate, was withdrawn in February 2026. If you are still on an older OVO arrangement, check what you have been moved to.

Is Economy 7 Any Good for a Heat Pump?

Economy 7 suits a heat pump less well than a modern heat pump tariff, because it gives you only 7 cheap hours, usually overnight in one block such as 11pm to 6am. Heat pumps need to run through the day in cold weather, so most of your use lands on the higher day rate.

Economy 7 can still work if you already have it and heat a large cylinder overnight. Economy 10 is closer to a heat pump tariff, as its 10 cheap hours may be split into blocks, such as 1pm to 4pm, 8pm to 10pm and midnight to 5am. On an older meter your off-peak hours are fixed by the meter, so check them on your bill or with your supplier.

Is Agile Octopus Worth It With a Heat Pump?

Agile Octopus can be worth it if you have a home battery or controls that respond to half-hourly prices, but it is harder to manage with a heat pump alone. Prices change every half hour and are published for the next day between 4pm and 8pm, based on wholesale rates.

Agile includes a guaranteed maximum of 100p per kWh, and at times prices fall below zero so you are paid to use electricity. A heat pump that has to run in a cold, high-demand evening can hit the expensive half hours. For most heat pump owners without a battery, a fixed-window tariff such as Cosy is easier to plan around.

How Does Scheduling Heating and Hot Water Affect Efficiency?

Scheduling cuts your cost per kWh, but pushing a heat pump to store heat at higher temperatures lowers its efficiency, so the aim is a modest shift rather than a big one. A heat pump is most efficient when it runs steadily at a low flow temperature, and less efficient when asked for hotter water or a fast warm-up.

Practical settings that usually work well on a time-of-use tariff:

• Hot water in the afternoon window. Outdoor air is usually warmer between 13:00 and 16:00 than overnight, which helps efficiency, and the cylinder is then ready for the evening.
• A small pre-heat before the peak. Raising the room target by 1°C in the window before 16:00, then lowering it by 1–2°C during the peak, lets the building carry you through.
• Keep weather compensation on. Avoid switching to a fixed high flow temperature to force heat in during cheap hours.
• Avoid the immersion heater in peak hours. Set any disinfection cycle to run in a cheap window.

Well-insulated homes hold heat for longer and can shift more use into cheap windows. Leaky homes cool quickly, so a long set-back during the peak can mean a harder, less efficient recovery afterwards. Your installer can set the schedule to match your home and tariff.

Do I Need a Smart Meter for a Heat Pump Tariff?

Yes, every heat pump and smart time-of-use tariff listed above needs a working smart meter that sends half-hourly readings to your supplier. The supplier needs those readings to know how much you used in each window.

Octopus accepts SMETS2 or secure SMETS1 meters. E.ON Next asks you to agree to half-hourly data collection, and EDF asks for a meter set to send reads every 30 minutes. If your smart meter has stopped communicating, ask your supplier to fix it before you apply. Some suppliers also require you to take your electricity from them and pay by direct debit, and several exclude prepayment customers.

What Is the Best Tariff If I Have Solar Panels and a Battery?

With solar and a battery, the best choice is often a tariff with a cheap overnight or early morning window for charging the battery, paired with a good export tariff. Your heat pump then runs on solar or stored electricity at other times.

Octopus Flux has a cheap import period from 02:00 to 05:00 and a peak from 16:00 to 19:00, when a higher export rate applies. It needs solar and a battery, half-hourly smart meter readings, and both import and export tariffs with Octopus. Under the Smart Export Guarantee, export rates must always be above zero, but the rate and terms vary widely by supplier.

With one electricity meter you can only be on one import tariff at a time, so you choose between a heat pump tariff and a solar or battery tariff with the same supplier. Model both with your own figures before choosing.

Should I Drop My Gas Supply After Getting a Heat Pump?

If you no longer use gas for cooking, a fire or anything else, dropping your gas supply saves the standing charge, which at the current cap is £108.33 a year as a GB average. If you still cook on gas, keeping the supply means paying that daily charge for a small amount of gas.

There are two levels of removal:

• Meter removal. Ask your gas supplier to end the contract and remove the meter. Once it is gone, you stop paying standing charges. Some suppliers charge for this, but many do it free, according to IGEM.
• Service pipe removal. If you want the pipe from the street removed, you apply to your gas network, such as Cadent. This is chargeable. Cadent says works take 6–8 weeks on average from payment, and you must arrange meter removal with your supplier first.

Before dropping gas, confirm your heat pump covers all heating and hot water, and think about whether a future buyer might want gas for cooking. Reconnecting later costs money.

How Do I Compare Tariffs Using My Own Usage?

To compare tariffs properly, take your own half-hourly usage from your smart meter data or supplier app, split it into each tariff’s time windows, and add the standing charge. A tariff’s headline discount means little until you apply it to when your home uses electricity.

1. Download at least a few months of half-hourly data, including winter if you have it.
2. Work out the share of your use in each tariff’s cheap, standard and peak windows.
3. Multiply each block by that tariff’s rate for your region, then add 365 days of standing charge.
4. Compare the total with the price cap baseline of 26.32p per kWh plus 54.83p per day.
5. Repeat with the schedule changes your heat pump could make, such as moving hot water into the afternoon.

The worked example below is illustrative only. It uses round made-up rates, not any supplier’s current prices: 14p per kWh in the cheap window and 30p at other times, against the cap unit rate of 26.32p. Standing charges are assumed to match.

In this example the time-of-use tariff only beats the cap once about 23% of use falls in the cheap window. Below that, the higher rate at other times wipes out the saving. Do the same sum for the rest of your household use, because lights, cooking and appliances also pay the higher rate outside the windows.

If you are planning a heat pump and want the system designed and scheduled around a time-of-use tariff from day one, we can cover that during your survey.