How to apply for the £7,500 BUS grant — step by step

Last reviewed: 14 May 2026.

In short

You don’t apply for the BUS grant yourself. An MCS-certified installer applies on your behalf through the Ofgem portal. Your only formal interaction with Ofgem is a single consent email — and it must be confirmed within 14 calendar days of receipt, or the application is automatically rejected. The grant is paid to your installer, not to you, and is deducted from your quote up-front: you pay the post-grant amount and never handle BUS money directly. From first contact with an installer to grant claimed typically takes 8–14 weeks. From July 2026 (subject to a formal grant change notice from DESNZ), an additional £1,500 uplift may take the grant to £9,000 for off-gas-grid homes replacing oil or LPG — Reading itself is mostly on the gas grid, so this affects only a small share of Reading-area properties. This guide walks through all seven stages of the process and the common pitfalls that catch homeowners out.

On this page

• Who applies — installer or homeowner?
• The seven stages of the process
• How long the whole thing takes
• Documents to have ready
• Six things that can go wrong
• The July 2026 £9,000 uplift for oil and LPG homes
• What this means for homes in Reading
• Related guides

Who applies — installer or homeowner?

The installer applies. The homeowner does not.

This is the most important thing to understand up-front, because almost every other detail of the process flows from it:

• You don’t fill in a government form.
• You don’t pay £7,500 up-front and claim it back later.
• You don’t deal with Ofgem directly except for one consent step.
• You don’t need to wait for a cheque or a reimbursement — the grant is deducted from your installer’s quote before you sign anything.

What you do need to do:

• Choose an installer who is MCS-certified for heat pump work and has a BUS Installer Account (the second is required for them to submit applications to Ofgem).
• Confirm your consent when Ofgem emails you to ask, within 14 calendar days.
• Pay the post-grant amount to the installer at the agreed milestones.

That’s it. The rest — application submission, voucher tracking, commissioning evidence, grant claim — is the installer’s responsibility. If your installer asks you to fill in BUS application forms yourself, something is off; the scheme is not designed to work that way.

The seven stages of the process

The BUS application has seven distinct stages from the homeowner’s point of view. Stages 1 and 2 are pre-application; stages 3 to 7 are formally tracked by Ofgem.

Stage 1 — Choose an MCS-certified installer with a BUS account

The installer must be MCS-certified for the technology being installed at the time of the work. Since April 2026, this certification has been written into the BUS regulations themselves — meaning an installer who loses certification mid-project cannot complete the BUS application.

The MCS “Find an installer” tool at mcscertified.com lets you search by postcode. Filter for installers with a BUS Installer Account — without that account, an installer cannot submit your voucher application even if otherwise certified.

A few questions worth asking before you commit:

• How many BUS installs have you completed in the last 12 months?
• What’s your typical timeline from quote acceptance to grant paid?
• Do you handle the Ofgem application directly, or is it outsourced?

A firm doing fewer than 20 BUS installs a year may have administrative friction on the voucher portal that higher-volume installers have streamlined out. A firm that has done hundreds will know exactly which fields trip up the audit team.

Stage 2 — Survey and quote, with BUS deducted up-front

Your installer attends the property for a heat-loss survey — our guide to heat loss surveys covers what to expect on the day — and produces a quote.

The quote must show three numbers:

1. Total install cost before the grant
2. The BUS grant value (normally £7,500 for an air-to-water heat pump; £2,500 for air-to-air; potentially £9,000 from July 2026 for off-gas oil/LPG households)
3. The remaining amount payable by you after the grant is deducted

The grant is presented as an up-front discount, not as a reimbursement. You only ever pay the post-grant amount.

If a quote does not itemise the BUS grant as a deduction, the installer is not actually using the scheme — they are quoting “as if” without committing to apply on your behalf. Ask them to re-issue the quote with the BUS deduction shown explicitly, or get quotes from other installers.

Stage 3 — Installer submits the application

Once you accept the quote and sign the contract, your installer logs into the Ofgem BUS Installer Portal and submits an application against your property. The submission records:

• Your name and email address
• Your property address
• The existing fossil-fuel system being replaced
• The proposed heat pump (technology and capacity)
• The installer’s MCS certification details

You see nothing at this stage — it all happens inside the installer’s portal. Allow a few working days for the submission to land before expecting any follow-up.

Stage 4 — Ofgem emails you for consent (14-day window)

This is the critical homeowner-side stage. Within a few working days of the installer’s submission, Ofgem will email you directly to confirm that you have authorised the named installer to apply on your behalf.

You have 14 calendar days from the email arriving to confirm. If you don’t confirm within 14 days, the application is automatically rejected.

Things to know:

• The email comes from an Ofgem domain — usually [email protected] or similar. Check your spam folder for 48 hours after you accept the installer’s quote.
• The confirmation is a simple link-click. No documents to upload, no forms to fill in.
• If the email genuinely doesn’t arrive — sometimes filters block it — ask your installer to re-trigger the consent request from their portal.

Missed consent is the most common reason BUS applications fail at the front end. Two ways to protect yourself:

• Set a calendar reminder when you accept the installer’s quote.
• Ask your installer to flag when they have submitted, so you know to watch your inbox.

Stage 5 — Voucher issued

Once you’ve given consent and Ofgem has run its eligibility checks (typically 1–3 weeks), Ofgem issues a voucher to your installer for the agreed grant amount. The voucher has an expiry:

Technology	Voucher validity
Air-to-water air source heat pump	3 months
Air-to-air heat pump	3 months
Biomass boiler	3 months
Ground source heat pump	6 months

Your installer must complete the install, commission the system, and redeem the voucher within the window. If the voucher expires before commissioning, the installer submits a fresh application — but this restarts the process from stage 3, including a fresh 14-day consent email from Ofgem.

For most ASHP installs in Reading, the 3-month window is comfortable: the installer schedules the work within 1–6 weeks of voucher issue.

Stage 6 — Installation and commissioning

Your installer carries out the install within the voucher window. A typical Reading 3-bed retrofit takes 3–5 working days. Our installation process guide walks through the survey-to-handover sequence in detail.

At commissioning, the installer produces an MCS Installation Certificate confirming the system has been installed and commissioned to the MCS standards (MIS 3005-I V3.0, current from December 2025). This certificate is what Ofgem requires before they pay the grant.

You’ll receive at handover:

• The MCS Installation Certificate
• The heat-loss survey report
• Manufacturer’s documentation for the heat pump and cylinder
• A system handover document covering controls, settings, and expected behaviour

Keep all of this indefinitely. The MCS certificate, in particular, is the source of truth for warranty claims, for any future modifications, and for the property sale — a heat pump install with a clean MCS certificate adds documented value to a property.

Stage 7 — Grant claim

The installer submits the commissioning evidence to Ofgem via the BUS portal. Ofgem audits a meaningful share of claims (the exact percentage isn’t published). For a routine claim, the grant is paid to the installer within 2–4 weeks of submission.

The grant being paid to the installer is the formal end of the BUS process. From your point of view, the process completed at stage 6 — you have your heat pump, you’ve paid the post-grant amount, you’ve got the MCS certificate.

(One narrow exception: if your installer happens to commission the system before submitting the voucher application, they have 120 days from the commissioning date on the MCS certificate to submit. This route exists for unusual cases — most installs follow the standard application-before-install sequence.)

How long the whole thing takes

A realistic end-to-end timeline:

Stage	Typical duration
Choose installer + receive quote	1–3 weeks
Heat-loss survey + design + final quote	1–3 weeks
Quote accepted → application submitted	1–7 days
Homeowner consent confirmed	1–14 days
Ofgem eligibility check + voucher issued	1–3 weeks
Install scheduled + completed	1–8 weeks
Commissioning + claim submitted + grant paid	2–4 weeks
Total — first contact to grant paid	8–20 weeks

Most of the variability sits in the install-scheduling stage. A high-volume Reading-area installer with current capacity may complete the install within 1–2 weeks of voucher issue; a smaller firm or peak-season scheduling can stretch this to 6–8 weeks. Ask the installer for their realistic install date as part of your stage 1 due diligence.

Documents to have ready

Most of the paperwork is on the installer’s side — but a few things on your side will keep the process moving:

Essential:

• Property address as it appears on your title deed
• Council tax band (Ofgem uses this for application matching)
• An email address you check actively — the consent email is your single critical homeowner-side action
• Photo ID for the installer’s records (they keep this, not Ofgem)

Useful but no longer required (since April 2026):

• EPC certificate. Before 28 April 2026 a valid EPC with no outstanding insulation recommendations was a hard requirement. From 28 April 2026 the EPC requirement is removed entirely — an existing EPC is accepted as evidence where you have one, but its absence no longer disqualifies you.

Alternative evidence (where you don’t have an EPC):

• A utility bill dated within 3 months showing the existing fuel type (gas, oil, LPG, electric)
• Photographs of your current heating system (boiler, oil tank, or LPG tank as applicable)
• Any expired EPC you have on file

Your installer will collate and submit these. You provide them.

For self-build / custom-build properties:

• Title deeds proving you constructed or commissioned the construction directly
• Construction invoices
• Evidence the property has never been owned by a business or organisation
• Documentation that first occupation falls on or after the heat pump commissioning date

(Self-builds are eligible for heat pumps only, not biomass.)

For the full eligibility picture — primary residence status, listed buildings, off-gas considerations — see our BUS eligibility deep dive.

Six things that can go wrong

Six common failure modes — and how to avoid each:

Missed consent email. Pattern: you accept the installer’s quote, Ofgem’s consent email goes to spam, you’re on holiday, you don’t notice, the 14-day clock expires, the application is auto-rejected. Prevention: set a calendar reminder; check spam aggressively for 48 hours after accepting the quote; ask your installer to flag when they’ve submitted.

Voucher expires before install. Pattern: voucher is issued, the install gets delayed by weather, supplier shortage, or a design change. The 3-month ASHP window runs out before commissioning. Prevention: a competent installer schedules the install within 6 weeks of voucher issue as standard. If they tell you it’ll be 10+ weeks, push back or ask why.

Quote without BUS deducted. Pattern: installer quotes the full install cost and tells you “you’ll get £7,500 back later.” This is not how BUS works. Prevention: every BUS-eligible quote shows the grant deducted up-front. If yours doesn’t, ask for it to be re-issued — or get other quotes.

Installer loses MCS certification mid-project. Pattern: installer was MCS-certified at quote stage but certification lapses (admin failure, audit failure) before commissioning. Since April 2026 the BUS regulations require the installer to be MCS-certified at the time of the work — meaning the application becomes invalid. Prevention: check the certification at mcscertified.com before accepting the quote and again before install start. A reputable firm will not flinch at the check.

Wrong technology vs grant claim. Pattern: installer applies for the £7,500 air-to-water grant but installs an air-to-air system (£2,500 grant), or applies for £7,500 but installs a hybrid (gas boiler + heat pump combination — not BUS-eligible at all). The audit catches the mismatch and the grant is denied. Prevention: the technology on your quote should match the technology on your final MCS Installation Certificate. Check.

Property previously received heat-pump funding. Pattern: a previous owner used BUS for the property, you don’t know about it, and your new application is rejected. Prevention: your installer can check with Ofgem before applying. If you’re buying a property, asking about previous heat-pump grants at conveyancing is the simple due-diligence step.

The July 2026 £9,000 uplift for oil and LPG homes

On 21 April 2026, the Energy Secretary announced a one-year uplift to the BUS grant for households heated by oil or LPG — off-gas-grid properties relying on liquid-fuel deliveries. The existing £7,500 grant will be topped up by £1,500, taking the total to £9,000 for eligible installations.

The mechanics, as published at the time of writing:

• Eligible technologies: air-to-water heat pumps and ground-source heat pumps only. Air-to-air heat pumps and biomass boilers are not included in the uplift.
• Eligible properties: off-gas-grid homes currently using oil or LPG for primary heating. Homes on the gas grid replacing a gas boiler remain at £7,500.
• Geographic scope: England and Wales.
• Application window: expected to open in July 2026, subject to a formal grant change notice from DESNZ that authorises Ofgem to accept applications at the new level.
• Duration: the 2026/27 financial year only — expected to expire on 31 March 2027. Applications made after that date revert to the standard £7,500.

For Reading-area homeowners, the uplift is geographically narrow in its direct impact. Reading itself is firmly on the gas grid; most properties don’t qualify. The uplift becomes relevant for:

• Rural Berkshire properties beyond the gas network (parts of West Berkshire, the southern parishes)
• A Reading homeowner with a second property held off-grid (a holiday let, an inherited rural property)
• Properties on the immediate fringes of the gas network where a meter has never been installed

If your property is off the gas grid and using oil or LPG, the uplift is material — £1,500 is roughly 20% of the standard grant — but the application window is tight and not yet operative. The £9,000 rate is announced but the formal grant change notice that authorises Ofgem to accept applications at the new level had not been published as of mid-May 2026. Homeowners considering an application timed to capture the uplift should confirm the live grant rate with their installer at the point of application.

What this means for homes in Reading

The Reading area sits firmly on the national gas grid — Cadent’s network covers central Reading, the inner suburbs, and the eastern wedge from Earley through Woodley, with comprehensive coverage of the post-war and modern estates in Lower Earley, Whitley, and Tilehurst. For the vast majority of Reading homeowners, a BUS application is at the standard £7,500 rate, replacing an existing gas boiler.

The application process applies the same way regardless of neighbourhood. Some Reading-area patterns worth noting:

• Central Reading and Caversham carry significant Victorian and Edwardian terrace stock, often in conservation areas. The EPC removal in April 2026 helps these properties materially — previously, an old EPC with outstanding solid-wall-insulation recommendations could block a BUS application even when the homeowner had no realistic upgrade route. From April 2026 onward, that block is gone, and the installer can proceed on alternative evidence.
• Listed buildings in central Reading and Caversham face other regulatory layers (planning, listed-building consent for visible heat pump units), but these are separate from BUS itself — BUS eligibility is now broader for these properties than it was a year ago.
• Self-build properties in newer Reading developments (parts of Caversham Park, the southern fringe developments) can claim BUS provided the title deeds and construction invoices show the homeowner directly commissioned the build, and first occupation falls on or after the heat pump commissioning date.
• Reading rental properties (a meaningful portion of Reading’s housing stock) are eligible — landlords can claim BUS for their own rentals, including second-homes-let-as-rentals, with the same process as owner-occupied properties.
• Off-gas-grid Reading properties are rare but not non-existent — typically older properties on the rural fringes of West Berkshire bordering the Reading commuter belt. For these, the July 2026 £9,000 uplift is worth waiting for if the install timing allows.

For most Reading homeowners the seven-stage process described above runs cleanly. The 14-day consent step is the part most worth flagging on the day you accept your installer’s quote — a small thing in the moment, the cause of most application failures when it goes wrong.

Related guides

• The £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant — complete guide — the scheme overview, what’s covered, what’s not
• BUS eligibility deep dive — does your property qualify? — the detailed eligibility companion (coming soon)
• Heat loss surveys for heat pumps — what they are, what to expect — the design exercise that produces the quote BUS is deducted from
• The complete heat pump installation process — what happens between voucher issue and commissioning

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Ready to start a BUS application for your Reading property? Our MCS-certified team has a BUS Installer Account, manages every step of the Ofgem application directly, and flags the 14-day consent email to you the moment we submit. The £7,500 is deducted from your quote up-front — you only ever pay the post-grant amount.

Get a quote | Call us on 0118 [number] | Email [address]

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