The NI Boiler Replacement Scheme closed in 2023
The Department for Communities closed the Northern Ireland Boiler Replacement Scheme to new applications on 21 September 2023, citing budgetary constraints. It had offered up to £1,000 towards replacing a boiler more than 15 years old. There is no direct standalone replacement.
Searches for a "boiler replacement scheme NI 2026" still run at volume, and a good deal of what they return is out of date — third-party guides and installer pages describing the £1,000 grant as though it were live. It is not. Help with a boiler in Northern Ireland still exists, but it now arrives inside a wider scheme rather than as a grant you apply for on its own. This page sets out which routes are open, who each one is for, and how to apply.
Scheme status reviewed 26 July 2026.
What is available in Northern Ireland
Affordable Warmth Scheme
Northern Ireland's main government energy efficiency grant, and the route that now funds most boiler replacements. It is assessed on household income rather than on the age or condition of the boiler alone, and it funds the boiler as one measure in a whole-house package.
- Gross household income under £23,000
- You own and occupy the home as your main residence, or rent privately
- Not open to Housing Executive or housing association tenants
- Funds up to £7,500 of measures, rising to £10,000 where solid wall insulation is needed
- Delivered solely by the NI Housing Executive since September 2023 — councils no longer administer it
NISEP heating schemes
The Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme is levy-funded and overseen by the Utility Regulator. Individual Scheme Managers run their own schemes under it, and some fund heating upgrades — including conversion to natural gas central heating — for eligible priority households. What is on offer changes as schemes open and close, so the current Utility Regulator scheme list is the thing to check rather than any static summary.
The questions that bring people here
Is there a boiler grant for over 60s in Northern Ireland?
No. There is no age-based boiler scheme in Northern Ireland. Affordable Warmth is assessed on gross household income under £23,000 — being over 60 neither qualifies a household on its own nor rules one out.
Where is the application form?
There is no standalone boiler application form any more. The route runs through NI Energy Advice on 0800 111 44 55 or NIenergyadvice@nihe.gov.uk. An eligibility check comes first; the application form follows it. One thing worth holding to: do not start any work until the grant is confirmed approved in writing.
Is there a boiler scrappage scheme?
Not in Northern Ireland. The closest thing was the Boiler Replacement Scheme itself, and it closed in September 2023.
What about the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme?
It covers England and Wales only — the limit is written into the regulations. ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme are Great Britain schemes; the "Great British" is literal. Energy efficiency policy is devolved here, which is why the NI routes carry different names and different rules. Where an installer advertises a £7,500 NI heat pump grant, it is conflating the GB scheme with Northern Ireland.
Supplier offers are not government grants
Gas network suppliers in Northern Ireland sometimes run commercial incentives to switch from oil to natural gas, and these are occasionally presented as though they were a scheme. They are supplier offers: the terms and deadlines change, and the value depends on what the connection and the new system cost you in total. Compare the all-in figure rather than the headline contribution, and check the terms directly with the supplier.
Not sure which NI route fits your household?
No obligation. Northern Ireland routes only - Energy Pages will not point you at a GB scheme that does not apply here.