Best Electricity Tariffs for Heat Pump Owners in the UK

If you've had a heat pump for a while and you're still on your supplier's standard variable tariff, there's a good chance you're paying more than you need to. Heat pumps run on electricity, and electricity has a time-of-day cost that gas never really had for most homeowners. Several UK suppliers now offer tariffs built specifically around this, and switching, or setting your heat pump up properly to use one, can make a meaningful difference to your running costs.

Key Takeaways

• Standard flat-rate tariffs treat every hour of electricity the same. Time-of-use tariffs charge less during set windows, usually early morning and early afternoon, and more during early evening peak demand.

• Several major suppliers, including Octopus, EDF and E.ON, offer tariffs designed specifically for heat pump and electric heating households.

• These tariffs work best in homes with reasonable insulation and a hot water cylinder that can hold heat, since the whole idea is heating your home during the cheap windows and coasting through the expensive ones.

• Not every heat pump tariff suits every property. A flatter, simpler tariff can sometimes work out cheaper for homes that can't easily shift when they use electricity.

• Availability changes. Some suppliers have closed their heat pump tariffs to new customers in the past year, so it's worth checking what's currently open rather than assuming older comparisons are still accurate.

Why Standard Tariffs Cost Heat Pump Owners More

On a standard variable tariff, you pay the same rate whether you're using electricity at 4am or 6pm. But electricity is genuinely cheaper to generate and supply at some times than others, and a growing number of tariffs now pass that difference on to you directly, in exchange for using more power during the cheap windows and less during the expensive ones.

For a heat pump household, this matters more than it does for most homes, since heating is usually your largest single use of electricity. If your system runs flexibly, warming the house during a cheap morning or afternoon window and coasting through the evening peak rather than running flat out at 6pm, a time-of-use tariff can turn that flexibility into a real saving.

What's Actually Available Right Now

Several suppliers, including Octopus, EDF and E.ON, currently offer a version of a heat-pump-specific tariff. Availability does shift though, at least one major supplier closed its heat pump tariff to new customers within the past year, so it's genuinely worth checking what's currently open rather than working from an older comparison you might have seen.

All of these require a smart meter sending regular readings, and most require your supplier to confirm you actually have a heat pump or electric heating system before you can join.

Is a Time-of-Use Tariff Actually Right for Your Home?

Not automatically, no. These tariffs work best when a few things are true:

• Your home holds heat reasonably well. If your property loses heat quickly, coasting through an expensive peak window on stored warmth doesn't work as well, and you may end up needing the heating on during the expensive period anyway.

• You have a hot water cylinder with decent capacity. Heating your hot water during a cheap window and drawing from stored capacity later is a big part of how these tariffs deliver savings.

• Your heat pump's controls can actually be scheduled. This is where a lot of the potential saving gets lost in practice, a tariff switch on its own doesn't save you anything if the system's settings haven't been adjusted to actually use the cheap windows.

If your home doesn't tick these boxes, a simpler flat or discount-style tariff can sometimes work out better than a complex multi-rate one you're not able to take full advantage of.

A Change Worth Knowing About

Electricity currently carries no VAT for households, a temporary measure running from October 2026 through the end of March 2027. It's not specific to heat pump tariffs, but it does mean the effective cost difference between suppliers and tariff types is slightly different right now than it will be once VAT returns, worth factoring in if you're comparing quotes during this window.

How to Actually Make a Tariff Switch Worth It

Switching tariff is the easy part. Getting your heat pump's settings to actually use it well is where the real saving comes from, and it's also the step people skip most often.

1. Review your heating schedule against the tariff's cheap windows. If your system is set to heat on a generic schedule rather than one aligned with your specific tariff's off-peak periods, you're not getting the benefit you're paying for the smart meter setup to access.

2. Check your weather compensation settings. Weather compensation adjusts your flow temperature automatically based on outdoor conditions, which pairs well with a time-of-use tariff since it helps the system run efficiently within whichever window it's heating in.

3. Get your hot water cylinder schedule reviewed. This is often the single biggest lever for making a heat pump tariff pay off, since hot water can usually be shifted entirely into a cheap window without anyone noticing the difference.

4. Have someone independent check the whole setup. Our Heat Pump Service Plus includes a full review of your controls and settings, which is exactly what determines whether a tariff switch actually saves you money or just changes which hours you're paying for the same usage.

For more general ways to bring your running costs down regardless of which tariff you're on, our guide to reducing heat pump electricity bills and our piece on setting a heat pump for maximum efficiency both cover ground this article doesn't.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a specific type of smart meter for a heat pump tariff? Most multi-rate tariffs need a smart meter capable of half-hourly readings. Older two-rate meters can work with some simpler tariff types, but won't support the more granular multi-rate ones.

Will switching tariff void my heat pump warranty or installer agreement? No, your electricity tariff and your heat pump's installation or warranty are entirely separate. You're free to switch supplier or tariff at any point without affecting either.

Can I use a heat pump tariff if I also have solar panels? Yes, though it's worth checking the specific tariff's terms, some are import-only, meaning you'd need a separate export tariff to sell any excess solar generation back to the grid.

Is it worth switching if my home isn't well insulated? It can still be worth comparing options, but the savings tend to be smaller, since a less efficient home has less ability to coast through the expensive peak window on stored heat. Worth weighing tariff savings against the value of improving insulation first.