Best Heat Pump Tariff 2026: Cosy Octopus Compared

A heat pump tariff is an electricity tariff with cheaper rates at set times of day, so you can run your heat pump and heat your hot water when power costs least. If you have, or are about to fit, an air source heat pump in Scotland, the tariff matters almost as much as the hardware. In August 2026 the Energy Saving Trust found that most heat pumps on a standard flat-rate tariff cost the same as, or more than, an efficient gas boiler to run, while those on dedicated heat pump tariffs did significantly better. Below are the main heat pump tariffs we verified on 6 October 2026, with South and North Scotland rates where they differ, how to run your system to the cheap windows, where solar and a battery fit, and the Scottish funding for the heat pump itself.

Heat pump tariffs compared: October 2026

Checked on 6 October 2026 on each supplier's own pages. All five open tariffs need a working smart meter, and you have to take your electricity from that supplier.

Cosy Octopus rates in South and North Scotland

Rates from Octopus Energy's published tariff data, including VAT (zero on household electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027). Octopus has already set a higher Cosy standing charge from 19 October 2026, 61.44p a day in South Scotland and 55.28p in North Scotland, so check the live figures before you switch.

Octopus prices Cosy as a percentage of its Flexible rate in each region: the Cosy hours are 51% below the day rate, the peak is 50% above it, and the windows stay on clock time all year. Even with use spread evenly across 24 hours, the Cosy average works out at about 22.18p/kWh in South Scotland and 22.75p in North Scotland, against 26.11p and 26.35p on Flexible Octopus, and shifting heat into the Cosy hours takes it lower. Octopus says your heat pump needn't be one it installed. Octopus's current 12-month fixed Cosy, available since 26 September 2026, has a £50 exit fee, and on 6 October its South Scotland rates were higher than the flexible version's, at 14.52p, 29.61p and 44.41p.

EDF Heat Pump Tracker

EDF takes 10p/kWh, VAT included, off its standard rate in your region from 4am to 7am and 1pm to 4pm, and charges no peak rate at all. The rest of the day, and the standing charge, follow EDF's standard tariff, whose unit rates are reviewed every three months in line with the price cap. Because the discount is a flat 10p, it's worth the same in both Scottish regions. Any make of heat pump qualifies, you pay by Direct Debit, and there are no exit fees.

E.ON Next Pumped

Next Pumped is a 12-month fixed tariff with no exit fees and three price bands: its cheapest rate from 10pm to 6am, a rate below E.ON's standard from 6am to 4pm and 7pm to 10pm, and a peak above standard from 4pm to 7pm. You need a heat pump or electric boiler, fitted or planned, a smart meter, monthly Direct Debit and online account management; it isn't open to Smart Pay As You Go customers. E.ON prices it by postcode quote rather than publishing regional rates.

British Gas Heat Power

British Gas halves its unit rate for everything you use between midnight and 7am and between 1pm and 4pm, 70 hours a week, and pays the discount as a weekly Heat Power Credit on your bill; the standing charge is paid in full. It's a fixed tariff for credit customers with a heat pump or another electric heating system, and British Gas says EVs and home batteries can charge in the overnight window too.

ScottishPower Heat Pump Saver

ScottishPower charges 14p/kWh for all household use from 11am to 4pm and a peak rate from 4pm to 11am. You need a heat pump of any make, a smart meter sending half-hourly readings and monthly Direct Debit, and you can move between ScottishPower tariffs without exit fees. Its own guidance is that if less than 30% of your use falls between 11am and 4pm, another tariff may suit you better. It also points out that an air source heat pump heats water more efficiently in the middle of the day, when the air is warmer.

What happened to OVO's heat pump offer?

OVO's Heat Pump Plus add-on, which cut the price of the electricity a compatible heat pump used, closed on 1 February 2026, and OVO's heat pump pages no longer list a heat pump tariff.

Agile and other smart tariffs

The Energy Saving Trust also found that dynamic tariffs, where the price can change every 30 minutes, often performed about as well as specialist heat pump tariffs. Agile Octopus is one, and our guide to the best tariffs for solar and battery homes sets it against other battery-friendly options. If you also run an electric car, see our guide to EV tariffs for solar and battery homes.

How to run a heat pump to the cheap windows

A heat pump tariff only pays if the heat pump uses the cheap hours. Four habits do most of the work.

Pre-heat, then coast through the peak

Octopus's Cosy advice is to set the thermostat 1–2° above your normal temperature in the cheap periods, keep your usual 20° or 21° in standard periods, and drop 2–3° for the 4pm to 7pm peak. British Gas gives similar advice, and E.ON suggests running a degree or so warmer for an hour or two before 4pm. The house stores the extra heat and releases it through the expensive hours.

Time the hot water

Octopus's guidance for its Cosy heat pumps is that the unit heats either the radiators or the cylinder, not both at once, with hot water taking priority. Schedule the cylinder for a cheap window at the 48–50° storage temperature Octopus suggests, and run the weekly legionella cycle in a cheap window too, as E.ON recommends. ScottishPower's point about warmer midday air favours the 1pm to 4pm slot on Cosy and EDF.

Leave weather compensation on

Weather compensation adjusts the flow temperature automatically as the outdoor temperature changes. The Energy Saving Trust's guidance for installers explains that a lower flow temperature narrows the temperature gap the heat pump works across, which raises its efficiency. Our advice is to pre-heat through the room thermostat schedule rather than by fixing a high flow temperature, so the compensation curve keeps doing its job.

Don't switch it off

Turning the heat pump off for the peak, or whenever you go out, usually backfires. Octopus says heating the home back up uses a lot of energy and that heat pumps work best at a fairly steady temperature, and British Gas answers the question of switching off at peak with a plain no.

Adding solar panels and a battery

In Scotland, solar output and heat demand peak at opposite ends of the year. PVGIS models a 4 kWp south-facing array near Livingston making almost six times as much in June, about 442 kWh, as in December, about 77 kWh. Panels mostly cover hot water and household use from spring to autumn, and the battery is what links a heat pump tariff to your winter heating. Our page on solar panels and a heat pump covers designing the two together, and adding a home battery covers the storage side.

On Cosy, a battery can fill twice a day: in the 1pm to 4pm window ahead of the peak, and again overnight for the morning, with its charge rate setting how much it takes in each slot. On 6 October rates, every kWh moved from a Cosy hour into the peak avoids 25.09p in South Scotland and 25.72p in North Scotland, and every kWh moved into standard time saves 12.66p and 12.98p, before battery losses. The Energy Saving Trust's 2026 modelling of 546 homes and around 1.1 million combinations found that, on the right tariff, batteries paired better with heat pumps than with solar panels, and that combining a heat pump, solar and a battery on the right tariffs cut bills by around £800 a year in general.

ScottishPower's 11am to 4pm window overlaps the hours a solar array produces most, so on a sunny day a solar home is already covering much of it; tariffs with early-morning and overnight cheap hours complement panels better. Surplus solar earns a flat 12p/kWh on Outgoing Octopus, its rate since 1 March 2026 (correct as of 6 October 2026), and our guide to Smart Export Guarantee rates compares other suppliers.

Which heat pump tariff suits your home?

• You can pre-heat and keep grid use low from 4pm to 7pm: Cosy Octopus rewards that pattern most directly.
• Someone is home and heating through the early evening: a tariff without a peak surcharge, such as EDF Heat Pump Tracker or British Gas Heat Power, avoids the 4pm to 7pm penalty.
• You want prices locked for a term: E.ON Next Pumped, British Gas Heat Power and the fixed Cosy all do that; E.ON charges no exit fee and the fixed Cosy charges £50.
• You work from home with solar: test ScottishPower's midday window against your generation first.
• You still heat with storage heaters: start with our guide to Economy 7 and Economy 10, which covers smart storage-heater tariffs and the switch to a heat pump.

Scottish funding for the heat pump itself

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme you'll see in English guides doesn't apply in Scotland. Here the route is the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan: up to £7,500 of grant towards a heat pump, and an optional interest-free loan of up to another £7,500 that carries a 1.5% administration fee, capped at £150. A £1,500 rural uplift to the grant covers remote rural, island and off-gas rural areas.

• Who qualifies: homeowners in an existing Scottish home that is their only or main residence; you don't need to be on benefits.
• What qualifies: a heat pump that provides all your heating and hot water, fitted by an MCS installer with an MCS-certified product. Hybrid heat pumps don't qualify, and you don't need an EPC to apply.
• Timing: don't start work before your written offer. Funding agreements are valid for nine months, and funding is first come, first served.
• Repayment: up to 5 years for loans under £5,000, 10 years for £5,000 to £9,999 and 12 years above that.

Installing a heat pump in a home is also zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027. Start with Home Energy Scotland's free advice line on 0808 808 2282. Our page on heat pump grants in Scotland explains how the grant and loan fit around a quote, and our air source heat pump installation page covers the survey and the install.

Next step

Tell us which tariff you're weighing up. Our in-house team and vetted MCS-certified trade partners will survey your home and show what the cheap windows mean for your running costs. Call 03330 384 380, or get your free quote online.