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The off grid heating Devon households rely on comes down to four real options once mains gas is off the table: staying on oil, moving to LPG, going direct electric, or fitting an air source heat pump. Each one carries a different exposure to price swings, a different contract shape and a different amount of day to day hassle. This guide sets out what separates them, including the cases where we would tell you to wait.
Key Takeaways
- Off-grid Devon homes choose between four options: oil, LPG, direct electric or an air source heat pump. They differ on price exposure, contract terms and running cost.
- Oil and LPG heating in Devon sit outside the Ofgem energy price cap, so their cost follows the fuel market with no regulated ceiling above it.
- Direct electric heating keeps a capped unit rate, but paying for every unit of heat makes it the most expensive of the four ways to stay warm off grid.
- A heat pump runs on the same capped electricity; Nesta put a typical medium-sized oil-heated home’s running-cost saving at over £650 a year, on April 2026 prices with the higher grant applied.
- Off-grid oil or LPG homes can get £9,000 towards an air source heat pump on applications made up to 31 March 2027, against £7,500 for other eligible homes.
- A young, well-kept oil boiler, or a house that needs insulation work first, can make staying on oil a while longer the honest call.
We are Eco Pro Renewables, the MCS-certified air-to-water specialist on Exeter Road in Exmouth. James Stalker, the owner, has worked on heat pumps since 2010 and also works as a freelance NAPIT MCS assessor, auditing other installers’ finished jobs, so he sees where oil-to-heat-pump switches go right and where they go wrong. This comparison is written from that seat, and it includes the honest answer for households where staying on oil, for now, is still the right call.
Off-Grid Heating in Devon: Why One Answer Doesn’t Fit Every Home
Devon has more homes off the gas grid than almost anywhere else in England, and the regional figures show how far it sits from the national picture.
Off the gas grid, out of every hundred households
24%
of households in the region are off the gas grid
15%
roughly, across Great Britain as a whole
Extra funding for the county was confirmed ‘because of the high number of homes dependent on heating oil, particularly in rural parts of the county.’
Source: House of Commons Library data on households off the gas grid.
That scale is why gas-boiler advice doesn’t transfer here. Each of the four options ahead draws on a different supply chain, carries a different exposure to price swings, and suits a different kind of household.
Feniton is a useful example of what off-grid means day to day: oil is the common fuel in and around the village, and in plenty of similar settlements nearby. Our Feniton heat pump installation page covers what a switch involves for homes there.
Heating Oil: The Familiar Choice, and Where It Leaves You Exposed
Heating oil is what the majority of off-grid Devon homes already run: familiar boiler technology, and a delivery lorry that can reach almost anywhere a Devon lane goes. That familiarity is also its weak point, because oil prices sit outside the Ofgem price cap entirely. Ofgem’s own guidance says heating oil prices ‘are not covered by the price cap but are set by fuel markets and can change quickly.’
A cold snap in Europe or a shipping disruption thousands of miles away can move the price you pay before your next delivery, and the tank in the garden brings demands of its own.
What the tank asks of you
A minimum order
Suppliers usually set one, often 500 litres or more, so you can’t top up a little at a time.
Ordering in a hurry
A small top-up ordered at short notice usually costs more per litre than a full tank booked ahead.
Running dry
No heating and no hot water until the next delivery slot, which can run days behind in a hard freeze.
Illustration of a domestic oil tank running low.
Oil remains a sensible choice for plenty of households, at least for now. What it lacks is the protection the price cap gives a mains gas or electricity bill.
LPG: The Same Price Exposure, With a Contract Attached
LPG works on the same principle as oil for a Devon property: a tank on site, topped up by a supplier, with no gas main involved anywhere near it. The same Ofgem guidance that leaves oil outside the price cap leaves LPG outside it too, so the market sets this price as well.
What an LPG supply agreement often contains
- Clause 1 · The tank Many suppliers own or lease the tank on your property, which ties you to them for the contract term.
- Clause 2 · The term Contracts often lock you in for a fixed term, so you can’t shop around at each delivery.
- Clause 3 · Leaving early Leaving after a price rise can mean an exit fee, though the price move wasn’t yours to control.
Read the renewal terms before the date arrives, and weigh a heat pump against that real number.
LPG sits outside the price-cap framework that protects gas and electricity customers, so a pricing or service complaint has less regulatory backing to draw on.
Direct Electric Heating: Inside the Price Cap, Expensive Per Unit
Some off-grid Devon properties skip oil and LPG altogether and heat with storage heaters or panel heaters running on mains electricity. Electricity sits inside the Ofgem price cap, so at least the unit rate is regulated instead of being left to a fuel market. That protection doesn’t make it cheap to run.
What direct electric gives, and what it costs
- A unit rate regulated by the Ofgem price cap
- No tank on site and no delivery lorry to wait for
- No contract to exit: switching supplier is ordinary tariff-switching
- Roughly one unit of heat for each unit of electricity it uses
- Nothing in the system to bring in extra warmth from outside
- The most expensive of the four to heat a whole house through winter
The upside is flexibility, and for a whole property heated on resistive electric alone it rarely makes up for the running cost.
Off-Grid Heat Pumps in Devon: Same Electricity Supply, Different Method
Illustration: the parts of an air-to-water heat pump, with the finned coil that takes heat from the outside air.
An air source heat pump draws on the same price-capped electricity supply as a panel heater. The difference is what the electricity does once it arrives: the unit moves existing heat out of the outside air and concentrates it inside the house, so it needs far less electricity to deliver the same warmth.
One supply, two ways to heat a room
Panel or storage heater
Roughly one unit in, one unit out
Air source heat pump
Far less electricity for the same warmth
Illustration: the bars show the method, not measured proportions from any one system.
Nesta, the innovation charity, put a figure on that for a household coming off oil: a typical medium-sized oil-heated home switching to a heat pump could save over £650 a year on running costs, based on oil prices and the price cap level in April 2026 with the higher grant applied. Treat that as an April 2026 snapshot: oil prices and tariffs both move, so your own number depends on checking current prices.
Every system James designs is sized to a room-by-room heat loss survey, and the survey decides the heat pump and cylinder; the Ideal Logic Air range with a pre-plumbed cylinder is the pairing we fit most often. See how we design an air source heat pump installation on the full process page. Sizing matters here because a wrongly sized unit erases the running-cost case before it’s even switched on.
The £9,000 Grant Route for Off-Grid Oil and LPG Homes in Devon
The grant arithmetic changes the case for a heat pump for homes switching off oil or LPG specifically, and the rate depends on what heats the property now.
What heats the property now?
Oil or LPG, off the gas grid
£9,000
On applications made up to 31 March 2027
Other eligible heating
£7,500
The standard rate, mains gas homes included
-
Who can apply The grant is for people who own the property, in England or Wales.
-
The paperwork Since April 2026 a valid EPC is no longer strictly required: a recent utility bill and photos of the existing system can stand in.
-
How it is paid We are MCS certified, so we apply for the grant and deduct it from your quote before an invoice is raised.
Eligibility depends on the property and your circumstances, so not every off-grid Devon home qualifies, and we confirm yours at the free home assessment. Our guide to the £9,000 grant for off-grid oil and LPG homes covers the eligibility rules in full.
When Sticking With Oil Is Still the Honest Answer
Not every off-grid Devon home should switch now, and we would rather say that plainly than push a system nobody needs yet. A relatively young, well-maintained oil boiler with years of service life left rarely earns its replacement cost back quickly enough to justify tearing it out early, grant or no grant.
Three signs that waiting makes sense
The boiler is young
Serviced regularly and under ten years old, it often has enough life left that waiting for its natural replacement point makes more sense.
The stay is short
The upfront cost needs a few winters to pay back even after the grant, so a short stay in the property changes the arithmetic.
Insulation first
A house that badly needs loft or wall work can get more value from that work than from an early heat pump switch.
The same room-by-room approach settles it either way, and James will tell you where a heat pump earns its keep in your house and where it doesn’t, yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both sit outside the Ofgem price cap, but LPG usually comes with a fixed-term supply contract tied to the supplier’s own tank, while oil is bought delivery by delivery with no contract to exit.
Book my free home assessmentNot if you’re on oil or LPG. Ofgem’s own guidance states that heating oil and LPG prices are set by fuel markets rather than the price cap. Electricity, including the electricity a heat pump runs on, is covered.
Book my free home assessmentYes, if you own the property and are replacing oil or LPG heating: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £9,000 on applications made up to 31 March 2027, against £7,500 for other eligible homes. The scheme covers England and Wales, and eligibility depends on the property, which we confirm at the free home assessment.
Book my free home assessmentIt sits inside the price cap, unlike oil or LPG, but a panel or storage heater converts electricity into heat directly with nothing to move extra warmth in from outside, so it tends to cost more to run than a heat pump on the same supply.
Book my free home assessmentNot automatically. A young, well-maintained boiler, a short remaining stay in the property, or a house needing insulation work first can all make waiting the more honest call. A room-by-room assessment settles it for your own case.
Book my free home assessmentIt depends on your tariff and the current oil price, so we won’t quote a blanket figure. Nesta’s April 2026 analysis, with the higher grant applied, put a typical medium-sized oil-heated home’s running-cost saving at over £650 a year; check current prices for your own numbers.
Book my free home assessmentGet a Straight Comparison for Your Own Property
Every off-grid Devon home carries a different mix of oil price history, LPG terms, insulation and roof space, so the right answer for yours may differ from your neighbour’s. At the free home assessment, James weighs your current fuel against the other three options for your property and gives you a fixed estimate on the spot if a heat pump is the right call.
Book my free home assessmentPrefer to talk it through first? Ring 01395 202030. James answers, and he is the person who will price the job.
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