EDF vs E.ON Next heat pump installation: £3,999 against £4,286.16

Quick answer: EDF advertises heat pumps from £3,999 after the government grant. E.ON Next publishes £4,286.16 for a typical two-bed and names the model. But EDF’s lower number assumes you already own a suitable hot water cylinder and are keeping it. On a combi, you aren’t. So E.ON’s is the more reliable starting point.

We haven’t had either company install anything. This comes from EDF’s and E.ON Next’s own published pages, gov.uk and Ofgem scheme rules, and third-party review data, checked on 27 July 2026. We have no commercial relationship with EDF or E.ON Next and earn nothing from either.

The two headline prices, and the small print under them

EDF: prices start from £3,999 after the government grant. The qualifier sits directly under it. That figure assumes reuse of a suitable existing hot water cylinder, and homes requiring a new cylinder will have an additional cost. EDF’s cost page puts the whole range at £3,999 to over £10,000, again after the grant. The same pages set out what a reusable cylinder means: modern unvented stainless steel, vertically oriented, under 10 years old and properly maintained. (edfenergy.com air source heat pump and heat pump cost pages, checked 27 July 2026)

E.ON Next: air source heat pumps for a typical two-bed property start from £4,286.16. It goes further than most and names the units. A Worcester Bosch Compress 2000 AWF is listed at £4,286.16 and a Vaillant aroTHERM Plus at £4,851.12, both shown for existing customers, both after the £7,500 grant and a £200 existing customer discount have come off. (eonnext.com, checked 27 July 2026)

Add the £7,500 grant back and E.ON’s pre-grant figures are roughly £11,786 and £12,351. Add the £200 back too, because you only get it if you already buy your energy from them, and a new customer is looking at about £11,986 and £12,551. Normal numbers for a small install. EDF’s £3,999 implies about £11,499 pre-grant, which is also normal, for a house that already has the cylinder.

Side by side

Sources: edfenergy.com air source heat pump and heat pump cost pages; eonnext.com air source heat pump buy page; Selectra supplier review pages for EDF (updated April 2026) and E.ON Next (updated May 2026). All checked 27 July 2026.

The cylinder assumption is doing all the work

If you have a combi boiler you have no hot water cylinder. A heat pump needs one. So EDF’s £3,999 does not describe your house.

Where it does apply: an older system-boiler or regular-boiler home with a cylinder that meets the conditions EDF publishes, and with a coil big enough for heat pump flow temperatures. That last condition catches a lot of people out. A cylinder sized for a 70°C boiler often has too small a coil to reheat efficiently from a 50°C heat pump, so the surveyor may condemn it even though it works fine today. Ask that question on the phone before you book anything.

And EDF is upfront about the caveat, which is more than some manage. It’s still the caveat that produces the number.

Warranty: E.ON wins this on paper

E.ON Next publishes three separate promises. Seven years on the product, two on the workmanship, five on performance, with the warranty described as HIES backed. Naming the backing body matters, because it means the cover is meant to survive the installer.

EDF publishes five years manufacturer cover on Ideal units and up to seven on Daikin, plus a promotion offering seven years free warranty and servicing on selected models. The servicing is the part worth reading twice. An annual service is normally a condition of keeping a manufacturer warranty valid, so servicing thrown in is real money rather than a sweetener. Ask what it costs once the free period ends, and get that number in writing. You’ll be paying it every year for the rest of the unit’s life.

Where they differ on customer service

EDF sits higher on the Citizens Advice supplier league table (4.0 out of 5, third) than E.ON Next (3.5, eighth), and carries Which? Trusted Trader status on its heat pump pages. Trustpilot separates them by a tenth of a point, which is inside the noise.

Those ratings measure the energy supply business, not the installation arm. They’re a reasonable proxy for whether someone answers the phone in year three, and a poor proxy for whether the design is any good. For that, read the quote. Our guide to TrustMark, MCS and PAS 2030 approval sets out what the accreditations do and don’t cover.

Which we would pick

Combi house, no cylinder: E.ON Next. You get a named model, a published price to the penny, seven years on the box and two on the labour. EDF’s headline doesn’t survive contact with a property that needs a cylinder, and once you add one the two land in the same place with less transparency about what you’re getting.

System-boiler house with a sound, correctly sized cylinder you can keep: EDF, and take the seven years of free servicing if the promotion is still live on the day you sign. Check it on the day, not the week before.

Either way, get a third quote from an MCS certified local firm before you commit. Our 2026 heat pump cost breakdown and the cost calculator will tell you whether the number in front of you is normal for your property, and how to choose an MCS certified installer covers the checks worth doing on all three.

FAQs

Is £4,286.16 available to everyone?

No. Those figures are for existing customers and include a £200 existing customer discount. Ask directly what the price is if you buy your energy elsewhere, and get the answer before the survey.

Do either of these prices include radiator upgrades?

Neither published figure commits to radiator work. It’s settled at survey and it’s the single most common reason a quote comes back higher than the advert.

Worcester Bosch or Vaillant, if E.ON is quoting both?

E.ON’s own price gap is £564.96. Ask for the MCS performance estimate for each unit in your property, at your design flow temperature, before you decide whether that gap buys you anything.