Quick answer: Infrared heating panels cost a modelled UK average of £600 installed in July 2026 — the smallest ticket in our index, with a typical range of £390 to £930. We don’t publish a saving or payback for them: infrared runs on electricity at 3.3 times the price of gas per kWh this quarter, and the Energy Saving Trust says little research confirms savings against other electric heaters.
Infrared is the outlier in our UK Home Energy Cost Index: cheap to buy, expensive per unit of heat, and highly sensitive to how you use it. The statistics below reflect that — and our infrared heating guide explains when the sums do and do not work.
Key infrared heating statistics for 2026
- A typical infrared heating panel installation costs a modelled UK average of £600 — Home Energy Quotes Cost Index, July 2026 (modelled).
- Typical installations range from £390 to £930 depending on panel size and wiring — Home Energy Quotes Cost Index, July 2026 (modelled).
- Infrared panels are the cheapest upgrade in our eight-product index — Home Energy Quotes Cost Index, July 2026 (modelled).
- London installations average a modelled £720; Northern Ireland £552 — Home Energy Quotes Cost Index, July 2026 (modelled).
- The full regional spread is £168 — small in cash terms, but still 30% top to bottom — Home Energy Quotes Cost Index, July 2026 (modelled).
- North West and Yorkshire installations both average £570 — Home Energy Quotes Cost Index, July 2026 (modelled).
- We don’t model a saving for infrared panels: no official source gives one, and against gas central heating they cost more to run — Energy Saving Trust, checked September 2026.
- A 600W panel run for one hour costs about 16p at the current cap rate (600W × 26.32p/kWh) — Home Energy Quotes Cost Index, July 2026 (modelled).
- Infrared runs on electricity at 26.32p/kWh under the October–December 2026 Ofgem price cap — more than three times the 7.97p/kWh gas rate per unit.
- Infrared panels are not covered by the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which funds heat pumps only — GOV.UK, checked July 2026.
- Infrared panels are not on the 0% VAT list, which covers solar, batteries, heat pumps and insulation — GOV.UK, checked July 2026.
Infrared panel costs by UK region
Installation is a modest electrical job, so regional differences are small in cash terms. The modelled averages for all 12 regions are below.
| Region | Modelled average installed cost | vs UK average |
|---|---|---|
| UK average | £600 | — |
| London | £720 | +20% |
| South East | £672 | +12% |
| East of England | £636 | +6% |
| South West | £630 | +5% |
| West Midlands | £588 | −2% |
| East Midlands | £582 | −3% |
| Scotland | £576 | −4% |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | £570 | −5% |
| North West | £570 | −5% |
| Wales | £564 | −6% |
| North East | £558 | −7% |
| Northern Ireland | £552 | −8% |
All modelled figures on this page come from the Home Energy Quotes Cost Index — our July 2026 estimates built from national installed-price baselines and regional labour indices, not quotes for your specific home. Real infrared heating prices vary with property type, spec and installer, so treat these as a starting point and read how we calculate costs for the full method and its limitations.
Running costs and the grant gap
Be clear-eyed about the economics: electricity costs 26.32p/kWh against 7.97p/kWh for gas this quarter, so infrared only saves money when it lets you avoid heating unused space — a home office instead of a whole house, for example. Every kilowatt-hour counts here. No grant applies: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers heat pumps only, and infrared misses the 0% VAT list too. See every grant still open in 2026 for what you can claim instead.
If you are choosing between infrared and a heat pump for a specific space, compare both in the savings calculator.
Download the dataset
The full Cost Index (9 upgrades × 12 UK regions: installed costs July 2026, savings at the October to December 2026 price cap) as CSV: gre-cost-index.csv. Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0) — please credit Home Energy Quotes and link the methodology. Figures are modelled estimates, not quotes.