If you’re weighing up underfloor heating right now, you’re doing it against a very real backdrop: Ofgem’s default-tariff price cap for a typical dual-fuel household paying by Direct Debit was set at £1,755 per year for 1 October to 31 December 2025, following a 2% rise.
That doesn’t mean underfloor heating is a “luxury decision”. It means it’s worth choosing the type that fits your home and how you actually live in it, so comfort and running costs stay on speaking terms.
In this guide, we’ll walk through a simple cost lens (without pretending anyone can predict your exact bill), then look at why wet underfloor heating is often discussed alongside heat pumps, and finally zoom out to what’s happening nationally with low‑carbon heating support.
Pence, If You Please
Ofgem’s published Energy Price Cap rates (average across England, Scotland and Wales, including VAT, Direct Debit default tariff) list electricity at 26.35 pence per kWh and gas at 6.29 pence per kWh.
Those two numbers don’t tell you what your own home will cost to heat, but they do explain why “wet vs electric” is rarely a straight shoot-out. Electric underfloor heating can be wonderfully straightforward in the right space, because it turns electricity directly into heat at the floor. Wet underfloor heating is a different proposition: it’s a heat distribution system that relies on whatever heat source you connect to it, which could be a boiler today and something else later.
Ofgem stresses that what you actually pay depends on how much energy you use, where you live, and your meter type. So rather than chasing a single headline answer, it’s smarter to match the system to the job you need it to do.
Here’s a quick decision shortlist that keeps things practical (and keeps you away from regrettable, expensive “overkill”):
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How much floor area do you want to heat regularly: one room, a whole floor, or most of the house?
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Is this a light refresh (new floor covering) or a deeper project (floor build-up, screed, insulation upgrades)?
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Do you prefer quick “on-off” warmth, or steady background comfort that you largely stop thinking about?
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Are you planning a heat pump in the next few years, or keeping a boiler for the foreseeable future?
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Do you want room-by-room control (zoning) as part of the plan, or would simple controls suit you better?
A positive way to think about it is this: electric underfloor heating can be a brilliant comfort upgrade when you’re heating a modest area and want minimal plumbing disruption. Wet underfloor heating can be an equally brilliant comfort upgrade when you’re treating the floor as a whole-home heat emitter and you’re happy to design it properly.
Low-Temp and High Comfort
One of the most helpful things to understand about heating systems is that “hotter” isn’t automatically “better”. It’s just one way to move heat into a room.
The Heat Pump Association explains that gas boilers typically run at a high flow temperature of around 60–75°C, while heat pumps usually heat water to a lower temperature of around 35–45°C to maximise efficiency.
That single detail is the reason underfloor heating and heat pumps get mentioned in the same breath so often. A floor system has a large surface area, which means it can deliver comfortable heat to a room without needing scorching-hot water rushing through a small radiator.
There’s also a lifestyle angle here that people tend to appreciate once they’ve lived with it. The Heat Pump Association notes that boiler users often run heating in short bursts, whereas with heat pumps you’ll usually leave them running for longer periods to keep the home warm in a comfortable way. It’s not a rule. It’s a pattern.
That’s not a reason to be put off. It’s a reason to sequence your upgrades in a way that keeps the project manageable, for example insulation first, then emitters, then the heat source.
The Momentum You Can Measure
Underfloor heating decisions aren’t made in a vacuum. They sit inside a wider shift towards lower-carbon heating, and there’s hard data showing the direction of travel.
This matters for a wet underfloor heating conversation because BUS support is strongly associated with heat pumps, and heat pumps, in turn, tend to reward homes that can heat effectively at lower flow temperatures.
Funding signals matter too. Ofgem reports that demand outpaced the original £150 million budget for 2024 to 2025, and government increased it twice to £205 million by the end of the scheme year. Zoom in slightly and it gets even more relevant to Kent. The Ofgem report’s regional breakdown says South East England accounts for 20.0% of BUS installations since scheme launch.
