Properties without a gas meter
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero estimates, for every local authority, the share of domestic properties with no gas meter. For 2024:
| Council area | No gas meter |
|---|---|
| Cheshire East | 11.55% |
| Cheshire West and Chester | 10.76% |
| Warrington | 5.32% |
The two Cheshire councils sit above one property in ten; Warrington, which is more urban and almost all on the gas network, is about half that.
How off-gas households heated their homes in 2021
| Area | Oil | Tank or bottled gas | Electric | Solid fuel or wood |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheshire East | 7,441 (4.3%) | 3,006 (1.7%) | 9,714 (5.6%) | 635 |
| Cheshire West and Chester | 5,505 (3.5%) | 2,256 (1.5%) | 8,763 (5.6%) | 459 |
| Warrington | 417 (0.5%) | 471 (0.5%) | 4,768 (5.3%) | 88 |
Oil stands out. It heated 4.3% of Cheshire East households and 3.5% in Cheshire West and Chester, against 3.5% across England and Wales; in Warrington it was 0.5%. Electric heating was a similar share in all three areas, a little over one household in twenty.
Why the two figures differ
The DESNZ estimate counts meters on properties in 2024; the census asked households how they were heated in March 2021. A property can have a gas meter for a cooker while oil heats it, or have no meter and be empty. Read together they tell the same story: in the two Cheshire councils, a sizeable minority of homes rely on oil, LPG or electricity, and many of them are rural.
What off-gas means for grants
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme's higher band, £9,000 until 31 March 2027, uses a precise definition. Ofgem's guidance says an off-gas-grid property is not fuelled by mains gas, has no record of an existing gas meter point, is not attached to a heat network and is not a new build; a capped or clamped supply meter point still counts as mains gas. The home must also be heated by oil or LPG. The oil and LPG page has the full conditions.
Who these homes are
Off-gas homes in Cheshire are a mix: farmhouses and cottages beyond the gas main, villages on oil or LPG, electrically heated flats in towns, and park homes. 1,931 households across the three areas lived in a caravan or other mobile structure in 2021. Each group has a different route to a heat pump, which the route finder sorts out from five questions.
Electric heating off the gas grid
Not every off-gas home burns a delivered fuel. 9,714 Cheshire East households, 8,763 in Cheshire West and Chester and 4,768 in Warrington relied on electric heating alone in 2021, including storage heaters, panel heaters and electric boilers. For these homes the higher grant band does not apply, because it is for oil and LPG, but the standard band does, and a heat pump usually reduces the electricity needed for the same warmth. Where the home is rated EPC D to G and the household meets an income test, the consortium's Warm Homes: Local Grant lists both heat pumps and high heat retention storage heaters among its measures.
The numbers page brings these figures together with the grant and housing data for all three areas.
The three areas in order
Put the two measures together and the three areas fall into a clear order. Cheshire East has the highest off-gas share (11.55%) and the most oil-only households (7,441); Cheshire West and Chester follows (10.76%, 5,505); Warrington, at 5.32%, has only 888 households on oil or LPG alone. The higher grant band therefore matters most in the two Cheshire councils.