An Energy Performance Certificate, or EPC, is a certificate that gives home owners, tenants, and buyers details regarding the efficiency of a home or property. The main section of Energy Performance Certificates awards properties a grade from A to G that indicates how efficient that property is in regards to its energy and carbon emissions. A grade properties are the most energy efficient using wasting between 0% and 8% of the energy inside. In contrast, a G grade property is the least efficient and wastes 80% or more energy.
Your Legal Obligations
Energy Performance Certificates are a legal requirement when a building is first constructed and also when a property is put of for sale or to rent. It is the obligation of the home owner or landlord to acquire the EPC. Once you have an Energy Performance Certificate for a home that is being put up for sale it remains valid for a period of three years and once this period lapses you will need to get another, valid certificate.
Ways To Improve The Efficiency Of Your Home
One of the great benefits of Energy Performance Certificates, certainly in the eyes of the tenant or home buyer, is that all properties are assessed using the same criteria and the grades are calculated using the same figures. This means that you can use Energy Performance Certificates to compare one property’s energy performance to another.
Potential Improvement Details
Another feature of EPCs is that they contain a list of potential improvements that could be made to the property. For example, where new double glazing or loft insulation would prevent heat loss, this information would be found in the suggested improvements. Along with specific recommendations, the certificate also offers an approximate cost of the work involved as well as the projected annual savings that the improvements would make.
Energy Performance Certificates For Home Owners
The information provided in Energy Performance Certificates is not only designed to give home buyers and tenants a method to determine how energy efficient a property is but to help the property owner. Any home or property owner can get an EPC and then use the information it provides to potentially help improve energy efficiency, reduce heating and energy costs, improve climate conditions within the home, and cut carbon emissions.
How To Get An EPC
A valid EPC must be obtained through a certified Domestic Energy Assessor. They will complete a full survey of the property in order to grade the property and give their recommendations. The information (including the size and dimensions of the property and information pertaining to water and space heating systems) gathered by the Energy Assessor is then input into government approved software that calculates the energy efficiency of the home.
Considering An EPC
Energy Performance Certificates are a legal obligation for anybody looking to sell or rent their property but they do provide genuinely useful and beneficial information to any tenant or home owner. Currently, the average grade awarded to properties has been a D grade which means that the average property is only 55% to 68% energy and carbon emission efficient. Improving your property has many benefits and they can all be gained by following the guidelines found in an Energy Performance Certificate.
Lisa Ord is a qualified Domestic and Commercial Energy Performance Assessor covering the area’s surrounding and including Newcastle, Tyne and Wear.
