The Energy Performance Certificate

As a requirement of the housing act 2004, it is now a legal requirement that, prior to placing a home on the market for sale, the person responsible for its marketing must make available a Home Information Pack for potential buyers. 

One of the documents required to be included in the pack is an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).  This certificate is produced following an assessment by a qualified Home Inspector or Domestic Energy Assessor, who is registered with a government approved accreditation scheme.

The EPC has been introduced as a result of a European environmental policy initiative to formulate further policies to reduce carbon emissions from buildings and slow down global warming.

The building’s energy efficiency is presented as two ratings charts, similar to the A to G ratings given to domestic appliances, one chart is for energy efficiency and one for carbon emissions.  The closer to an A rating, the ‘greener’ and more economical the home.

The EPC is a computer-aided assessment of a building’s energy efficiency, generated using a version of the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), which allows direct comparison between houses in terms of likely utility bills, and running costs.

Suggestions to increase the thermal efficiencies of the building and reduce carbon emissions are made automatically within the EPC, giving potential money saving advice.  These are purely recommendations but ideal for illustrating what measures and improvements could be made to the greatest affect.

During the assessment it is very important in order to generate an accurate report that our assessor has information and unrestricted access to the following areas if applicable to the property:

• All storeys of the property
• Roof void
• Main heating boiler
• Any secondary forms of heating
• Gas meter   
• Electricity Meter
• Programmer for heating
• Hot water cylinder
• Room thermostats

For most properties the inspection will take around 1 hour, large or complex properties are likely to take longer.  Because of the need to undertake an external inspection of the property and to take photographic evidence, it is necessary that the inspection must be completed during daylight hours.