Energy Performance Certificate – EPC

    People are sometimes surprised how much difference a good EPC rating can make to your household bills. Although not every bill is reflected in the EPC rating (which only looks at the home’s energy costs), for many people the majority of their monthly bills are for providing heating, hot water and electricity for lighting – exactly the costs which the EPC rates on an A to G scale.

    ERPHILLY CARDIFF NEWPORTEnergy Performance CertificationIn a brand new home (where the EPC rating could be as high as B) the heating costs will be low and other bills will usually dominate, but this isn’t normally the case for an older home. In a home with an EPC rating of perhaps F or G, the heating bills will be the biggest drain on your monthly budget, unless you choose to accept lower levels of comfort (cooler temperatures, shorter heating times); and who doesn’t want to be comfortable in their new home?

    The EPC will tell you whether you will be able to live comfortably, or have to settle for wearing woolly jumpers indoors to bring your fuel bills down.

    An EPC contains:

    information about a property’s energy use and typical energy costs
    recommendations about how to reduce energy use and save money
    An EPC gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years.

    Check how you could make your home more energy efficient using the EPC adviser.

    How to get an EPC

    You’ll need to find an accredited assessor if you’re selling or renting out your home in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Scotland.

    They’ll assess your property and produce the certificate.

    You can be fined if you don’t get an EPC when you need one.

    The person selling the house, the landlord or the letting agent must show you the EPC if you’re buying or renting.

    Buildings that don’t need an EPC
    These include:
    • Places of worship
    • Temporary buildings that will be used for less than 2 years
    • Stand-alone buildings with total useful floor space of less than 50 square metres
    • Industrial sites, workshops and non-residential agricultural buildings that don’t use a lot of energy
    • Some buildings that are due to be demolished
    • Holiday accommodation that’s rented out for less than 4 months a year or is let under a licence to
    • Occupy
    • listed buildings – you should get advice from your local authority conservation officer if the work
    • Would alter the building’s character
    • Residential buildings intended to be used less than 4 months a year

    See other properties’ EPCs

    You can look at the EPCs of other properties free of charge. This lets you compare your home’s energy performance with that of similar homes. You can search by the property’s address or by the EPC’s report reference number.

    You can opt out of the EPC register if you don’t want other people to be able to see your EPC.

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