What is a Domestic Energy Performance Certificate?

An Energy Performance Certificate, commonly known as an EPC, is a document that indicates the relative fuel efficiency of your property. You will probably already have seen forms of Energy Performance Certificates when you have been buying white household goods, such as fridges and washing machines. The relative energy efficiency of these goods is indicated by a colour coded sticker. Briefly, here’s what you’ll find in the Report’s several sections:

The EPC will be issued after an inspection, typically lasting an hour, by a qualified Home Inspector or Domestic Energy Assessor. The certificate will contain the following information:

• Details of your property, its address, date of report and property size in square metres;

• A table with headline performance ratings calculated in terms of the average energy use per square metre of floor area, and its "environmental impact" based on carbon dioxide (C02) emissions;

• A table providing indicative costs to light, heat and provide hot water, making standard assumptions about occupancy, heating patterns and the location of the property. This will make any one property easy to compare with another. Energy use will include the energy used in the home and the energy it takes to deliver the fuel to your home. Service or maintenance costs for energy devices are not included.

• A summary of the property's energy performance features, with walls, roofs, floors, windows, heating systems, hot water systems and lighting rated as very poor, poor, average, good or very good.

• Recommended measures to improve the home's performance ratings. These may typically include putting a 160mm jacket on the hot water cylinder, upgrading loft insulation to the recommended 250mm thickness, fully filling wall cavities with fibre, or installing a more energy-efficient boiler. It will not state the cost of these improvements - which will vary according to the cost of local labour and the materials used - but it will contain estimated annual cost savings.

What is the benefit of having an EPC?

The EPC is a main component of the Home Information Pack, which in turn is a compulsory element of home sales. These can be bought through estate agents, but can be cheaper when bought through independent suppliers.

An EPC will measure overall energy efficiency using specialist software, which takes account of the size of the property, its structure, insulation, heating, hot water, lighting, ventilation, the number of windows and the type and quantity of fuel used. Not all of us use our homes in the same way so to allow direct comparisons, energy ratings will be calculated using "standard occupancy" assumptions. This will assume that during winter the home is heated for nine hours each weekday and 16 hours each weekend day, with the living room at 21C and the rest of the house at 18C.

How can Bladen Consulting help you?

We have qualified Domestic Energy Assessors that can produce you an Energy Performance Certificate. We pride ourselves on delivering quality reports in a timely manner. If you have a need for an EPC and would like to discuss your requirement in more detail please call our customer advisor on 07771 811994.