What is domestic energy performance certificate

You may have inherited your Domestic Energy Performance Certificate from a previous owner, or perhaps you have recently commissioned your own, but now you have it – what does it actually mean?

The domestic EPC was first introduced in England and Wales back in August 2007 and later, in October 2008 made a requirement for rental properties. The initiative behind the scheme was to summarise the energy efficiency of residential and commercial buildings within the European Union.

Understanding your Domestic Energy Performance Certificate

The domestic EPC is packed full of useful information that can help you understand how efficient your property currently is but also what the potential of the property is and what savings you could make with some improvements.

What does energy cost mean

This chart is designed to give you an idea of your current energy and future energy costs for lighting, heating, and hot water. The information you get from the domestic EPC is based on what the average household usage would be for that individual property and is accompanied by the potential savings that could be made over a three year period.

Explaining the energy efficiency rating of your domestic EPC

The graph may well look familiar to you already – the reason is that it uses the same format as the stickers you will find when you are looking to buy a new television or refrigerator. The rating on the left, current, indicates the current energy efficiency of the property with the second rating, potential, indicating the potential rating of the property when the recommendation actions are undertaken. The rating of the property is graded from Grade A-G and also given a score from 0-100 – the higher the rating, the lower your energy bills are likely to be.

What are the energy performance features

This graph details all of the elements that are inspected during the assessment and gives each element and energy efficiency rating out of five. The elements that are checked are as follows; walls, roof, floor, windows, main heating, main heating controls, secondary heating, hot water, and lighting.

Recommendations about your EPC and how to conduct it

Arguably, one of the most valuable parts of the domestic energy performance certificate in the Recommendations section. Your Energy Assessor will list the measures that can be taken in order to improve your rating and in turn, reduce your bills. Any recommended measures will be listed, along with the indicative cost to make the changes, the typical yearly savings the changes will make, along with the change it will make to your rating. The recommendation report will be particularly useful to those looking to make necessary improvements in order to meet current MEES legislation.

What is the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES)

As of April 2018, the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards legislation came into force in England and Wales. MEES are now a legal requirement for all privately owned properties and state that to have an EPC rating of at least an ‘E’ before they are let. In April 2020, MEES was extended further to include the existing lettings of residential property. From April 2023 the legislation will be applicable to existing lettings of commercial property as well.

Environmental Impact Rating

Your domestic EPC also gives a rating on your property impact on the environment in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Again, this rating gives both the current rating as well as a potential one, rated from A-G. The higher the rating, the less impact that property has on the environment. Carbon dioxide is one of the main contributing factors to global warming so by implementing the recommended measures you can not only save money but also help reduce your carbon footprint.

Further information about the energy performance certificate

The final page of the EPC will list the details of the energy assessor who carried out the inspection, their accreditation number, phone number, and email address. If you have any questions or queries on your certificate then you can contact them to discuss the findings in more detail.