Energy Performance Certificates
Anyone wishing to sell a property with three bedrooms or more must now, before marketing the property, prepare a Home Information Pack (“HIP”). One of the essential components of a HIP is the Energy Performance Certificate (“EPC”). As its name would suggest, an EPC is a measure of the property’s overall energy efficiency and its environmental impact, calculated in accordance with a national methodology that takes into account factors such as insulation, heating and hot water systems, ventilation and fuels used.
The energy efficiency rating is a measure of the overall efficiency of the property. It is illustrated in the EPC in the form of a bar chart where the energy efficiency is measured on a scale of 1-100, where 100 is very energy efficient (low running costs) and 1 is not energy efficient (high running costs). The environmental impact rating is a measure of the property’s impact on the environment in terms of its carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide is thought to be one of the largest contributors to global warming. The energy we use for heating lighting and power in homes produces over a quarter of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions. The environmental impact rating is again shown in bar chart format; the higher the rating the less impact the property has on the environment.
Each bar chart shows a current rating and a potential rating, namely the rating that could be achieved if the measures recommended in the EPC to improve the home energy performance were to be implemented. These measures would normally include the installation of cavity wall roof and floor insulation, double glazing, replacement of standard light bulbs with energy saving bulbs, fitting thermostatic valves on all radiators (to allow the temperature in each room to be individually controlled), and the installation of a band A condensing boiler.
While one would not dispute that the EPC serves a useful purpose, one must question why the government has placed such significance on it, insisting that it is one of the essential components of a HIP. Surely a prospective buyer, when viewing a property, will be able to see for himself the extent of any insulation, double glazing, radiator fitments etc. He could hardly miss solar panelling! Furthermore is it likely that a buyer, having at last found a property that he wants, will decide not to buy that property simply because it has a poor energy performance rating? Hardly!
Does the government therefore have some form of secret agenda? Some cynics are of the opinion that one of the driving forces for its inclusion in a HIP is compliance with the EU directive requiring all properties to have EPC’s. Furthermore it is rumoured that in the future EPC’s will be used to determine the level of Council tax that properties should pay ie the poorer a homes energy performance the higher the level of Council tax.
So are we to conclude that an EPC is really a “wolf dressed up in sheep’s clothing”? Only time will tell.
Paul Grindrod
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