Services/Energy Performance Certificate
Background
Environmentally and financially energy efficiency in the home is important for both vendors and potential buyers of homes. Crucially, the UK government have recognized the part the home can play in cutting carbon emissions and tackling climate change and have introduced mandatory energy performance tests for homes that are potentially due to be sold. This means that the current owner of a house will need to demonstrate, through appropriate testing and certification, that their home is adequately energy efficient in line with the standards set by the government.
Procedure
Essentially, the purpose of issuing an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is to record the current energy efficiency of your home and compare it to a value for energy efficiency which you as a home owner should be aiming for. This value will be calculated by one of our energy assessors.
Once a certificate(s) is commissioned by the seller of a home (or their agent), we will allocate the work to one of our accredited Energy Assessors, who will visit the property to collect the relevant data and create the certificate.
We would typically collate a full set of comprehensive data which would normally for example include information related to the dimensions, construction, heating and hot water provision of your property. Once data gathering is complete we would then enter the information into an approved software programme which will in turn produce your EPC.
Outcome
The EPC presented to you will be in two sections.
The first section of the certificate will illustrate a benchmarked measure of your homes energy performance on a scale A to G; A represents a very energy efficient home and G a very poor energy efficient ranking. This section also tells you, again on a scale of A-G, about the impact your home has on the environment. Better-rated homes should have less impact through carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The average property in the UK is in bands D-E for both ratings.
The second section of the certificate details recommendations for improving the cost effective energy performance of your home and energy efficient behaviour as well as information on renewable energy use. For example, we would document
a) current average costs for heating, hot water and lighting as well as
b) suggestions as to how to cut costs by implementing appropriate energy saving measures (e.g. thicker loft insulation, introducing double glazing or use of solar panels).
