energy performance certificate

---

 An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) evaluates a property's energy efficiency and provides a report that shows how much your bills might cost. This report takes into account factors such as insulation quality and recommends improvements to save you money. 

Have you ever heard of an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate)? It is a report that provides an energy efficiency rating and an environmental impact rating for a property. The report estimates the energy use, carbon dioxide emissions, lighting, heating and hot water per year, as well as the potential annual costs for each. This is incredibly useful if you're looking for a new home and want to make sure you're not going to face huge bills because of poor insulation.

The EPC report also offers suggestions for improving the energy efficiency rating and tells you how much these measures will cost to install and how much they will save you per year. If you're considering buying the property, you may be able to use this information as a negotiating point.

You can easily assess how energy efficient the property is by looking at the colour and grading. Some properties may have the potential to be much more energy efficient with only small changes, like replacing light bulbs with energy-efficient ones. However, bigger changes, like installing solar panels, may be costly or unwanted.

It's important to note that there is no obligation to make any changes suggested in the EPC report. The report is there to guide you and provide you with information. However, if you're a landlord and your property is below an ‘E’ rating, then you are legally required to improve it for the sake of your tenants.

Some properties, like old stone cottages, may struggle to be energy efficient due to the materials they were built with. In these cases, the property may already be as efficient as possible for its type of building.

 Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) provide a rating from A to G, with A being the most energy-efficient and G being the least. The certificate displays the current rating and the corresponding letter category. What's great about the EPC report is that it also shows the potential rating.   This means that the report evaluates how energy-efficient the property could become if the recommended changes in the report were implemented. A property that is more energy-efficient will generally have lower energy bills.   A report with a high energy efficiency rating is likely to have good insulation, double glazed windows, a covered boiler, and can be a great long-term investment. 

It is a legal requirement for anyone selling a property to have an up-to-date Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). EPCs typically expire every 10 years, so you should check whether you need to update it before putting your property on the market. You can easily find a Domestic Energy Assessor to do your EPC - https://www.gov.uk/get-new-energy-certificate.

Your EPC will be attached to your property listing when you put it on the market. However, you can use it to your advantage to enhance your property and make it more appealing to buyers. Make some changes, such as replacing your boiler cover, improving insulation thickness, or changing to energy-efficient lightbulbs, and then get a new rating for your EPC. This could be a real selling point for a future buyer.

 When you're in the market for a new property, an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) can provide valuable information to help you make an informed decision. It's a good indicator of how much you can expect to spend on bills and what improvements you can make to reduce them. However, it's important to remember that the report should be viewed in context. For example, if you're interested in buying a traditional stone cottage by the sea, it's likely that all properties of that type will have low EPC ratings due to their age and construction methods. 

 It's important for landlords to keep an up-to-date Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) when renting out a property or starting a new tenancy. EPCs usually expire after 10 years and must be renewed. Additionally, landlords must take into consideration the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) when renting out their property. The MEES require that a rented property cannot have an energy efficiency rating lower than an 'E'.