A new report from the Building Research Establishment (BRE) has called for energy performance certificate reform to speed up the decarbonisation of the UK’s built environment
The report – Energy Performance Certificates: Enabling the Home Energy Transition – outlines how EPCs for existing homes need reform to make them more useful for homeowners.
Currently, EPCs have a ten-year lifespan, meaning that a certificate provided when a home is sold or rented may be up to a decade old. The report argues that an EPC should be valid for five years to provide more up-to-date advice and information for homeowners.
40% of homes do not have an EPC
Often these are the least energy efficient homes which have not been recently improved or changed hands. Official development of a provisional EPC rating for these homes could help local authorities and homeowners to identify retrofit opportunities and plan grants and support.
In 2022 just 5% of people had used the advice on the certificate to improve their home. By making this advice easier to use, the EPC can become a much more widely used and trusted tool, particularly as millions of households transition to low carbon heating over the next decade.
Changes proposed in the report include:
- Whilst still respecting privacy and data protection, Government should enable more of the detailed data collected to produce an EPC to be used to plan retrofit efforts
- A review and strengthening of the training and continuous professional development requirements for domestic energy assessors, to build trust and confidence in the system
- Revising the EPC rating metrics beyond the cost to heat and light the home, including a stable mesure of energy efficiency
Targeted EPC reform will enable the UK to meet net zero targets
Gillian Charlesworth, chief executive of the Building Research Establishment (BRE), said:
“Energy Performance Certificates cover 60% of UK homes and are a key source of information used in planning retrofit programmes and in government policies. But too often home buyers and sellers see the certificates as just a bureaucratic necessity.
“With targeted reforms, the government can ensure the EPC can really achieve its potential, as a trusted starting point for advice and information on how we can all make our homes better.
“The transition to clean energy in homes is starting to gather pace; the last few months have seen an upsurge in interest in installing heat pumps. Whether it’s clean heat, upgrading insulation, solar panels or other modern energy technologies, reforms to the EPC to make it more up-to-date, accurate and usable will be key to supporting homeowners play their part in the journey to net zero.
“We urge policymakers to read this report and consider its recommendations as a way of driving the decarbonisation of the UK’s domestic building stock.”
