The Purpose of an EPC
Whats the Point of an EPC
What is the Point of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ?
Energy Performance Certificates are a requirement by law when any Building is for sale or for rent. A EPC should be carried out on the property before it is placed on the market.
You may feel that the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates is just another idea that the Government have come up with to extract a bit more money from us!
What ever your opinions of global warming and the climate are - you must want to reduce your heating and lighting bills? If someone offered to give you between £70-300 a year - would you say NO ?
The EPC is designed to demonstrate the energy efficiency of your building and supply you with ways to reduce your energy bills.
As fuel prices rise at what appears to be a daily rate, saving on the amount of electricity, Gas, Oil or LPG (or any other fuel you might use) is surely a good idea.
The EPC software calculates the energy requirements for each property, based on the information gathered by the Energy Assessor from the site inspection. The software then calculates the energy required to heat, light and supply hot water to your building along with the thermal values of such property. The Certificate produced shows the running costs and environmental impact of the property as a rating (similar to those found on domestic appliances). The Certificate shows present and predicted ratings. The predicted ratings are based upon the recommendations listed on the EPC being implemented.
There are many ways to reduce your energy bills, be it through simple inexpensive methods such as installing extra insulation, draught proofing, changing light bulbs to more energy efficient ones - to more expensive methods such as replacing your boiler to condensing boiler or considering renewable technology such as solar panels for electricity and hot water, heat pumps or biomass boilers. The government is introducing further financial incentives (to match the feed in tariff for PV panels) these are RHI's which will be payable as an allowance when these technologies are installed. There are many new technologies on the market to many to be mentioned here - we are able to undertake an energy survey on your building and then advise you on what is available and suitable for you.
An EPC informs you as the purchaser or prospective tenant of how energy efficient the Building is and gives you an idea of its annual running costs - valuable advice!