In today’s world where taking care of the environment is critical, being aware of your home’s energy efficiency is essential for both the environment and your savings. With the cost of energy continuing its upward pattern, the importance of your home’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating is crucial. This blog will take you through how to find your EPC rating, what it is, and more importantly, how you can boost it through government initiatives such as the ECO4 scheme, potentially saving you thousands on your bills.
At ECO Boiler Grants, we strive to assist UK residents through the often-complex procedure of energy efficiency enhancements. We’ve developed through knowledge and expertise of the ECO4 program, having enabled many homeowners to make their cold, inefficient homes into warm and healthy environments.
What is an EPC Rating?
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is a standard rating of the energy efficiency of a building. It rates buildings from A, being most efficient, to G, the least efficient, informing potential buyers or tenants exactly how energy-efficient a property is and how expensive it may be to operate.
EPCs came into the UK as part of the European legislation aimed at minimizing carbon emissions from buildings. An EPC has been part of law since 2008, recorded whenever a building is being built, sold, or rented out. The certificate lasts for 10 years from the date of issue.
Your EPC rating isn’t just a letter on a certificate-it has real implications! Properties with improved EPC ratings are likely to have lower energy bills. A switch from an EPC rating of G to E might save you hundreds of pounds a year.
It also helps increase property values. Studies indicate that properties with better EPC ratings can sell for more. Improving a property’s EPC from band G to E might increase its value by up to 6%. As mentioned, EPCs are important for the environment, as It helps homes know their efficiency, as higher-rated homes emit less carbon, which contributes to reducing climate change.
For landlords, there is a legal minimum EPC rating of E for rental properties. This minimum level is to increase to C for new tenancies by 2025 and all tenancies by 2028.
The EPC Scale
The EPC scale is from A to G, with A being the most energy-efficient rating and G being the least. Here’s what an EPC calculator rating will mean:
- A-B (92-100 points): Highly energy efficient, mostly recently constructed properties with good insulation, renewables, and high-efficiency boilers.
- C (69-91 points): Average energy efficiency, above UK average stock of housing.
- D (55-68 points): Average energy efficiency, typical of most UK homes.
- E (39-54 points): Worse than average, with lots of scope for improvement.
- F-G (1-38 points): Poor energy efficiency, high predicted energy bills and carbon footprint.
The typical UK domestic EPC rating is D, with the EPC points calculator giving you a more accurate reading, so there is big room for improvement in the majority of homes. We will cover steps you can take to improve your energy efficiency; you can also head to our blog section on how to make your home more energy efficient with minimal investment!
Now that we have answered how EPC is calculated, let’s check how you can find yours on the government’s register!
What Is My EPC Rating?
It is easy to perform an EPC rating check for your property with the help of the government’s online register. To find your EPC rating you can:
1) The first step would be to visit the official EPC register website. It is an EPC checker that serves properties in Wales, England, and Northern Ireland with Scotland having a separate register.
2) When you’re on the website, you will have to input your postcode for your property. This will lead you to a list of properties in your vicinity which have an active EPC. Choose your property from the list to see details of its EPC. The EPC rating bill calculator should give you an accurate reading at this point.
3) In case you’re struggling to locate your property, it is possible to narrow down your search by adding the house number or the name.
4) You can look at the EPC of your chosen property at no cost. The certificate gives you some useful information about the energy efficiency of your property, which includes its current and possible energy efficiency ratings, the estimated energy bills for the property, the outline of features linked to its energy performance and the improvement recommendations that will render your property more energy efficient. This simple EPC rating checker should allow you to have a better idea of where your property stands and the next steps you might need to take.
The EPC cost calculator, which is the price you might need to pay to have your EPC rating certificate if you don’t have any, will stand between £60-120.
What If My Property Does Not Have an EPC?
If you can’t see your property on the register, it may not have a valid EPC. The EPC calculator UK can only show you the results once a physical assessment has been made. This may be due to the fact that your property has not been built, sold or let since EPCs came in or the EPC having expired as they’re valid for 10 years or the address details being registered differently.
On these occasions, you will need to get a new EPC report. This will require the services of an accredited energy assessor coming to your home and inspecting it. The assessor will examine several aspects of your building, such as windows and doors, the wall, floor, and roof insulation levels, as well as heating systems and controls and lighting. If you are eligible for the ECO4 scheme you can get a free EPC rating when our assessors survey your home. Contact us or fill in our 1-minute form to learn more.
How to Read Your EPC Report
Now that you have obtained your EPC, you will need to interpret what the report states. A standard EPC report will have a number of sections, which will be divided as follows:
Energy Efficiency Rating
The headline with your score, having your property’s grade on the A-G scale. The report displays both your existing grade and an achievable grade that could be obtained if improvements were carried out as recommended.
Environmental Impact Rating
This is similar to the energy efficiency score and indicates your home’s environmental impact in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, once more on an A-G scale.
Estimated Energy Costs
This page gives an estimate of your property’s heating, lighting, and hot water bills over three years, and indicates the possible savings you can achieve by implementing the suggested improvements.
Recommendations for Improvement
The report’s highlight, perhaps, is this one, which sets out specific measures that could make your home more energy efficient. These are usually listed in order of cost-effectiveness and may include improvement to insulation (loft, cavity wall, solid wall), improvement to heating systems, recommended renewable energy technology (solar panels, heat pumps), draught-proofing, energy-efficient lighting. Each recommendation has an approximate cost and the anticipated saving on fuel bills. With the ECO4 scheme, you can have these recommendations for free or heavily funded!
Property Summary
This section provides information on the construction and energy qualities of your home, including your property type (detached, semi-detached, flat, etc.), wall construction and insulation, roof type and insulation, and heating system and controls.
Having these facts will enable you to determine where in your house most of the energy is being wasted and where your house will benefit most from upgrading.
The ECO4 Scheme: Your Door To Energy Efficiency
The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is a government-designed scheme aimed at cutting carbon emissions and fuel poverty. The most recent version, ECO4, operates from April 2022 to March 2026 and offers £4 billion of funding for energy efficiency upgrades in low-income homes.
The scheme imposes a duty on large and medium energy suppliers, like ECO Boiler Grants, to encourage action for energy efficiency. The scheme aims at tackling fuel poverty by assisting low-income and vulnerable households to make their home more energy efficient.
Under ECO4, energy suppliers are required to provide energy efficiency and heating upgrades to qualifying homes throughout the UK. This scheme is unique as it takes a whole house approach, in which all the elements of a property’s energy performance are considered, and not just individual measures. If you are eligible for a new A-rated boiler, you can have insulation and new radiators if your home requires it to help improve its overall EPC rating.
If you are a homeowner on qualifying benefits, there is a big chance you qualify for the ECO4 scheme, fill in our form and check your eligibility for free!
Why Use ECO Boiler Grants for Your ECO4 Upgrades
Understanding how best to use government schemes can be tiresome and complicated to many, and that is why selecting the right partner is important. ECO Boiler Grants continues to stand as one of the best options for UK residents who need to enhance the energy efficiency of their homes!
We deal in energy efficiency upgrades as part of projects such as ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS). Our teams are utilizing vast levels of experience and expertise on every project:
We understand the workings of the ECO4 scheme and how to get the most for our customers. Our installers and surveyors are completely trained and certified so that all work is of the absolute highest quality. We also handle the process from the first evaluation to final installation and follow-up, so it’s convenient for homeowners. We only fit high-quality, dependable products from well-established manufacturers such as Worcester Bosch. Find out if you are eligible today and discover how ECO Boiler Grants can make your home more energy efficient.
