Home information pack Hips avoid it legally or diy.

The EU Directive requires that a valid energy performance certificate, be produced for all dwellings at the time of sale by 2009.

Which means in reality that Homeowners will have a certificate, yet do next to nothing to improve there levels of insulation, it will just be one of those bits of paper stuffed in a drawer.

So in a country of 21 million homes, and with only 1,5 million homes sold each year the majority of homes will not have one or need one.

Landlords need a certificate once every 10 years, but again will do nothing to improve there homes energy saving…

So all this talk of  the Epc reducing carbon emissions  is just that talk and hot air…

Ok lets look at this much vaulted energy performance certificate,  everything is scored out of 100. So an A rated home 90 to 100 is the most energy efficient, but not necessarily the most co2 friendly. Bit of an OXYMORON.

1. Improvements to the energy efficiency and environmental impact ratings will usually be in step with each other. However, they can sometimes diverge because reduced energy costs are not always accompanied by a reduction in carbon dioxide co2 emissions

In the recent HIPs trials homeowners did not upgrade their level of insulation after receiving the EPC, as the measures recommend are just ridiculous, and expensive. Such as replacing the boiler, double glazing, fitting solar panels and so on…

 The Energy performance certificate itself is open to blatant abuse, as the level of training to be an energy assessor is farcical, they will claim that after there 3 week course, it is the equivalent to an A level [Yeah right].

 Which means if you get 2 energy assessors in, you will get 2 very different results.

Plus and this is the most damming, with no checks in place to oversea how the Energy report is compiled any home can have any rating. 

Picture this, one of these so called [A] level qualified energy assessors comes to your home, gives your home a D energy rating.

A few pounds change hands and you now have a C or B rated home and Energy performance certificate.

Yet to improve your homes energy rating from a D rated home to a C rated home, would cost you in excess of £10,000, but giving you a saving of £126 per anum on fuel bills. and would include the following

1. Fitting double glazing £4000
2. cavity wall insulation £380 [can  cause a cavity bridge which = Damp.]
3. solar panels £4500

Pay back time 79 years that’s seventy nine years. Just another reason they are open to abuse, and quite farcical.