energy efficancy ratings on houses

khampson

Hi I am looking at a property and was wondering what energy efficancy ratings mean on houses, The house says its currently 58 and potentially 60, what does all this mean? does it mean not much can be done to improve it only being 2 difference?

poppysarah

There should be a full EPC listing whether it has DG etc.

The important thing is to look at the property and see what the heating system is like, what the windows are like and whether it's going to be a drafty place impossible to keep warm. The EPC is meant to give you the information you need about insulation levels and even energy bill info too I think.

G_M

I would totally ignore the EPC and rely on your own inspection, and on your survey.

What's the boiler like? Old and decrepid? A new modern one will be more 'energy efficient'.
Are the attic/cavity walls insulated?
Double glazing?
Draghty gaps in doors/windows?

Most of it is common sense.

The EPC is done by people who have a half days training, to a set 'tick-box' formular, in about 15 minutes inspection. It's not worth the paper it's written on.

Oh - suppose 2 of the 24 light bulbs are NOT energy efficient ones, the house 'loses points'. Mad! Some vendors even borrow energy efficient light bulbs from their relatives for the day of th inspecion, then return them! It's a load of XXXxx*****.

sonastin

G_M wrote: »

The EPC is done by people who have a half days training, to a set 'tick-box' formular, in about 15 minutes inspection. It's not worth the paper it's written on.

Oh - suppose 2 of the 24 light bulbs are NOT energy efficient ones, the house 'loses points'. Mad! Some vendors even borrow energy efficient light bulbs from their relatives for the day of th inspecion, then return them! It's a load of XXXxx*****.

To be fair to EPC inspectors, it is not their fault that the EPC has no value. The "tick-box" formula forces even the most capable and diligent inspector to make so many assumptions that the end result is only meaningful for a modern house built to current regs and with no adaptations or alterations.

As G_M says, non-energy efficient lightbulbs in the rooms that the owner never goes into and so never switches on? Doesn't matter, low score on lighting. Cavity wall insulation installed in some walls but not all (e.g. because the style of construction won't allow it in the other walls, or because an extension was added with cavity wall insulation but the rest of the house doesn't have it) - should he tick the box that says "yes" to cavity wall insulation or the box that says "no", given that there isn't a "some" or "to what extent" box. Varying depths of loft insulation due to some of the loft being boarded out? Should that be inserted at the max depth, min depth, an average of the two, a weighted average because there is a bigger area with deep insulation? etc etc. Boiler out in the garage and hot water pipes running unlagged outside to the house? Nowhere to put that in the EPC so the GCH and hot water systems are scored as "good"!

The extent to which the assumptions the assessor is forced to make can skew the overall score is actually quite breath-taking. Unless you know that the same assessor has been used on all of the properties you are looking at, you can't use the EPC to compare them fairly. You need to make your own assessment of the energy efficiency.