EPC Rating - silly question

KnightSmile

So im looking at places on rightmove and I have looked at the EPC information. For one property it says:

current costs
lighting - £207 over 3 years
heating - £1467 over 3 years
hot water - £285 over 3 years

then is has a lower projected cost over 3 years depending on improvements to make it more "green".

So does EPC have any bearing on what I'd expect to pay for gas/electricity/water per month/quarter? Does this quantify my bills for me? Surely not, as it would depend on how many people lived in the house and how much they use personally? What are the figures actually telling me?

I realise this may be a silly question!!

KS:)

bylromarha

The EPC is a pile of pap the government require every house to have if its for sale.

The recommendations on ours is something silly like if we spend £1k, we can save £20 per year.

Of course it can't predict your fuel costs over 3 years. It will however be a rough guide to compare fuel costs of 1 property to another.

As a guide as to how silly the EPC is, one of the things the house is assessed on is how many energy effecient lightbulbs there are - bulbs which the seller put in and is probably taking with them to the new house.

MX5huggy

Yes the EPC rating will have a effect on what you pay on your bills.

Water is not considered (but heating it is).

The costs are for typical usage. So it helps you compare costs of running diffrent houses. But if you opt for wearing 3 jumpers and only showering at the swimming pool your bills will be lower. Alternatively if you wack the heating up and leave it on 24/7 so you can swan around just in your pants bills will be higher.

jamie11

Spain has just started requiring epc's as of June 1st, they cost a fortune. Older properties are going to be a nightmare for efficiency ratings.

Better_Days

The EPC can be useful to highlight that some savings can be made by improving insulation. The amounts quoted though are simply a guess as, as you have identified OP, there are so many variables.

I think the EPC is more useful as it gives the floor area, so can be a helpful factor in comparing properties. However, I wouldn't rely on it totally as I have spotted an error or two.

Dan-Dan

our EPC never made it onto RM at all , with 9 weeks of being on sale , the guy came to do it as well....so it obviously didnt matter too much to our buyer

It`s something nice to look at but it`s pretty pointless

[Deleted User]

The good part of an EPC is that it can contain the square feet of the property, literally no agent seems to ever include this in listings so it's great to be able to look up the EPC certificate and find the (I believe sort-of estimated) square feet.

googler

Better_Days wrote: »

The EPC can be useful to highlight that some savings can be made by improving insulation.

Do we really need an EPC to tell us this, though?

The figures in the EPC can only ever be a rough and ready guide to compare one property to another. Look at the process for producing them - surveyor collects a few facts at the property, someone back at the surveyor's office inputs them to a standardised EPC program, and that spits out the finished EPC. The surveyor doesn't put any real thought into it, merely fills in the boxes....

Stratus

I like to look at the EPC to check things like whether mains gas is available and whether it will be relatively economical to heat i.e. walls and loft well insulated, a reasonably efficient boiler etc. The running costs are taken with a pinch of salt but it at least allows you to compare one property with another. House energy costs are a significant monthly outgoing, typically coming after mortgage, food and council tax.

Richard_Webster

The graphs give a very generalised view of things but beyond them the figures on the EPC are meaningless.

As well as the lightbulbs point already mentioned there are things like they look at what kind of central heating there is - whether of modern type or not etc, but not the very basic issue of if it even works!

witchy1066

I agree with stratus,
it gives the buyer a guide as to what can be achieved ,or what is needed

my OH is into energy savings in a big way and if no EPC is listed he always asks to see one

appreciate its only a general guide but as a hopefully soon to be buyer, its useful,