Rejected for Great British Insulation Scheme

fizz2017

Hi guys 

Finally had an assessment for the above and was told by the assessor that the loft insulation was below the standard as it looked to be from when the house was built in the early 90s. 

Have now been sent an email by octopus to advise I don’t quality as his assessment scores be a C when only D and below qualify. The official EPC for my properly is rated an E though. Can I take this further as surely the official rating is lower than one their guy has done which is not available to me.

This is the email:

“Following assessment of your survey completed recently, we have realised that your Energy Performance Certificate is actually rated at C.

In order to qualify for GBIS this needs to be a D or above.

The EPC you can find on the Government website was completed by a Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) whereas the Energy Performance Report (EPR)  is generated by our Retrofit Assessor.  While generating this EPR our assessor goes into a lot of detail, and there are some factors that are assessed differently, in a more in-depth manner.  This means that the EPR can generate an alternative energy rating (known as a SAP Banding) to the one that is registered on the Government's EPC register.

Our Retrofit Coordinators work with systems that allow them to list, in detail, your propertie's information, these systems then confirm an accurate EPC rating for your property.

As per OFGEM's Great British Insulation Scheme delivery guidance (section 5.25), Trustmark's EPR must be used when completing a retrofit assessment of your property.

In order to qualify for The Great British Insulation Scheme, your EPR rating/SAP banding must be between D & G.

Unfortunately, this means we are unable to continue with your current application.  I am sorry we are unable to assist you any further.”

BarelySentientAI

There is no "official rating".

There is a rating done by one guy before, which said E.
There is a rating done by a different guy now, which says C.

Why do you think the old one is right and the new one is wrong?  Which things has the new guy scored wrong that the old guy got right?  Or the other way around, which things might the old guy have scored wrong that the new guy has got right?

Have you looked at the old EPC and worked out whether it is correct or not?

cannugec5

fizz2017 said:

Hi guys 

Finally had an assessment for the above and was told by the assessor that the loft insulation was below the standard as it looked to be from when the house was built in the early 90s. 

Have now been sent an email by octopus to advise I don’t quality as his assessment scores be a C when only D and below qualify. The official EPC for my properly is rated an E though. Can I take this further as surely the official rating is lower than one their guy has done which is not available to me.

This is the email:

“Following assessment of your survey completed recently, we have realised that your Energy Performance Certificate is actually rated at C.

In order to qualify for GBIS this needs to be a D or above.

The EPC you can find on the Government website was completed by a Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) whereas the Energy Performance Report (EPR)  is generated by our Retrofit Assessor.  While generating this EPR our assessor goes into a lot of detail, and there are some factors that are assessed differently, in a more in-depth manner.  This means that the EPR can generate an alternative energy rating (known as a SAP Banding) to the one that is registered on the Government's EPC register.

Our Retrofit Coordinators work with systems that allow them to list, in detail, your propertie's information, these systems then confirm an accurate EPC rating for your property.

As per OFGEM's Great British Insulation Scheme delivery guidance (section 5.25), Trustmark's EPR must be used when completing a retrofit assessment of your property.

In order to qualify for The Great British Insulation Scheme, your EPR rating/SAP banding must be between D & G.

Unfortunately, this means we are unable to continue with your current application.  I am sorry we are unable to assist you any further.”

I find the wording of this email very confusing with the two parts I’ve highlighted contradicting each other. 

My interpretation of “above” a grade of D would mean A-C as it did in my school certificates. 

Clearly here they have an entirely different meaning. 

BarelySentientAI

cannugec5 said:

fizz2017 said:

Hi guys 

Finally had an assessment for the above and was told by the assessor that the loft insulation was below the standard as it looked to be from when the house was built in the early 90s. 

Have now been sent an email by octopus to advise I don’t quality as his assessment scores be a C when only D and below qualify. The official EPC for my properly is rated an E though. Can I take this further as surely the official rating is lower than one their guy has done which is not available to me.

This is the email:

“Following assessment of your survey completed recently, we have realised that your Energy Performance Certificate is actually rated at C.

In order to qualify for GBIS this needs to be a D or above.

The EPC you can find on the Government website was completed by a Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) whereas the Energy Performance Report (EPR)  is generated by our Retrofit Assessor.  While generating this EPR our assessor goes into a lot of detail, and there are some factors that are assessed differently, in a more in-depth manner.  This means that the EPR can generate an alternative energy rating (known as a SAP Banding) to the one that is registered on the Government's EPC register.

Our Retrofit Coordinators work with systems that allow them to list, in detail, your propertie's information, these systems then confirm an accurate EPC rating for your property.

As per OFGEM's Great British Insulation Scheme delivery guidance (section 5.25), Trustmark's EPR must be used when completing a retrofit assessment of your property.

In order to qualify for The Great British Insulation Scheme, your EPR rating/SAP banding must be between D & G.

Unfortunately, this means we are unable to continue with your current application.  I am sorry we are unable to assist you any further.”

I find the wording of this email very confusing with the two parts I’ve highlighted contradicting each other. 

My interpretation of “above” a grade of D would mean A-C as it did in my school certificates. 

Clearly here they have an entirely different meaning. 

They don't contradict each other.  They contradict your assumed meaning of one of the lines, which from context was obviously the wrong assumption.

fizz2017

BarelySentientAI said:

There is no "official rating".

There is a rating done by one guy before, which said E.
There is a rating done by a different guy now, which says C.

Why do you think the old one is right and the new one is wrong?  Which things has the new guy scored wrong that the old guy got right?  Or the other way around, which things might the old guy have scored wrong that the new guy has got right?

Have you looked at the old EPC and worked out whether it is correct or not?

Thanks for your reply.
Well I only have access to the old one and it advises the loft insulation is below the minimum 270mm which it is and that is what the new latest inspector advised.

I have requested access to the new report which I am hoping they can provide.

tamste

If there's a new EPC, you should be able to view it online free at https://www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate

fizz2017

Asked them on twitter and they advised the following:

“Hey there, 

We did ask the team to take a look at this, heres what they said

Customer’s application has been received and we’re waiting for them to be allocated to an installer. The current lead time for this is 12 weeks.

So you would be allocated in next few weeks ideally”

Totally confused now.


EPC is the the same as I originally had.

BarelySentientAI

I suspect that the twitter people haven't been told the result of the inspection.

Insulation depth is not the only thing on an EPC, and it's possible for a property to get a C even if the insulation would benefit topping up - that's what could be tripping you up. 

I once had an EPC that the assessor put as single glazing for the whole property (so a very bad rating) even though it was only one 1ft x 2ft window in a porch and the rest of the house was new double glazing.  A 'better' assessor might have take that into account and given me a better rating.  Could there be anything like that on your EPC - something assumed or averaged that a more detailed inspection has calculated differently?