Due to more government beaurocracy the EPC are now much more comprehensive. As such the supplier has increased their prices to £85.00

You may, or may not be aware, that there has been for some time now potential industry changes considered through Government for the production of an EPC. At long last, the Government has now just announced a “go live” date of next Sunday 15th June 2025 for major National changes in respect of the EPC production and administrative process. This has been long awaited as it’s original release date was supposed to have been in April 2024.

As a result of these changes, the information gathering process will now involve Gareth spending a lot more time at a property as well as myself inputting the data into the software.  For example, what may have been a half hour appointment to a client’s terrace property or a basic 2/3 bed property is now more likely to take around an hour.  Pro-rata, those larger and extended homes will take much longer plus a lot more time to be spent at the office calculating and downloading the information onto the database.

These changes are not to be confused with MEES, which are still targeted to be enforced in 2028 for all rental properties to achieve a C banded rating.

The Government believes that more accurate EPC results and recommendations will be achieved as a result of this additional data which in turn will assist towards improving the energy efficiency of homes whilst at the same time reducing carbon emissions in their bid to achieve the net zero CO2 target set for 2050.

Nationwide, all Energy Assessors will be reviewing their pricing structure which, in turn, will result in a price increase having to be passed onto your clients through yourselves.  Likewise, if sourced independently on-line or elsewhere.

Our current pricing to you has always been set at a level regardless of the type, style, size and age of property.  This unfortunately needs to be reviewed to reflect the changes and additional work.  Also, Gareth will now have to undertake fewer appointments per day as a direct result of the additional information gathering process which will impact his time spent at your clients property. Once Gareth returns to the office, the calculation and lodgement of the EPC onto the Register by myself will take a lot more time to administer.

As to the changes themselves, the main ones include:-

  1. The taking of individual measurements of all windows, external doors, skylights and dormer windows identifying their individual thermal performance. For example, whether they are UPVC, wood sealed units, aluminium or hardwood, just wood with no glazing, and/or secondary glazing.  All this together with their individual orientation of north, south, east or west and the location within the property, ie. main building,  extension(s) or rooms in the roof. Also, to take note of those windows which have shutters fitted to identify the manufacturer material used and the u-value of each, being the thermal transmittance of heat loss through the glass and/or material used.
  2. What was simply a “tick box” exercise to identify a “room in the roof” (better known to you as a loft conversion), will increase our workload substantially. What used to be a quick measurement of the total floor area will now necessitate measurements of the stud walls, the sloping and flat ceilings and the gable end walls (if applicable) and the need to identify any insulation depths within these individual elements (where possible). Dormer windows (if present) now need to be measured, as do skylights, and included within the window data as scheduled in Point 1 above.
  3. We will now have to account for how many open flues there are within the property.  This includes flues attached to appliances, open fireplaces, and the type of ventilation present, being either naturally provided via window trickle vents, lofts etc., or mechanical ventilation via carbonised or decarbonised extract systems installed throughout the property. Also, taking a note of blocked chimneys with air vents fitted and measuring the size of chimney breasts accordingly. How many intermittent extractor fans are present within kitchens, bathrooms, toilets, etc.
  4. New technologies, such as PV panels will now require information in respect of battery storage by recording each batteries’ capacity to store excess energy which in turn returns to the property instead of the National Grid. Also, whether there is a PV diverter fitted.
  5. We will now have to record the number of light bulbs present throughout the property breaking these down into non-low energy, CFLs or LEDs.
  6. Take a count of how many bath(s) and shower(s) there are present and record whether the shower is of the mixer type or electric instantaneous.

The above are just a handful of the many changes which will now have an impact on Gareth’s time whilst at the property. Other information gathering will include changes to construction types, renewables, heating controls and hot water, to mention just a few. However, the list is quite exhaustive!

It’s also been mentioned many times that an EPC is an evidence based survey and this will not be changing. Therefore, for everything we see at a property we need to take a photograph, and, where visual evidence is not possible, request documentary evidence to back up our data inputs. However, you are also aware that it has not always been possible to photograph what is there, the most common being a boarded loft whereby the homeowner states there is insulation beneath, and in these instances the photography taken is essential as hearsay is, unfortunately, not to be relied upon. If the homeowner disagrees with this, our evidence has to withstand a) an audit and b) any subsequent complaint.

The go-live date for new EPC’s will be Monday 16th June. However, we appreciate that your business needs to adjust and integrate your own new pricing structure.