DOMESTIC ENERGY PROFICIENCY CERTIFICATES (EPC)

Contact:

Robin Brookes*
Woodlands, Ledge Hill
Market Lavington
Wiltshire SN10 4NW

*BA, DEA. HEA, OCEA

Freephone
0330 660 0294

If you are selling or renting a flat or a house you will need a domestic EPC
It is mandatory to have an Energy Performance Certificate less than 3 years old when selling. It is also mandatory to have an EPC less than 10 years old when you re-let a rented property You may also want to have an energy performance assessment to find out how efficient your property is and how you can improve it. Environomic can fulfill these needs without fuss, professionally and thoroughly. Added service for estate agents - Environomic can also provide plans and photographs. See my terms for more details.
	YOU WILL FIND MY RATES ARE COMPETITIVE The following prices are for guidance: 1 or 2 bedroom flat £45 2 to 3 bedroom house £50 4 bedroom £60 Price also depends on the complexity of the building. See my terms of business.
MY SERVICE OFFERS - A well trained (ABBE accredited) assessor. I am backed by Stroma, a national body which monitors the quality of my work. - Quick completion from receipt of instructions to the production of the EPC. Should you need the certificate in a hurry, I may well be able to complete the process within 24 hours for a small extra fee. - I can also offer a follow up to the assessment, under the new Home Energy Advice scheme, advising the client on how they can improve the property, where they can get finance and grants and setting the order of priorities. THE PROCESS I will come and survey your property. This takes about an hour. I will have to measure the property, note details of the heating and ventilating systems and record any documentary evidence of changes to the building. I will need access to every room and take photographs of key evidence such as the outside of your home, your hot water cylinder, thermostat, drill holes for cavity wall insulation. I will not photograph anything which could compromise your identity or security. After this I will go and work out my calculations and produce the EPC. This is lodged with the national Landmark Trust and is only accessible via its unique number and a password. The information stored will only concern the property in its current physical state, it will not contain any personal information other than the contact name.
	WHAT THE EPC TELLS YOU - An energy efficience rating on a coloured bar chart like the ones you find on new refridgerators (see above).* - A CO2 emissions rating like the one on the left. - An estimate of energy use, CO2 emissions and fuel costs for lighting, heating and hot water for the year. - A summary of how each element of your home is performing. - Some automatically produced advice as to how you can improve your home.
* Do not expect your home to rate A. Buildings have not been built to be energy efficient in the past and there are very few homes in this category. The average is E.
WHY DO WE NEED TO GO THROUGH ALL THIS RIGMAROLE? Well it does give the recipient some useful information and an incentive to improve the property. There are a number of reasons we need to reduce our use of fossil fuels: 1) Global Warming. We need to drastically reduce man-made CO2. The UK government has at last got hold of this problem after 40 years of warnings. It aims to reduce CO2 emissions to 20% of 1990 levels by 2050 - an 80% reduction! All new houses will be built to be carbon neutral by 2016, which is a very tall order. This leaves 22 million homes already built which have to be improved as well if the target in 2050 is to be reached. 2) Peak Oil. Since we live on a finite sized planet, we can expect its resources to run out eventually. At some point the world's oil supply will have dwindled to half and then it will become a rare commodity, getting more and more expensive. Opinions differ as to whether we have passed this point or not yet reached it, but no-one denies that we are hovering near it. 3) Fuel Dependancy. Now our own oil reserves are all but depleted, we rely on the rest of the world for fuel, mainly gas and oil. This puts us in a poor bargaining position and at the mercy of countries like Russia who have stopped the flow in the past - not to spite the UK but to punish one of the countries further back down the pipeline. 4) Expense. All the above will inevitably lead to higher fuel costs. Doing something about it now means more money saved in the future. All improvements, to insulation, heating, ventilation, natural energy collection will pay for themselves through their lifetime. Most will do so quite quickly and then they will return real savings to the householder.
This page last updated 11/05/11