An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) demonstrates how energy-efficient a property is. It will also show details about the carbon footprint of the house as well as how much it costs to run. The energy efficiency is graded from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient). These ratings can have implications if you are preparing to rent or sell your home, so you might be wondering how to improve your EPC rating.
An EPC certificate is a useful document if you want to make your property more energy-efficient. It has clear, practical actions you can take that will improve your EPC rating, give you lower energy bills, and reduce your carbon footprint.
With that being said, it can be difficult to figure out which actions you should be taking. What will take your EPC rating up to the level you want it to be? Which are the most cost-effective actions you can take? Which ones are truly worth it? Read on for our in-depth strategy guide for how to improve your EPC rating.
At the EPC Crew, we understand the importance of improving your EPC rating and we also understand the theory behind the EPC. If you need an EPC or advice on how to improve your specific rating, don't hesitate to get in touch.
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating shows the energy efficiency of a property. The government is pushing for a big reduction in the UK's carbon emissions within the next decade and EPCs are one strategy to help with that.
An EPC certificate will have an overall rating for the property's energy efficiency from A (most efficient) to G (most inefficient). This score is determined by specialist software used by an accredited energy assessor.
The assessor will visit the property and examine a range of elements that can affect its energy efficiency. This will include elements that use energy and elements that lose energy. For example, the type of boiler that you have will affect how much energy you use to heat your home. Whereas the type of insulation you have will affect how much energy is lost through heat loss.
The certificate will also show how much the energy bills of the property are likely to be (only for heating, lighting, and hot water) and the environmental impact of the house.
One of the most important sections of the certificate is its recommendations for how to improve the property's energy efficiency. These recommendations will be ranked from most important down and will be specifically tailored to your property.
The certificate will also show what the predicted energy bills, energy efficiency, and carbon dioxide emissions will be if the energy efficiency measures are implemented.
Discover: What Is An EPC Certificate
Once you have your EPC rating and you know how energy-efficient your property is, you might be wondering whether you need to improve it or not.
If you are looking to rent out your home, it will be subject to the minimum energy efficiency standard (MEES). This means that it is a legal requirement that the property be at least an E rating (not F or G). You can't legally rent out a property unless it meets this standard.
The government is set to tighten the rules around MEES soon, with the proposed minimum EPC rating moving to C and then B by 2030.
The majority of homes in the UK have a D rating so they would meet the current MEES standards. However, it would be too low to meet the future proposed MEES standards, after which it would no longer be legally eligible to rent out.
The rules on when an EPC is needed have also tightened. It used to be that you would only need an EPC for a new lease. But now, you will need an EPC to renew a lease as well. So even if you already have someone renting out the property, the MEES standards will be relevant to you.
Properties that are for sale do not need to meet any minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES). You can sell your property at an A rating down to a G. With that being said, improving the home's energy efficiency can increase its market value and make it a more attractive option to potential buyers.
Since the EPC rating is publicly available as soon as the house is put on the market, buyers will use this information as part of their decision-making. A house with a higher EPC rating will cost less to run for heating bills and other energy costs, so it is often seen as a better option.
Explore: Do You Need An EPC Certificate To Sell A House
We have talked about what an EPC rating is and what the benefits are from improving your EPC rating. Now we are going to get into the nitty-gritty of what you need to do to change your score.
The method used to calculate an EPC rating is known as the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP). The information the energy assessor gains from examining the different elements of the property is inputted into the EPC software, which then conducts the SAP procedure.
This calculation results in SAP points, which go from 0 to 100. With 0 being a property that loses all of its energy and 100 being a property that generates more energy than it uses. The vast majority of properties will lie somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.
The SAP points correspond directly with the A-G rating scale.
The first thing you might notice about this scale is that the gaps between letters are not even. For example, the jump from G to F is 19 points whereas the gap from B to A is 8 points. As you go down the scale, the points between ratings get larger.
This difference between the ratings can be important to know if you are trying to improve your EPC score.
Check out: SAP Calculations
There is a wide range of measures you can take to improve your property's EPC rating but some will be much more effective than others. Let's take a look at some of the most common measures and the average SAP points they will add to your EPC rating.
Buying a new boiler is probably the most impactful improvement you can make to raise your EPC rating. The majority of the energy a property uses (around 61%) is in heating it (also known as space heating). Since energy use and energy costs are one of the main driving factors of EPC ratings, addressing your hot water system can make a big difference.
Updating your boiler from one rated G to an A-rated condensing boiler can add up to 40 SAP points to your EPC rating.
Let's do a little bit of maths. The average cost of installing a new boiler is £2,000 - £4,000 so that means that you are spending between £50 and £112.50 per SAP point.
If your heating system is the main element of your home that uses energy, then your insulation is the main element of your home that can prevent energy from being lost. Poor wall insulation, for example, can account for 35% - 45% of home heat loss.
Installing new cavity wall insulation or solid wall insulation can add 5-10 SAP points to your EPC rating and installing new loft insulation can add 10-15 SAP points.
Roof insulation costs an average of £500 so you will be spending around £33 per SAP point. Wall insulation, on the other hand, costs around £200 so you will be spending £20 per SAP point.
Single-glazed windows can increase the heat loss of your home. Double glazing works by creating an air bubble between two glass panes. This bubble prevents cold air from getting in and warm air from getting out.
Installing double glazing can add 5-10 SAP points to your energy efficiency rating.
Triple glazing is becoming more popular but the difference it makes over double glazing is minimal and it won't make much of a difference to your EPC rating.
Double glazing can be quite expensive to install at an average price of £4,400 to £7,300. This means that you will be spending £440 to £730 per SAP point. It is worth remembering, however, that long-term, double glazing can help you save money on your energy bills.
A hot water cylinder stores water after it has been heated by your boiler so that it keeps the same warm temperature. This can help you save on your heating bills because it means that the hot water is ready to be used and doesn't need to be heated every time.
Installing a hot water cylinder can add approximately 3 SAP points to your EPC rating.
IT costs around £600 to install a hot water cylinder which means that you will be spending around £200 per SAP point.
Solar panels seem the obvious choice when you want to improve your EPC rating. They are a renewable energy source and they do have a big impact on reducing energy bills. They can save you around 62% of your electricity costs.
In terms of your EPC rating, installing solar panels can add around 10 SAP points.
Other renewable energy sources such as wind turbines are less effective at improving your home's energy efficiency. A large wind turbine can work well in rural areas but the smaller turbines meant for more urban environments don't generate enough electricity to have much of an impact.
Solar panels are quite expensive to install, at around £7,000. This means that you will be spending about £700 per SAP point. However, they are a renewable energy source so can be worth the investment long-term.
An underfloor heating system is more efficient than using radiators but this isn't always reflected in your EPC rating. An electric underfloor heating system could receive a lower rating than a gas boiler radiator system. This is because the EPC system takes the base cost of fuel into account for the calculations and electricity is more expensive than gas.
A water-based underfloor heating system can help to improve your EPC rating, however, by adding 3-4 SAP points.
Wet underfloor heating is very expensive to install, with an average cost of £10,000 to £11,000. This means that you will be spending an average of £2,500 to £3,666 per SAP point.
Once you take a proper look around your home, it can be surprising just how many light bulbs are installed - an average of 34 in a three-bed home. If all of these are standard bulbs, they will be using a lot more electricity than they could be. By switching to low-energy LED bulbs, you can make your home more energy-efficient.
Using LED bulbs in place of standard ones can add 2-3 SAP points to your EPC rating.
LED light bulbs are pretty cheap, costing an average of £34 to £48 to replace all of the bulbs in your home. This means that you will be spending around £11.30 to £23.50 per SAP point.
If you can get your EPC rating up to a C, then you will be in a good place for the next few years. A C is an above-average EPC rating for the UK.
To get up to a C from an E rating, you will need between 30 and 41 SAP points. Let's look back at the most cost-effective ways of achieving this.
A new boiler will give you up to 40 SAP points and is one of the most cost-effective ways of improving your EPC rating. To give you those few extra SAP points you might need, exchanging all of your light bulbs for LED ones can give you that push with very little cost.
If you already have a new boiler, then a combination of roof and wall insulation, a hot water cylinder, and solar panels would usually be enough to give your EPC rating the jump it needs.
A new boiler will cost between £2,000 and £4,500 and replacing a whole house with LED bulbs will cost £34 to £68. So you're looking at an overall cost between £2,034 and £4,568.
Roof and wall insulation, solar panels, and a hot water cylinder would cost around £8,300.
There isn't too much of a jump between C and B because of the way the SAP scale works. You will need between 12 and 22 SAP points to improve your EPC rating to the level you want.
Your best bet here is to look at your insulation. Installing roof and wall insulation can give you a total of 15 to 25 SAP points which could be enough to increase your rating and, in total, it will only cost you approximately £700.
If you already have insulation, then a combination of solar panels and replacing your bulbs with LED ones can be enough to give you the push from C to B. This will cost more, but it can be worth it at this level because it is likely that a B will become the minimum requirement in the relatively near future.
If you opt for improving your insulation, you'll be looking at a cost of around £700. If you install solar panels and replace your bulbs with LED ones, it; 'll cost between £7,038 and £7,068.
Improving your rating from D to B is sensible. Right now, an EPC rating of D is the average in the UK but the government is aiming for every rental property to be at least a B by 2030.
To get from a D to a B, you will need to increase your rating by between 26 and 36 SAP points. This is a relatively big jump so, again, a new boiler would give you the biggest increase and is relatively cost-effective at the same time.
If you already have a new boiler, then a combination of solar panels and a hot water cylinder or double glazing, insulation, and LED light bulbs would be enough to take you over the threshold.
Installing a new boiler will cost you an average of £2,000 - £4,500. If you opt for solar panels and a hot water cylinder, then the cost would be around £7,600.
If your home needs double glazing, it would make sense to get that instead of the solar panels. You'd be looking at paying between £5,134 and £8,068 if you also get the insulation and the LED light bulbs.
Going from D to C is a relatively small jump in terms of SAP points but it can be worth it. If you're looking to sell your house, a C rating puts you firmly above average and can be enough to turn a buyer's head.
If your house doesn't have double glazing, then now would be a sensible time to install some (although it will be pricey). Along with some new LED bulbs and roof/wall insulation, you could jump a rating fairly easily.
If the house doesn't need double glazing then you could look at installing solar panels plus insulation.
If you install double glazing, roof and wall insulation, and exchange your bulbs for LED ones, then the overall cost would be somewhere between £5,100 and £8,000.
If you opt for solar panels and insulation then you'll pay around £7,700 to improve your EPC rating from D to C.
There is a wide range of energy efficiency measures that you can use to improve your EPC rating. We've looked at some of the most common ones. One thing that stands out is that some are easier and cheaper to implement than others and the ease of achieving them isn't that connected to the number of SAP points you're likely to get in return.
The three easiest, most cost-effective ways of improving your EPC rating are:
These measures will give you the biggest increase in your SAP points for the money that you spend.
Other measures such as double glazing and solar panels are much more expensive upfront and don't give you as many SAP points for the cost, although they are long-term methods that will reduce your energy costs overall.
EPC ratings are here to stay. And the government is set to get even stricter with the minimum EPC rating required for rental properties (from E to B). So now is a good time to think about how to get your EPC rating up. If you're looking to sell your property, instead of rent, then improving your EPC rating is an easy way of increasing the market value because it is an attractive option for buyers. And if you aren't selling or renting your home, knowing your EPC rating and how to improve it can reduce your energy bills.
There are a wide range of different measures you can use to improve your EPC rating, some of which will have more of an impact than others. So getting to know the different energy efficiency steps you can take is always a good idea.
At the EPC Crew, we are experts in everything related to EPC. And we understand that every property is different. If you need more tailored advice on how to improve your home's EPC rating, don't hesitate to get in touch. Our helpful team is ready to work with you to get the most out of your property's energy efficiency.
