How an Energy Performance Certificate is Conducted

When you buy or rent out a property, you should be given an Energy Performance Certificate showing up to date results of an energy assessment. Whether it’s a commercial or domestic property, this report indicates how energy efficient the property is. But how are these assessments carried out? In this post, we’ll take you through the process our qualified energy surveyors use for our customers in Redhill.

The EPC Assessment Process

Your energy assessor will come out to your property with the aim of looking at a number of factors that determine how energy efficient the property is. They’ll need access to the entire property to give the most accurate report.

Some factors we check when carrying out an energy assessment include:

• Checking the size of the property
• What insulation is used and how much
• What construction materials are used in the property
• The lighting in the property
• The efficiency of the heating system and controls
• The windows and glazing installed in the property
• The ventilation available

By using these factors, we can give an energy efficiency rating for the property between A and G. A is the most efficient and G is the least.

Let’s take a look at some of the factors more closely and what we will check for your energy certification.

Lighting

First, we’ll check all the light fixtures in your home and note any low energy lightbulbs you have installed. These are usually CFT, LED or normal fluorescent bulbs. Low energy lighting is one factor that will bring your overall score down.

Loft space

We’ll go up into your loft space to check the insulation. We don’t need to get up into the loft if it’s full, but we do need enough access to see the type of insulation used and how much there is.

The normal recommendation is 270mm of insulation at the joists, so anything less than this will bring the score down.

Windows

Windows play a major role in the energy efficiency of your home. We’ll check all the windows to see if they’re single, double, or triple glazed.

Triple is the most energy efficient, but most home are fitted with double glazing which is standard.

Heating

We’ll also check your heating system to see if it’s high efficiency. If you have your boiler documentation, we’ll also look at that to make the process quicker.

The thermostat, controller, radiator valves, and all heating sources in the house will be checked and impact on your score.

Receiving your energy certificate

After the assessment, you’ll be given an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which will give you your energy rating and explain your score.

You’ll also get some professional recommendations for how to improve your energy rating which are important if you want to sell your property or lower your energy bills.

If you want a professional EPC in Redhill, call our team today. We are a government approved team and regularly carry out energy certificates for clients throughout Redhill and Surrey: 07730 578459