Skidmore: EPC ‘does not work for net zero’

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) need urgently updating to reflect the true cost of green technologies in the home, a major government report has concluded.

The recommendation is one of more than 100 included in the Mission Zero report published by Conservative MP and chair of the Net Zero Review Chris Skidmore on Friday (13 January).

EPCs provide information about the energy efficiency of a home and the government is targeting as many homes as possible to be Band C by 2035, but this is not yet set out in legislation.

The report says there is scope to utilise the EPC system better to help support people to retrofit their homes.

It adds: “Currently, the EPC measure does not work for net zero. The EPC rating of a property can sometimes show a worse score after installing a heat pump because of the inclusion of the cost of heating in the score, and this assessment being based on outdated assumptions.

“EPC ratings can overestimate the cost of running a home with a heat pump due to outdated measures of heat pump efficiency and the history of gas prices being artificially lowered in comparison to electricity prices (because the gas bills would bear fewer policy costs).”

Under the Energy Price Guarantee, a G-rated property using the same amount of energy as it did in 2019 would incur a bill of £6,500 compared with £1,500 in a B-rated building.

“This measure needs to be improved as a priority,” the report said.

To tackle these issues, the report recommends the government should “mandate that EPCs are updated on a regular basis, using a new metric which better reflects current relative costs of heat pumps and accounts for wider benefits from low-carbon heating systems”.

It proposes introducing “more holistic” Net Zero Performance Certificates (NZPCs), which would provide consumers with more detailed information about the heating technology used and its associated financial and social effects.

Government should legislate for all homes sold by 2033 to have an EPC rating of C or above in line with the NZPC, with exclusions around certain properties such as listed buildings or on grounds of affordability.

Government should also mandate landlords to include ‘average bill cost’ alongside the EPC (and possible future NZPC) rating, when letting a property out.

This, it adds, will help renters understand what costs to expect, while also helping to put a premium on energy efficient homes.

The report further calls for more ambitious targets for the gas boiler phase out and recommends bringing forward the 2035 date to 2033.

It explaines: “Our analysis finds that moving the date by which gas boilers are phased out to as early as possible increases the gains which households experience by 2050.

“It would therefore save people more money to move the gas boiler phase out date to as early as 2030 – but modelling and stakeholders warn that the UK supply chain for heat pumps could not ramp up quickly enough to deliver this.

“Years of policy delivery delay have caused (sic) UK households a portion of their net future benefit and this underlines the need to move faster than in current plans, and crucially, prevent any further delays.”

Additionally, the report calls for clarity on what is expected of consumers in terms of making large investments to retrofit their homes and makes a strong case for the widespread installation of heat pumps.

It argues that by making it clear that heat pumps are the future, by setting a legislative target, households would be prevented from installing a gas boiler and therefore needing to spend more on replacing the boiler at a later date.

It further points to gas free housing developments in the UK and USA and highlights how in Washington State all new houses and apartments from July 2023 will require a heat pump to be fitted.

“This shows that these regulations can be rolled out on a larger scale at pace,” it says, calling on the government to set a legislative target for gas free homes and appliances by 2033.