By 1st October 2008, Energy performance certificates (EPCs) will have to be provided when any building is sold, rented out or newly built, whether that building is domestic or commercial. EPCs show how efficiently the fabric of the building is designed (the asset rating) and are accompanied by recommendations, which set out both measures which could be taken relatively easily and longer term measures to improve energy efficiency. An EPC is valid for ten years once produced.
EPCs are produced by professionally trained and accredited assessors (assessors), who must carry out their work in an independent manner. Assessors are checked with the Criminal Records Bureau and must be members of an accreditation scheme. The scheme ensures that they are fit and proper to practice, imposes a code of conduct, and will remove their accreditation if there is any evidence of wrongdoing.
All EPCs are lodged on either of two central registers (the registers): the domestic register and the commercial register. There is no public access to the registers in order to preserve the privacy of owners of the properties that have EPCs. Energy assessors can access a previous EPC on a property by reference to its unique property reference number.
The local weights and measures authority in each area is responsible for enforcing the EPB Regulations 2007. Enforcement will normally be carried out by Trading Standards Officers issuing penalty charge notices to those who fail to comply. The level of the penalty charge varies according to the type of property. For example, the penalty for failing to comply with the EPB Regulations 2007 when selling or renting out a dwelling is currently set at £200. The penalty for failing to provide an EPC when selling or renting out commercial property is, in most cases, 12.5% of the rateable value of the building, with a minimum penalty of £500 and a maximum penalty of £5,000.
There has been, and will no doubt continue to be, much debate on the merits of EPCs (especially in multi-tenanted commercial buildings) and whether these will really make a difference in the fight against global warming.