The Why, What and Reasons for this Site
Motivation
I am was planning to throw money into one of the swelling numbers of new training providers to emerge following the Government's decision to roll-out Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). A new glittering opportunity to become a Domestic Energy Assessor within a new profession that doesn't even officially exist yet (as of writing).
A new profession for which there is still huge resistance from key organisations like the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML); the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA); the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS); and, the Better Regulations Commission - A Government body setup to advise on, well... making better regulations, that work!
That fierce opposition, together with the uncertainty over the launch of Home Information Packs (HIPs), and the misinformation seeded within the press (and not forgetting, also, the bungled, last-minute efforts to "fast-track-qualify" - in just two months - the 2500 DEAs Government said was needed to service demand), resulted in my decision to sit-back, and watch.
So, in the meantime, I am throwing-up this website to help you, Mr & Mrs Ordinary Householder, myself - because writing it forces me to organise and learn this stuff (hopefully) - and Domestic Energy Assessors (the hundreds of similar other folk out there hoping to become a part of the UK's most untrusted profession... allegedly!), gain a better understanding of the Energy Performance Certificate and the issues - and reasons - surrounding it.
Impartial
I appreciate both sides of the debate surrounding HIPs - in particular, the Energy Performance Certificate. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of misinformation from all sides which has been traumatic for both trainee DEAs - who, in many cases, have invested their life-savings to better their futures - and the helpless homeowner on the sidelines worried about the high costs and implications of having "Government snoops" with "criminal records routing through their cupboards".
Whilst many may not like what HIPs and EPCs will mean to the future of house-buying, it's clear we have to get used to them; so we may as well be informed...
...and that's what I hope energy-performance-certificates.org can do.
Mike
