Measure energy use against similar local homes
Peter Fall, managing director of Clear Building Surveyors - part of eaga, operators of the Government-funded Warm Front scheme - and former president of RICS, is calling for an energy certificate regime designed to motivate behaviour change in energy consumption.
(Some of you might remember Peter's 'good luck' message on the podcast celebrating the announcement of the HIP launch date last year - HIPs are Go.)
In an article written for homemaker.co.uk, he argues that domestic Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) should reflect the actual energy running costs of a home, akin to what the Display Energy Certificate (DEC) does for public buildings, and the results compared against other local homes.
EPCs are ineffective
He claims anecdotal evidence suggests that EPCs are ineffective in their current form and should be undertaken regularly.
Wouldn’t it be different if we had a regular energy certificate, which compared our usage against similar homes. For example if you see that your energy usage is 1.5 times that of similar houses in your street then you might start to think how you can get usage down.
Certificate is not reason to buy
He doesn't, however, clarify how regularly EPCs should be updated, nor whether they should be mandatory on all homes.
After all, how else could reliable local comparisons be made?
