The European Buildings Directive states that from January 4th 2006, an Energy Certificate shall be made available when a building is constructed, sold, or rented. Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) tell you how energy efficient a home is on a scale of A - G. The most efficient homes - which should have the lowest fuel bills - are in band A. The Certificate also tells you, on a scale of A - G, about the impact the home has on the environment. Better-rated homes should have less impact through carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The avergae property in the UK is in band D - E for both ratings. The Certificate includes recommendations on ways to improve the home's energy efficiency to save you money and help the environment. Most sellers of newly built homes will have to provide a predicted assessment of the energy efficiency of the property, but a full Energy Performance Certificate should be provided to the buyer when the home is completed.

What is an Energy Performance Certificate?

An Energy Performance Certificate shows the official energy efficiency rating of a property. If you're not planning to sell your home, you don't need to do anything.

The certificate provides you with a rating for the building, showing its energy efficiency and its environmental impact on a scale from A-G (where A is the most efficient and G the least efficient), in graphical format. It also contains recommended ways to improve the building's energy performance.

By 2009, all buildings in the UK that are constructed, sold or rented out will have to have an Energy Performance Certificate, in accordance with the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Predicted and interim energy assessments
Predicted energy assessments are for homes that are not yet built. When a home is designed, a predicted energy rating based on the design is produced. This must achieve, as a minimum, the target energy rating laid down for the home as specified by the energy efficiency requirements of building regulations.

Interim energy assessments are for new homes built in accordance with the energy efficiency requirements of the building regulations that came into force in April 2006. For these homes, only the energy-efficiency and environmental-impact graphs will be required, and not the full Energy Performance Certificate.