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How to improve your EPC rating
🕑 4 minute read
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is like the stickers you see on new appliances. It lets you know how energy efficient a home is by rating the property.
An EPC will also tell you how energy efficient your home could be, by offering advice on how to improve your EPC rating to reach that potential.
In this article, we’ll explain more about how to improve your energy efficiency rating and what benefits it could bring.
Find out more about EPC certificates
What’s a good EPC rating?
EPC ratings range from A to G, with A being the highest score and G being the lowest. The higher the score, the more energy efficient your property. The average UK EPC rating is a D, but ideally, you should aim for C or higher.
Newer homes will have a higher EPC rating due to new building rules and regulations. Older buildings are more likely to sit around the D or E mark.
Source: Ons.gov.uk
There are lots of benefits to having a good EPC rating, or following recommendations to improve it, including:
- cheaper energy bills - The more energy efficient your home is, the less you’ll need to spend on fuel to keep your home warm. In fact, you could save up to £300 a year if you improve your energy efficiency rating
- reduced mortgage rates - Some mortgage providers offer lower rates to homeowners with greener homes. Or, incentives to help make their home more energy efficient
- higher valuations - If you’re selling your home, you may get a better valuation if it’s more energy efficient. Prospective buyers will sometimes pay more if they know they’ll enjoy cheaper bills down the line
- lower carbon footprint - Reducing the amount of energy your home uses and loses limits your carbon emissions and lowers your environmental impact.
Source: EDFenergy, Energy Saving Trust
Ways to improve your EPC rating
When you get your EPC certificate, you’ll see recommendations on how to improve your home energy rating. There could be lots of suggestions, from small lifestyle changes to bigger home improvements.
Here are some of the most common examples of how to improve your energy efficiency rating.
Insulation
Insulating your home is a great way to reduce heat loss and therefore how much money you spend on heating. There are four key areas of your home you can add insulation to.
- Floor insulation - Adding insulation below the ground floor of your property helps prevent heat escaping into the ground below. It could save you up to £180 a year on energy bills if you live in a detached house, meaning it could pay for itself in a few years.
- Roof/loft insulation - Easy and inexpensive to install, loft installation could make a difference to your bills. If you already have loft insulation, increasing the thickness from 120mm to 270mm could still help.
- Wall insulation - Insulating the walls of your home is one of the most common EPC recommendations. That's no surprise when you consider that most homes lose a third of all heat through uninsulated walls. Cavity wall insulation could bring in savings of up to £395 a year. If you have solid walls, insulating them could save you £540 after the first year of installation. The cost of wall insulation ranges from £4,000 to £14,000.
- Hot water cylinder insulation - Costing under £20, a hot water cylinder jacket is one of the cheapest ways to improve the energy rating of your home. Ideally, you want a jacket that’s at least 80mm thick. This could save you up to £70 each year.
Source: energysavingtrust.org.uk
Double glazing
Updating single-glazed windows to double glazing could have an impact on your energy rating. Plus, it’ll help reduce your energy bills and make your house warmer and quieter. The cost of installation can vary depending on how many windows you need and the type of window you buy, but you could look to save around £195 a year*.
Source: Energy Saving Trust
Energy efficient lighting
Replacing standard lightbulbs with energy-efficient alternatives is a quick and easy way to improve your EPC rating. The cost to replace all your lightbulbs will depend on how many you have and the brand you choose, but you can expect to save around £90 a year in energy bills.
Source: Energy Saving Trust
Solar power
Many homeowners look to solar power as a clean alternative to fossil fuels to limit their impact on the environment. EPC recommendations usually cover two separate forms: solar panels and solar water heating.
- Solar panels - One of the biggest ways to improve your EPC rating, solar panels will usually move your rating up to the next band. However, they can be expensive to install.
- Solar water heating - As with solar panels, adding solar water heating to your home can carry a hefty initial expense. But over time it carries a decent financial saving as well as improving your EPC rating.
Source: Energy Saving Trust
Replace your boiler
If your boiler is getting old, it’s probably not operating at its best. In that case, it might benefit from an upgrade. Especially when you consider that your central heating makes up around 55% of your energy bills . While they can be expensive to buy and install, a new boiler could save you up to £540 a year in energy bills. That means you’ll soon earn that money back and see a drop in your payments.
Heating controls
Having better control over your central heating makes it easier to keep a lid on its use and limit how much it costs you. It could be around £600 to get everything set up. But with yearly savings of up to £130 each year for a semi-detached house, you could earn your money back in less than five years. If you already have a thermostat, you could still save yourself an extra £145 a year by dropping the temperature by just one degree.
Smart meters
Much like improving your heating control, installing smart meters makes it easier to see how much energy you’re using and how much it’s costing you. This can help you see where to cut back and save yourself some money, while also reducing your carbon footprint.
*Based on A rated double glazing windows in a semi-detached, gas heated home.
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How can I improve my EPC rating from E to C?
There are lots of ways to improve your EPC rating, but recommendations that will bump you up to a C rating include things like:
- replacing your boiler
- solar water heating
- double glazing.
Is there a minimum EPC rating for landlords?
Rental properties must have an EPC rating of E or higher, although this may increase to a C in the future, so it’s a good idea to be prepared.
Can my EPC rating impact the value of my house?
Yes, as we all become more energy conscious, it’s likely that your EPC rating will have more of an impact on property values. In fact, a third of property professionals say they’ve had an increase in demand for energy efficient homes.
What factors impact my EPC rating?
Your EPC rating can be determined by a number of factors. These include:
- the construction of the building
- how the building is used
- lighting
- carbon emissions
- energy used per square metre.
Source: Construction of building, how its used & lighting , Carbon emissions, energy per sqm
- replacing your boiler