If you're buying a home, you can expect to find an Energy Performance Certificate as part of the Home Information Pack for the house you're considering buying.

The certificates are commissioned by the seller (or their agent) from an Accredited Energy Assessor, who visits the property to collect the relevant data and creates the certificate. This data includes the date, construction and location of the house and relevant fittings (heating systems, insulation or double glazing, for example).

What is an Energy Performance Certificate?

An Energy Performance Certificate shows the official energy efficiency rating of a property. As a homeowner, you'll only need one when you sell your home. In order to sell your home you'll need an Energy Performance Certificate as part of your Home Information Pack. 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.

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.

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.

Sample Energy Performance Certificate