Commercial Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)
The Regulations
From October 2008 a commercial EPC is required for a commercial building when it is constructed, sold or let. This must be made available to the prospective purchaser or tenant at the point of marketing the building. An EPC can only be issued by an accredited assessor and it must be registered on the national database administered by Landmark plc.
The EPC looks broadly similar to the energy labels now provided with vehicles and many household appliances. Its purpose is to indicate how energy efficient a building is. The certificate will provide an energy rating of the building from A to G, where A is very efficient and G is the least efficient. The better the rating, the more energy-efficient the building is, and the lower the fuel bills are likely to be. The energy performance of the building is shown as a Carbon Dioxide (CO2) based index.
Each energy rating is based on the characteristics of the building itself and its services (such as heating and lighting). Hence this type of rating is known as an asset rating.
The asset ratings will reflect considerations including the age and condition of the building. It is accompanied by a recommendation report, which provides recommendations on using the building more effectively, cost effective improvements to the building and other more expensive improvements which could enhance the building’s energy performance.
What is involved in producing an Energy Performance Certificate
It is essential that you obtain an accurate energy rating when you next require a commercial EPC! The Certificate and Advisory Report is valid for the next 10 years, so why settle for an “F” or “G” rating when by using a Non Domestic Energy Assessor (NDEA) that puts the time and effort in to establishing the correct information a “D” rating may be possible? The accredited Non Domestic Energy Assessor has a checklist of information that they need to obtain in order to provide the software with the data that it uses to calculate your energy rating (A to G) for a commercial EPC.
Non Domestic Energy Assessors will produce different energy ratings for the same building depending on the accuracy of the information that they gather. If the NDEA is unable to obtain the relevant information the software programme has default settings that the NDEA can use. The more default responses your NDEA inputs in to the software the worse your overall building rating will be.
Commercial EPCs may in future be used as a method of calculating council tax liability for an occupier of commercial premises. Organisations who are affected by the Carbon Reduction Commitment are unlikely to want to rent or lease commercial premises that have a low EPC rating (D or below) as this will affect the amount of carbon allowances that they have to buy each year and ultimately their position in the league table.
The use of “Data Collectors”
In May 2009 the Department of Communities and Local Government (DGLG) who are responsible for the implementation of the legislation regarding EPCs wrote to all the accreditation bodies instructing them that “With immediate effect, “data collection” on domestic and level 3 commercial properties is banned, with the collection process for level 4 and 5 being outlined with stringent guidelines”. In the past some providers of EPCs have been using less skilled unqualified “Data Gathers” who are not accredited to collect the information required to produce an EPC. They then pass this to an NDEA who uses it to produce an EPC. Clearly there is room for error using this method. Ensure that the organisation that you select to provide you with your EPC insists that their NDEA visits your premises and personally carries out the inspection.
After this instruction from DCLG if an EPC provider still insists on the use of Data Gatherers to produce level 4 & 5 EPCs the guidelines are very strict. There is no justification for using Data Gatherers on level 3 buildings, because the scale and complexity of level 3 buildings is not sufficient to justify their use on them. This note therefore confirms that the use of data gatherers on level 3 buildings is not permitted. However, for level 4 and 5 buildings we propose the following clarification:
- Visiting the property - the NDEA must inspect all properties for which they issue an EPC to ensure they can verify any data provided and be sure that it is appropriate for the building before the EPC is lodged with the National Non-Domestic Register. This also enables the NDEA to provide the building owner with the outcome.
- Recording of assistants and data sources used - the NDEA must record all the assistants used and the provenance of all data that has been used to produce the EPC.
- Evidence of supervision - the NDEA must provide evidence of supervision of the process. One way of demonstrating this would be via the use of ISO9001 procedures.
- The suitability of any assistants used:The NDEAs are responsible for ensuring that any assistants used are ‘fit and proper’ and suitably qualified, for example by being a level 3 NDEA or through membership of a recognised professional body.
- The NDEA should be able to provide evidence to support an assistant’s suitability to do the work.
- The NDEA must be able to demonstrate that the contractual arrangements of any assistants allow sufficient supervision and quality control by the Accredited Energy Assessor. Employment of assistants by the same company as the NDEA would be one way of demonstrating this.
- Remote lodgement business models – which in this note refer to the practice of an accredited EA lodging a certificate which has been produced from data that has not been collected or verified in the manner described above by the EA - are not acceptable. The fact is, in such circumstances, that the accredited EA is unable to fully supervise the assistant and verify the data and how it is collected.
A Level 3 commercial building is defined by DCLG in their guidelines as:
(i) simple heating systems (Boiler Systems <100kw)
(ii) simple natural ventilation
(iii) small comfort cooling systems (up to 12kw)
A Level 4 commercial building is defined by DCLG in their guidelines as:
(i) linked boilers totaling >100kw
(ii) multi split cooling systems and VRF systems
(iii) central air conditioning: AHU, All-air, Air/water, Chillers
A Level 5 commercial building id defined by DCLG as a new or existing complex non-dwelling: such as a complex large office building or factory using modeling tools e.g. Dynamic Simulation Modelling (DSM)
Your Responsibilities
It is the obligation of the building owner or landlord to provide a prospective purchaser, or tenant at the point of sale with a valid Energy Performance Certificate.
Local authorities (usually by their Trading Standards Officers) are responsible for enforcing the requirement to have an EPC on sale or let of a building. Failure to make available an EPC when required by the Regulations means you may be liable to a civil penalty charge notice. Trading Standards Officers may act on complaints or undertake investigations. They may request you to provide them with a copy of the EPC and recommendation report that you were under a duty to provide. If asked, you must provide this information within seven days of the request or be liable again to a penalty charge notice. A copy of an EPC can be requested at any time up to six months after the last day for compliance with when the duty was to make it available.