Display Energy Certificates (DECs)

The Regulations

A Display Energy Certificate and advisory report is currently required for any building with a total useful floor area over 1,000m² that is occupied in whole or part by public authorities and by institutions providing public services to a large number of persons and therefore frequently visited by those persons. A DEC can only be issued by an accredited assessor and it must be registered on the national database administered by Landmark plc.

The Operational Rating (OR) for Display Energy Certificates is based on the actual energy consumption in a given 12 month period for the building and is renewed annually. The Advisory Report which lists potential measures that can be taken to reduce energy consumption is valid for a 7 year period and does not need to be displayed.

The Operational Rating (OR) shown on the certificate is a numerical indicator of the actual annual carbon dioxide emissions from the building and is compared to typical benchmarks for similar types of building. It is the Occupier’s responsibility to display in a prominent place that is accessible to the public their Display Energy Certificate.

The Certificate has to be renewed annually which builds up a track record of how the occupier is managing the energy use and hence the carbon emission of the building.

The European Parliament has extended the scope of DECs

The European commission has extended the scope of DECs by lowering the building size threshold to 500 sq m for Public Sector buildings and now includes Commercial Sector buildings with a gross internal area of 1,000 sq m or more. The latest that this must happen in the UK is by 9th January 2013.

Transitional Arrangements (now ceased)

During the first year from October 2008 there were transitional arrangements for multiple buildings on a site or campus:

The format, validity and other attributes of a site-based DEC are identical to a building based DEC. A site-based DEC is a single DEC that will cover all qualifying buildings on a site. Site-based DECs are only allowed where a number of buildings share meters. When the validity of the transitional DEC expires, the new DEC must be produced using standard OR methodology
A site-based Advisory Report (AR). A site-based Advisory Report is unlikely to give meaningful recommendations at a building level. It is therefore strongly recommended that composite site-based ARs are replaced by building specific ARs for every qualifying building when the initial site-based DEC expires (i.e. after 12 months)

What is involved in producing a Display Energy Certificate

The Energy Assessor will carry out a walk around survey of the building to establish what the potential for reducing energy consumption is and identify any zones that have untypical energy demand for the type of building. The energy assessor will request data about the use of the building, the total useable floor area, the operational hours, and details of any air conditioning equipment.

The Operational Rating can be influenced by a number of factors:

It is important to ensure that the measurement of the total useful floor area is accurate.
Ensure that any specific allowable energy uses are separately metered i.e. an office block that has regional server room
The operational hours of the building need to be accurate
Allowances are made for On-site generation from renewable sources that are separately metered
Buildings that share a common meter would be better advised to have a sub meter in one of them to accurately show the consumption of the particular building especially if they have different types of use.

Your Responsibilites

For all buildings affected by the regulations: