With the Future Homes Standard set to go live across England next March, housebuilders will need to design in PV panels and install heat pumps to the vast majority of new buildings. That’s going to have a positive impact on Energy Performance Certificates... for now.

Last week, the UK Government (representing England and Wales), and the Scottish Government both released statements saying EPCs will remain unchanged until late 2027. To recap, the way Energy Performance Certificates look, how results are graded, and the way they are calculated, are all changing. When it happens, it will be the biggest refresh to EPCs since their creation in 2008.

Well I've certainly been to less glamorous locations for a conference! I spent today at the Travis Perkins Customer Summit at Silverstone, getting the latest news on their WholeHouse project, chatting to HVAC manufacturers, and spreading the word about how social housing landlords need to prepare now for EPC Reform in 2030.

Property owners in Scotland need to start planning for how to renovate homes they both rent out, AND live in. Proposals and timeframes for MEES differ from England and Wales, but the key objectives remain the same – to reduce energy use and carbon emissions generated by our homes.

The new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) go live from October 2030. Landlords must ensure all rentals comply by this deadline. If a property scores A-C using a current EPC, that's OK. If a property scores A-C under the fabric metric of the new EPC (available from the end of 2026), that's OK. For properties with a D, E, F or G rating, the landlord must spend up to £10,000 making fabric and service improvements outlined in the EPC recommendations.

The UK Government has set out plans to replace rdSAP10 assessments with the Home Energy Model. Domestic Energy Assessors (DEA) are still getting to grips with rdSAP10 (which was only implemented back in the summer) following years of delays. This consultation also considers how the new EPC metrics will be defined. You’ve got until March 18th, 2026 to have your say.

EPC certificates in England and Wales will be changing from October 2026. There will still be an A-G rating. But the single rating is being replaced with a dashboard of information, primarily focusing on fabric performance.

EPC certificates in Scotland will be changing from October 2026. There will still be an A-G rating. But to spice things up, we’ll get three of them, each considering different factors. The main metric will be a measurement of Fabric Performance. The better your house is at keeping the heat in, the better rating it will achieve. The Heat Retention Rating (HRR) is expected to award A ratings to the most insulated homes in Scotland (<30 kWh/m2 of heat loss), and B ratings <90.

The Scottish Government has published what EPC Reform is going to look like. SAP assessors are advised to strap in… it could be a bumpy ride! Every EPC in Scotland will need to be redone, using a more complicated assessment tool that isn’t ready yet, with a nation of re-trained SAP assessors attending training courses that haven’t been written yet, signing up to 'new enhanced accreditation scheme requirements' that don’t exist yet.

It was good to see Elmhurst's Stuart Fairlie in this article, raising the issue of outdated methodology that currently drives our EPC ratings. It's after a chap installed a heat pump and PV in his house, and was given a worse Energy Performance Certificate for his troubles.

House of Commons committee gives blunt but honest review of the current EPC process, and calls for reform to improve the accuracy of the information on the energy certificates.