Scotland EPC Reform Confirmed - What will new EPCs look like?

The Scottish Government has confirmed plans to radically re-shape EPC certificates from October next year.

As well as the technical side of swapping SAP for HEM (see previous post) the Energy Performance Certificate itself is going to look quite different.

For domestic properties, the single A-G rating will be replaced with three ratings, focusing on fabric performance, running costs, and the carbon intensity of the heating system.

The new EPC will highlight where a property loses most heat, so renovation work can be better focused on the areas that will have the biggest impact on energy performance.

💻 For starters, it will be available via the Government website on a similar platform used in England and Wales.

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.

All new builds should sit in these top two ratings. For the existing housing stock, this new EPC display will make it obvious which homes need to be prioritised for more insulation and better windows.

💰 There’s a misconception that current EPCs report on energy efficiency, but the rating is a prediction of running costs, where A rated homes are cheaper to run.

The problem with using this approach is that, per kWh, gas heating is much cheaper than electricity, so gives better EPC results. Understandably, Governments are keen to promote clean energy as part of the Net Zero agenda, so although EPCs will still report on running costs, this information is being bumped down the page.

It's also being renamed as the Energy Cost Rating (ECR).

🔥 The third A-G metric, the Heating System Rating (HSR) considers the carbon emissions associated with the type of heating in your home, the fuel it uses, and its efficiency.

Typically, heat pumps will be A rated, panel and storage heaters B rated, gas boilers D-E and the worst performing being coal fires and oil boilers.

📰 With these three measurements working together, it will be easier to see which homes would benefit from more insulation, and which would benefit from a modern heating system.

We don't have that level of detail currently, as the EPC only gives a single, overall rating.

🏭 In the world of non-domestic buildings, the ratings will display different info compared to their residential brothers.

Metrics will be based on the building’s energy performance, the Heating System Rating and direct emissions.

👷 A new Proprty Report (like the current Recommendations Report) contains new infographics that pinpoint where a homeowner or landlord should target renovations.

We’ll start to see these new-look EPCs in Scottish estate agent windows from next Autumn.

And although England and Wales haven't announced plans for EPC Reform yet, don't be surprised if we see similar certificates across the UK in the next few years.