Elmhurst has long been calling for reform of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) to make them easier to understand and more useful for homeowners, while also ensuring they are fit to drive policies around net zero.

The team is receiving an increasing number of enquiries from homeowners and industry about EPCs and how they can help to improve the energy efficiency of residential and commercial buildings.

Our own assessors also ask us about the future of EPCs and how this might affect training, accreditation and other areas of Elmhurst membership.

This document answers some of the most frequently asked questions, explaining the purpose of and process behind EPCs. It also gives more information about our membership and quality assurance processes, and explains what changes Elmhurst would like to see in the near future.

Elmhurst Energy Managing Director, Stuart Fairlie, comments:

“EPCs have never been more under the spotlight as people look to improve their home’s energy efficiency, reduce energy usage and cut carbon emissions. We get many questions about the accuracy of EPCs and how to digest and use the information they contain, and a lot of our work is increasingly about supporting homeowners and businesses in this area.

“One of our roles is to provide our members with the information they need to explain what they do and how they come to decisions about EPC ratings to their customers, so we hope this Q&A will provide additional support.

“We’ve also answered questions around a number of other areas to do with Elmhurst membership, training and accreditation to support wider knowledge of our sector and the great work professionals are doing to improve the energy efficiency of our homes and buildings.”