EPCs for existing homes

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rates your home’s energy efficiency from A to G. Getting an EPC involves modelling your home based on information gathered during an EPC visit and some desk-based research.

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FAQs

The five steps to getting an EPC

Step one: booking in your EPC

After you get in contact, you will recieve an estimate for your EPC and date and time for your EPC visit. The price depends on the size and complexity of your home.

At this point, please highlight any access needs ahead of your EPC visit.

Step two: desk-based research about your home

Some background research is conducted on your home to determine its age and any improvement works that have taken place during its lifetime. This includes old maps and entries into local planning and building control registers.

This research is important and means that all of the documentary evidence to produce an accurate EPC is available. Your help will ensure this is as accurate as possible, so please share any documents or certificates about insulation or solutions in your home.

Step three: EPC visit to gather data and information

Visual evidence and a measurements are gathered during an EPC visit.

The length of an EPC visit can vary depending on the size and complexity of your home. However, a typical assessment on a three bedroom home should take around an hour to complete.

Step four: modelling your home

Your home gets modelled in our assessment software called the Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure (RdSAP). This is a standard methodology that calculates energy usage, carbon emissions and energy bills, based on standardised assumptions about occupancy.

Step five: lodging the EPC with the central register

If you’re happy, the EPC is lodged on the national EPC Register where it will be available with any other EPCs previously lodged for the home. The EPC can be accessed at any time by searching for the address of the home.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I need an EPC?

If you are selling or renting your home, you are legally required to have an EPC. By having an EPC, tenants and potential buyers understand the energy efficiency of the home and can make informed decisions.

What is an EPC?

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is an asset rating about the energy efficiency of a home. The energy efficiency itself is rated on a scale from A to G, with A being the most energy-efficient and G being the least energy-efficient.

You can think of an EPC in three ways:

1. An EPC is just like an energy label, but for homes. It’s a way of comparing one home with another.
2. It’s a dataset with different uses, including data warehouses on retrofit and national statistics about the UK’s housing stock.
3. It’s a set of recommendations to improve your home’s energy efficiency, and can be used to access certain energy efficiency incentives such as Energy Company Obligation (ECO).

Who carries out my EPC?

An Awarding Body of the Built Environment (ABBE) qualified Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) will carry out an assessment of your home. For Morewood Sustainability, our existing dwelling EPCs are accredited by Quidos.

How long is an EPC valid for?

An EPC is valid for 10 years. After this time, you need to get a new EPC.

How much does an EPC cost?

An EPC’s cost depends on the size and complexity of your home. Please get in touch to arrange a quote based on this.

What gets inspected during an EPC visit?

The Energy Assessor is required to inspect the inside and outside of the home and the visible parts of building services.

What catchment area do you cover?

Morewood Sustainability has a main catchment area for EPCs which includes Plymouth, Tavistock, Ivybridge and their surrounding villages. EPCs can be provided outside of these areas, but this will include a supplement charge for mileage – so if you are far away, it will be more cost effective to instruct a local assessor to you. This will be made clear when you book your EPC.

Are there any exemptions meaning that I don’t need an EPC?

There are limited exemptions to the requirement for an EPC. Currently these exemptions are:

1. Homes with a demolition order in space
2. Small detached dwellings below 50 square meters.
3. Temporary buildings which will be used for two years or less.
4. Residential buildings which are used or intended to be used for under a third of the year or an energy consumption of under a quarter of all-year round use.
5. Individual rooms in houses in multiple occupation (HMO) being rented (but the whole building will still need an EPC if sold or let).

Why are EPCs different for new builds and existing homes?

It’s all about the methodology used to produce your EPC.

For existing homes, the Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure (RdSAP) methodology is used. This enables an EPC to be produced from a visual assessment alone and documentary evidence which is readily available.

For new builds, a lot more information is available, including detailed plans and specifications. This means that the full Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) methodology can be used, which is more robust than RdSAP. You can find out more about our new build services here.

Will you need access to my loft?

Yes, access to your loft is needed in order to assess any insulation present. We will access your loft safely from a 3 metre telescopic ladder (which we will provide). If it is not possible to access the loft, such as if it is locked or blocked, this will affect the accuracy of your EPC. For all but the newest homes, the likely impact is that your EPC rating will fall significantly because the EPC software will instead make an assumption about the amount of loft insulation present.

What about pets and valuables?

Please ensure that any pets are securely under your control during the inspection.

To capture visual evidence, a camera is used to photograph both internal and external features of the home, in order to provide evidence to the accreditation scheme. Please ensure that any valuables or personal possessions that you do not wish to be on view are removed or securely stored prior to the inspection.

Why do you need to take photographs?

Quidos, who accredit EPCs, is required to audit EPCs to ensure their accuracy and provide confidence in EPCs. In short, the photographic evidence collected enables an EPC auditor to recreate the EPC from scratch. Rest assured that this evidence is used only to audit EPC submissions.

Do I need to provide any evidence or paperwork?

If you have any documentary evidence about equipment and systems in your home, please email this over or have this available during the home visit.

If something cannot be visually inspected and photographed, then documentary evidence of installation is required in order to include these in your EPC.

Evidence accepted by our accreditation scheme includes:
– Installation certificates for wall insulation
– Commissioning certificates for boilers
– Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certificates
– Guarantees and warranties
– Building control sign offs
– Letters from builders (reviewed on a case-by-case basis by accreditation schemes)

Do you need to lodge my EPC with the central register?

You will be asked to confirm that you are happy with your EPC before it is lodged. If you don’t want to lodge the EPC, an Energy Report can be provided instead – this is just like an EPC but does not appear on the central register.

Please note though that an EPC needs to be lodged in order to meet legal requirements such as marketed sales or MEES.

What happens if I have a low EPC rating?

There is no minimum EPC requirement for owned occupied homes.

It’s a little bit more complicated if you live in a rented home. After the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) were introduced in April 2018, a valid EPC of at least an E rating is required to be able to rent the home. If the rating falls below E, landlords must invest in energy efficiency measures to increase the rating to an E (although the contribution is capped at £3,500). Some homes are exempt from MEES, but you need to register these exemptions. The minimum requirement of an E rating could increase in the future.

What can I do to improve my home’s energy efficiency rating?

There are several ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency rating. This can include installing insulation, upgrading your heating system, and using energy efficient lighting. Your EPC will recommend a series of these solutions, but it’s important to remember an EPC makes certain assumptions about your home and doesn’t account for its condition.

The EPC has recommended something that isn’t appropriate for my home – what do I do?

EPCs are software driven and particular findings in your home automatically trigger certain recommendations. For example, the software will recommend wind turbines for all rural homes or solar water heating where a hot water cylinder is present. It is often the case that these may be too expensive to be worthwhile or inappropriate for the home.

Similarly, certain energy saving solutions that you may be aware of, like external wall insulation, might not be listed as a recommendation for you on the EPC report. It may be that the home is not suitable for these measures, that they already exist at the home, or that the EPC software has been calculated that the savings made would not be large enough.

Just because a recommendation is made by an EPC does not mean you are required to follow it through. If you are thinking about installing energy efficiency measures, a Retrofit Assessment is a good next step and will give a better idea of what is actually suitable given how the home is used and its condition.

The EPC says my energy bills are £X when in fact they are £Y – how do you explain this?

EPCs make assumptions about how many people occupy a home based on floor area and how those occupants consume energy using different appliances and systems. EPCs make this assumption regardless of how many people actually occupy a home.

It’s about comparing apples with apples, because the energy use of a large family who are home all day wouldn’t be comparable with a single person who is out all day.

I’ve read media coverage that EPCs aren’t accurate – is this true?

When interpreting your EPC, it is important to remember that EPCs are an asset rating system designed to compare the performance of different homes. The software used for all EPCs makes certain assumptions about the construction type or condition of the home. EPCs don’t consider how the home is used. It also assumes a standard level of occupancy and heating levels. As such, it’s not unusual to feel it is not a true reflection of the performance of the home. For example, your energy bills may be much higher or lower than indicated on the EPC because of how you use your home.

If you have any questions about the EPC, feel free get in touch to discuss this in more detail.

The EPC is completely different to the one I had done 15 years ago but my home is exactly the same – how do you explain this?

A standardised methodology is used to produce EPCs, which involves a model called RdSAP, a set of conventions about data entry and technical bulletins from accreditation schemes.

In June 2025, a new version of this model was introduced called RdSAP 10, new conventions come out periodically and technical bulletins are regularly published by accreditation schemes.

Although EPCs shouldn’t be too far apart, it’s normal to get minor deviations. If you have any specific concerns, please contact us directly by emailing office@morewoodsustainability.com or calling 01822 752 961.

I have another question that isn’t listed here.

If you have any questions about EPCs, feel free get in touch to discuss this in more detail.

Contact us directly by emailing office@morewoodsustainability.com or calling 01822 752 961.

Book an EPC now

Using the form below is the best way to book an EPC with us, but if you prefer to contact us directly, please email office@morewoodsustainability.com or call 01822 752 961

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