The Government is looking at updating the EPC process in the UK. We outline the potential changes below which are vital to be aware of if you’re planning the future of your private non-domestic building.

Timescales for the mandatory C band (which will capture 54% of all private rented non-domestic buildings) is still in theory 2027, and for B band (which will capture 85%) 2030. However, due to delays in the government’s publishing of its response to the original EPC / MEES consultations, the government’s formal position is the implementation of these dates is likely to be delayed by at least a year, or potentially more.

A potential future on the horizon is that in the future, EPCs will only last 5 years, not the current 10 years.

There is discussion about a potential move away from a single letter rating associated with Carbon, over to a multi letter rating (like on a cereal packet) that covers the six items below, with an emphasis on the first 4:

• • Energy cost
  • Fabric Performance
  • Heating System efficiency
  • “Smart readiness”
  • Carbon
  • Energy use

Smart readiness is the ability to optimise energy consumption, depending on the availability of energy in the grid (to assist with smoothing out peaks and troughs in grid demand due to renewable energy generation fluctuations).

The rating of a build can sometimes be moved up a band with remodelling. If the building has previously been modelled with defaults, and more accurate data can be found to justify that the building is more energy efficient, a better EPC can be achieved.

The “behind the scenes” changes to EPC calculation methodology in 2022 has resulted in a building that is served by air source heat pumps could potentially get a better EPC rating when run under the new software rules.

Conversely, these same changes mean that buildings served by gas boilers may now achieve a worse EPC rating. e.g. with no other changes, a building with and EPC of C under a pre-2021 EPC, may now only achieve a D rating despite no changes occurring to the building.

We’ll keep you updated when the Government finalises plans and we know more!