Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the reliability of the Energy Performance Certificate data being used to decide on eligibility for the Warm Homes Discount.

The Government consulted on the reforms to the scheme in summer 2021, which included an assessment of the reliability of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data.

The Government calculates energy cost scores for properties using certain property characteristic data primarily from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) for the purpose of establishing eligibility under the Warm Home Discount.

Property characteristics from EPCs are only used at the request of a household when they believe the property characteristics in their EPC are more accurate than those provided by the VOA, or in the minority of cases where VOA data is not available.