Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reforming Energy Performance Certificates.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) underpin a growing number of BEIS policies and government targets, including the Government’s ambition for as many homes to reach EPC C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective, and affordable. In 2020, BEIS and MHCLG (now DLUHC) jointly published an EPC Action Plan detailing a series of commitments to maximise the effectiveness of EPCs as a tool for improving the energy performance of buildings. These commitments culminate to deliver the following three outcomes: an EPC system that produces accurate, reliable, and trusted EPCs, an EPC that engages consumers and supports policy to drive action, and a data infrastructure fit for the future of EPCs.

As part of its action plan, the Government is proceeding with an update to the EPC’s underlying methodology, exploring the potential to integrate Smart Meter Enabled Thermal Efficiency Ratings to bring measurement closer to actual performance, as well as investigating means of improving the recommendations generated by the EPC to be better tailored to the individual building. A report detailing the Government’s progress in delivering these commitments was published in November 2021.