Energy performance certificates make good economic sense - Wilson

Energy performance certificates make good economic sense, especially in today’s climate, Finance and Personnel Minister Sammy Wilson said today.

He was speaking one year on from the introduction of the requirements to have an energy performance certificate when marketing properties for sale or rent.

The Minister said: “These certificates depict an energy rating for the building – similar to the colour coded ratings on electrical appliances – and come with a recommendation report showing how you can improve the building’s energy performance and save money in the longer term. This makes good economic sense particularly when fuel prices remain high and with the current economic environment.”

The Minister continued: “When you are buying or renting a property, these certificates will give you valuable information about the energy efficiency and therefore potential running costs of that property. You will be able to make a more informed choice. Sellers and landlords may also be encouraged to make their properties more attractive to make the best of the current market. To date over 35,000 EPCs have been generated”

"The Public Sector has been playing its part too by arranging for the display of these certificates in relevant larger buildings. The Department will ensure that the public sector complies fully and in the forthcoming months will also focus on non-domestic properties to ensure they too are fully compliant."

Notes to Editors:

1. The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) Regulations (NI) 2008 were made on 10th April 2008. They introduced requirements to provide an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) when a building is constructed, sold or rented. An EPC may only be produced by a trained and accredited assessor who will arrange to visit a property to do the assessment.

2. The Regulations provided for this by way of a three phased implementation as follows:

30 June 2008: Sale of existing dwellings
30 September 2008: Construction of new buildings
30 December 2008: Rental of existing buildings; sale of existing non-dwellings.

3. In addition the Regulations also introduced a requirement for larger public buildings that are visited by the public to display prominently a Display Energy Certificate. This is similar to an EPC but derives its rating from the actual energy consumed by the building in a 12-month period.

4. The Regulations also established an inspection regime for all air conditioning systems over 12 kW output.

5. The Regulations implemented the requirements of Articles 7, 9 and 10 of the European Directive 2002/91 on the energy performance of buildings. Other requirements in this Directive were implemented by amendments to the Building Regulations Part F (Conservation of fuel & power) made in August 2006.

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