How to Improve your EPC
An EPC looks at many areas of the property to give a final EPC rating. The main things to consider when trying to improve your EPC is the overall envelope of the building (i.e. the walls and roof) and the way it is heated. Therefore, having good insulation on the walls and roof, good quality windows and an energy efficient boiler will go a long way to help improve your EPC rating on the day.
However, these can’t be installed quickly before an EPC appointment. this section, therefore, focuses specifically on some quick wins to improve your EPC rating on the day.
The EPC software measures how many lightbulbs are energy efficient in the property, it is therefore important that all the light sockets in the house have energy saving lightbulbs in. If there is no lightbulb in at all in can’t be measured as energy efficient.
As mentioned above, roof insulation is very important. It may be the case that you have excellent loft insulation, but if our energy assessors can’t get easy and safe access to the loft then they can’t measure it and the software will assume a less favorable level of insulation. So, make sure the loft space is easily accessible and can be accessed safely.
If you have an older style water cylinder, it’s important they are insulated with a cylinder jacket. These jackets can be bought for as little as £20 and will improve the efficiency of the cylinder and so improve the potential EPC rating.
Finally, have your paperwork handy! If you have had any energy efficiency improvements done to the house such as; cavity wall insulation, external wall insulation, solar panels or perhaps had an extension built then you should have received some paperwork about this when it was done. If you are able to have this available to the assessor when they come, it will improve the accuracy of the assessment and potentially improve the rating. Without this paperwork, the software tends to assume the worst-case scenario.
