WRITTEN ON May 23rd, 2007 BY Richard S AND STORED IN Uncategorized
While preparing to file yet another set of company data online with the HMRC, I hear garbled reports of controversy about something called a home “Energy Certificate” (ie. EPC).
Apparently, the EU and the UK government have decided that all homes in the UK must be “rated” for their energy “efficiency” – government officials keep comparing this with the rating on fridges & freezers: Presumably, meaning that these rating will be equally misleading and will lead to perfectly adequate properties being scrapped prematurely!
However, why no talk about an online energy assessment service?…
Apparently, the great mass of owner-occupied houses – those with less than four bedrooms – will now be exempt; but properties let by (rich, greedy?) landlords will face extra frequent checks.
Apparently a new army of inspectors has been trained – at high cost – to drive (their polluting cars) around the countryside assessing homes and issuing these certificates.
Apparently, this will all cost home owners several hundred pounds per inspection: The EU demands that this be done every ten years; the UK government wants this done every five years for owner-occupied homes and annually? for properties let by (rich, greedy) landlords.
Ignoring the debate about whether home “energy certificates” are a “good thing”; whether they will actually help to “save the planet” or whether they will become another farce like the widely discredited, bureaucratic “carbon trading scheme”:
Why is there no online “self-assessment” alternative to these costly inspections?
Each “professional” inspection will just check a few obvious points: Inspectors will not be able to dismantle the home:
Most home owners are capable of eg. counting the walls; recording the type of construction; measuring the thickness of the loft insulation; telling the difference between single-glazed & double-glazed windows; recognising the type of heating & boiler; maybe even finding records of their actual fuel usage?
When the home is sold, a surveyor or valuer would quickly spot any attempted fraud.
So, if we’re thought capable of filing our self-assessed tax online and applying for fiendishly complicated “tax credits,” why can we not assess our own home’s energy efficiency?
Doing the assessment exercise ourselves might actually concentrate our minds on how to save precious energy – and leave us with enough money to help pay for improvements.
[b]WIBBIs[/b]
1. All such bureaucratic schemes should be scrapped: High energy prices give most people more than enough incentive to save energy. (Conveniently situated, easy to read, easy to understand energy meters would help!)
2. Government (or energy companies) should provide a free online self-assessment service for these “energy certificates.”
3. Government (and energy companies) should provide real practical help and reliable information to help us cut our energy consumption.
3 Responses to “HIPS – Energy Certificates – why no online service?”
The launch date has been delayed for two months.
Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors have launched a judicial review in the courts.
Maybe it will be halted.
Article 10 of the EU Regulations:
[blockquote]Independent experts:
“Member States shall ensure that the certification of buildings, the drafting of the accompanying recommendations and the inspection of boilers and air-conditioning systems are carried out in an independent manner by qualified and/or accredited experts, whether operating as sole traders or employed by public or private enterprise bodies.”[/blockquote]
Questions:
1. Can such “experts” be made from silicon rather than carbon? ie. Would an “expert system” count?
2. Where do the EU regulations state that the “expert” must physically visit each and every property that they “certify” (apart of course from the separate issue of inspecting & maintaining boilers & air-conditioning)?
According to the EU regulations: For apartment blocks – common throughout continental Europe, but less common in the UK outside London; only one apartment has to be inspected in each block.
However in most of the UK, each and every home will have to be inspected – even where homes are identical to next-door properties.
3. For such a recent, apparently important EU regulation – affecting “the future of the planet” – why was no thought given to the role of computers, communications technologies, or e-Government services?
Hi Richard,
$deity save us from another Government IT project!
You pose the question “why can we not assess our own home’s energy efficiency?” and I think the answer is that there are far more draconian powers open to HMRC if they discover you’ve misprepresented your position than are open to other arms of government who might oversee these energy certificates (hmm – is that tempting fate, I wonder…)
The EU regs came into force on 4th Jan 2006, but the lack of any trained experts in doing the assessments has allowed the UK to delay introduction for up to three years at the latest.
You can read the relevant directive for yourself:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32002L0091:EN:NOT
The problem here is that the UK Govt has gold-plated the regs, as it so often does, an a misguided attempt to re-engineer the housing market for its own ends – however laudable or cynical those ends may be, I don’t know.
WIBBI the Govt sought to implement the lightest touch legislation rather than continually overcomplicating things.