EnergyMiser

We put our house on the market recently and as required arranged for a Home Information Pack which included an Energy Certificate and that’s when the fun started. Below are a few notes which I will add to as the saga progresses.

Because the HIP was provided by the estate agent no one told me I wouldn’t get to see it until I insisted. Which raises the first point why wasn’t I asked to approve it (or at least have the chance to raise objections). Haing made a fuss I eventually received a copy and rejected it.

Only to discover a glaring error which anyone with common sense could spot. We have electric water heating but the HIP said hot water came from the main heating system (not even connected). Anyone can check the summary - you only need common sense and a knowledge of your house!

Items that can not be inspected will be assumed. In our case a floored loft meant loft insulation was judged to be 1970’s standard (the age of the loft) even though I had replaced it before flooring the loft.

The survey takes no account of draught proofing or other energy saving measures such as reflective foil behind radiators or properly lagged pipes in the loft. So I am writing my own addendum explaining the short comings of the survey.

The survey software (and the surveyor) were unable to rate one of our main sources of heating (and an efficient source at that) which is a wood burning stove - when I queried why not the response was the software doesn’t recognise it!

The recommendations were a joke. We have oil fired central heating and the running costs came out a factor of three higher than reality with the offer of a new boiler to save £400 a year. The suggestion that electric solar panels would be cost effective aslo made me laugh never mind the more realistic recommendation to improve the loft insulation which was missing.

Getting errors put right is easier said than done and so far there has been a total lack of interest in re-issuing the Energy Certificate. Not helped by the fact the certificate was commissioned by the house agent who very reluctantly agreed to remove the survey from the sales information.

The certificates seem to measure absolute energy use rather than energy efficiecy which suggests the title is wrong as well - I will challenge this next time I get bored.

Energy Certificate Checklist
1. Always insist on a copy even if you did not commission it.
2. Insist on the right of veto.
3. Check the summary.
4. If there are assumptions which are untrue add your own addendum explaing the differences.
5. Insist on errors being corrected.

Having now had the chance to look at Energy Certificates for four other houses I was amazed to find obvious errors in three of them which took only seconds to spot as I was shown around the house - the owners hadn’t even noticed. It makes you wonder what the true acuracy rate of these certificates is?!