A national newspaper claims that the 20 millionth domestic EPC in the UK is set to be issued in the next few weeks.
EPCs were introduced in England and Wales on August 1 2007 as part of the ill-fated Home Information Pack experiment - although the pack itself was scrapped in 2010, by the then-new coalition government, the EPC was continued to conform with the EU Directive 2002/91/EC relating to the energy performance of buildings.
The Times says between £1 billion and £2 billion has been spent on the certificates since their introduction, with some 120,000 assessments conducted each month.
The newspaper asks whether the EPCs actually do any good aside from providing work for the assessors - and it concludes that the jury is out.
Last summer the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy launched a consultation on the effectiveness of EPCs across a range of sectors; the consultation closed on October 19 last year and the DBEIS says the outcome of the exercise will be revealed “soon.”
The Times cites the professor of energy and building performance at University College London - Paul Ruyssevelt - as suggesting that buyers put a five per cent premium on homes with EPC results in the highest A, B and C bands.
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