Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH): guidance for social landlords (revised February 2019)

3 The EESSH ratings and methodology

3.1 The EESSH aims to encourage landlords to improve the energy efficiency of social housing in Scotland. It sets a single minimum Energy Efficiency (EE) rating for landlords to achieve that varies dependent upon the dwelling type and the fuel type used to heat it. The ratings reflect that some dwelling types can be more or less challenging to improve than others.

3.2 The minimum EE ratings for the 2020 milestone are set out in Table 1. The target was defined by reference to minimum ratings in the UK Government's Standard Assessment Procedure for Energy Rating of Dwellings (SAP 2009). The table also includes the equivalent ratings for SAP 2012. Note that the SAP ratings for gas are the same for both iterations of SAP. In terms of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), these ratings straddle Band D (55-68) and Band C(69-80).^[8]

Table 1: EESSH minimum ratings for 2020 (by dwelling type)

3.3 For dwellings that do not use gas or electricity for heating, the EESSH target is the same as the SHQS. SHQS element 35 sets an energy efficiency target for "other fuels" at either National Home Energy Rating (NHER) rating of 5 or SAP 2001 rating 60. The equivalent ratings for SAP 2009 and 2012 are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: EESSH minimum ratings for 2020 (other fuels, all dwellings)

3.4 Social landlords must ensure that they achieve the relevant minimum EE ratings by the first milestone of 31 December 2020 for all applicable social housing. The scope of EESSH is the same as SHQS: they both apply to self-contained homes, including a full range of facilities for the use of occupiers, provided for the purpose of social rents, and usually subject to tenancy agreements based on the model agreement for secure tenancies.^[9] This includes sheltered housing, vacant property, property marked for demolition, and secure tenancies under the mortgage to rent scheme. It excludes houses purchased by former tenants, hostels with common facilities for food preparation, intermediate or mid-market rents, mortgage to shared equity, commercial sub-lets and amenity blocks for Gypsy/Traveller sites.