Potential improvements to the Energy Performance Certificate System: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/01822
Date received: 3 July 2018
Date responded: 23 July 2018

Information requested

1. As it has been admitted that numbers of home owners have suffered disadvantage related to the EPC system, what measures are in place to allow redress or removal of those disadvantages?

2. If neither redress nor improvement to the system is envisaged, what are the reasons for refusal?

3. As the Scottish system differs from the south in respect of a requirement for Assessors to produce a draft of the EPC before it is lodged in order that any errors can be corrected, what reports related to these problems have been sent to the Minister/Ministers tasked with overseeing this subject?

Response

With regard to question 1 above, the statement (admission) you identify was made by an organisation other than the Scottish Government. We cannot, therefore, provide information on this matter as we are not the source of the statement. We would refer you to that organisation, Elmhurst Energy, for further clarification.

On redress where dissatisfied with an assessment, reference can be made to the duties of Approved Organisations appointed to register EPC Assessors, published within the Scottish Government's Operating Framework at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Building/Building-standards/enerperfor/epcorgprg/epcappfrwk.. This includes the requirement for each Approved Organisation to publish and adhere to complaints, appeals and disciplinary processes.

With regard to question 2 above, please refer to our response to the previous point in respect of redress where dissatisfied with an assessment.

On the issue of improvement to the system, published information on current research to inform this topic is provided within the Energy Efficient Scotland Route Map, available at /publications/energy-efficient-scotland-route-map/.

With regard to question 3 above, no reports on this issue have been sent to the Minister/Ministers tasked with overseeing this subject.

Whilst good practice, there is no mandatory requirement for an EPC assessor to produce and discuss a draft EPC with a client prior to lodgement of data to a central register. We are not aware of such a requirement elsewhere in the UK. We note that the National Occupational Specifications that are cited and underpin the assessor role across the UK do not require such action – reference can be made to ASTDEA5: https://www.ukstandards.org.uk/PublishedNos/ASTDEA5.pdf

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