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Hunt’s Headlines – Industry Reacts
Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement has been welcomed for cutting National Insurance and making tax easier for the self-employed. Being able to claim tax...
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Building Renovation Passports Should Replace EPCs Say MPs
The Environmental Audit Committee has argued that building renovation passports have the potential to provide more accurate data on energy usage – and would be more efficient at unlocking green finance than EPCs.
The EAC recommends the government develops an approved standardised methodology and data framework for the passports which would eventually replace energy performance certificates.
The UK's net-zero carbon target for all homes by 2050 is unlikely to be met without a major overhaul of the current system the same group of MPs have warned,
The warning comes just days after the Committee slammed the Green Homes Grant Scheme in operation whilst recommending that it be revised and continued,
The government promptly cancelled the Scheme.
The EAC estimates decarbonising UK homes by 2050 will cost £342 billion - way above the government's estimates of between £35 to £65 billion.
“Realism needs to be injected into the government. A much better understanding of cost, pace, scale and feasibility of skills development is desperately needed for net-zero Britain.”
– Philip Dunne
MP & Chairman, Environmental Audit Committee
C rating
About 19 million homes need to be upgraded to reach energy performance certificate C rating. In preparing a report on the energy efficiency of British homes, the Committee heard in evidence this would entail an average cost of £18,000 in upgrades not including heat pumps.
“Building renovation passports will give confidence to businesses that they can invest in upskilling and green jobs," said Dunne. "This must be properly reflected in the system that assesses energy efficiency. EPCs are outdated and should be replaced with passports which set a clear pathway to decarbonise homes."
Energy Performance Certificates
EPCs are needed whenever a property is built, sold or rented and must be made available to potential buyers and tenants before the property is marketed.
In Scotland, you must display the EPC somewhere in the property, for example in the meter cupboard or next to the boiler.
An EPC contains information about a property’s energy use and typical energy costs and recommendations about how to reduce energy use and save money.
An EPC gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years.
VAT needs to be slashed
National Federation of Builders housing and planning policy head Rico Wojtulewicz said reforming Energy Performance Certificates rather than future homes standards was the way to go. "We hope the government will also explore our recommendation to use stamp duty receipts to retrofit old homes and incentivise better new ones, as well as cut the VAT on the hardest to retrofit homes, our traditional builds."
The Federation of Master Builders called on the government to adopt the EAC’s recommendations in full including cutting VAT on home improvements from 20 to five per cent.
FMB Chief Executive Brian Berry said: "Local builders must be at the heart of plans to green our homes and a national retrofit strategy would provide them with the confidence they need to invest in the necessary skills and training requirements."
Brokers Hank Zarihs Associates said a national strategy would motivate builders to go into green refurbishments and was something development and refurbishment finance lenders would support.
Green Homes Grant
The Committee was critical of the Green Homes Grant system, launched 16 months ago, where only £125 million worth of vouchers out of the £1.5 billion budget had been spent prior to the closing of the scheme on 31 March.
The EAC would also like to see the reinstatement of a reduced rate of VAT payable on energy-saving materials at five per cent while expanding its scope to cover energy storage, heat pumps and electric vehicle charging. Up until 2019, certain clean technologies were eligible for a reduced rate of VAT of 5 per cent.
Picture: With thanks to the Energy Saving Trust.
Article written by Cathryn Ellis
08th April 2021