NEWS UPDATE EPC COMPARISON
Listed properties falling down on energy ratings
Scottish government set to abandon energy improvement scheme
SNP finance secretary Shona Robison is drawing up her spending plans for the next financial year ahead of delivering her budget on December 4. As part of her £500 million of cuts to services announced in September, Ms Robison has already confirmed £800,000 would be cut by not running a paid-for marketing campaign to promote heat in buildings policies. Up to £900,000 will be cut from energy efficiency and decarbonisation by not running any further support programmes for public sector buildings for the rest of this financial year. Now former Scottish energy
minister Patrick Harvie, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens who quit the government this April, is warning that his former officials are warning him that there are likely to be “significant numbers of job losses” from those running the main Homes Energy Scotland scheme. This funds both individual consumer advice, as well as acting as a ‘gateway’ to energy saving measures. During 2022/3, 138,000 Scottish households were helped by the scheme. SNP ministers are poised to publish their flagship Heat in Buildings Bill, which will set out a roadmap for all heating systems moving to green technology by 2045, but there are fears that fewer people may come forward for financial support and advice in upgrading their homes amid the cuts to the service, and ultimately slow down the transition. Harvie is now warning that “the whole Home Energy Scotland grant and loan scheme may be closed down for the time being”. He adds: “The heat in buildings
programme is critical to the path to net zero. There simply is no way to get back on track with Scotland’s climate commitments without it.”
08
A new report from
Confused.com is highlighting significant discrepancies in energy performance between listed and unlisted properties. The Energy Performance Certificate
(EPC) ratings, which assess the energy efficiency of buildings on a scale from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient), reveal that only 10% of listed buildings achieve a rating of A-C. In contrast, nearly 50% of unlisted buildings fall within this range. Notably, no Grade I listed buildings received an A rating, and around 35% of listed buildings are rated E, compared to just 12% of unlisted properties. The study found that 18% of listed buildings are rated F, while only 2% of unlisted buildings fall into this category. Meanwhile, 6.8% of listed buildings received a G rating—the lowest possible—compared to 0.66% of unlisted homes. Grade I buildings are particularly affected, with 11% rated G. The analysis indicates that the
majority of unlisted buildings tend to be rated in the mid-range for energy efficiency, with about 70% rated C
For all the latest news stories visit
www.eibi.co.uk
or D. This is attributed to modern building practices and renovations that enhance energy performance. Conversely, listed buildings face
stricter renovation regulations that hinder upgrades essential for improving energy efficiency. Key modifications, such as updating windows and insulation, are often restricted, leaving many properties with outdated heating systems. In terms of heating methods,
traditional solutions dominate both categories. Mains gas boilers are prevalent in unlisted buildings (77.28%) but drop to 47% in listed properties. Alternatively, oil heating is more common in listed buildings,
accounting for 27% compared to just 2.83% in unlisted homes. LPG systems are hardly represented, at 0.56% for unlisted and 3% for listed buildings. A greater percentage of listed buildings have lower EPC ratings of E, F, and G compared to unlisted buildings in all regions. On average, 21% more listed buildings are rated E than unlisted ones, which represents the largest difference between the two categories. London is the only area where a higher percentage of listed buildings have a D rating compared to unlisted buildings. In the case of the rare A-rated buildings, the North West comes closest to having similar numbers for both listed and unlisted properties.
homes from fuel poverty, at a rate of 225,000 per year. There are currently 3.2 million homes in England acknowledged to be in fuel poverty. On this progress line, it will
be at least 2041 before every home is freed from the scourge of fuel poverty. In 2001 the Blair government enacted the Home Energy Conservation Act, which undertook to abolish fuel poverty by 2016. In its General Election manifesto,
Slow progress on fuel poverty
The long promised English Warm Homes Plan will start next April, with an initial budget of £3.4bn for three years, or £1.13bn per year. Currently the ECO programme,
funded not by government but by energy company bill payers, is averaging around £1bn
expenditure on energy efficiency investment. Practically all this money is spent on improving homes of those in or near fuel poverty. According to the government,
of that £3.4bn Warm Homes Plan sum, just over half (£1.8bn or £600 million p.a.) will be spent on removing
the Labour party undertook to spend £13bn on its Warm Homes Plan over the next five years. That is a substantial increase on the £9bn committed in the Conservative-winning manifesto of 2019, although ultimately the budget ended up at just over £6bn. These sums were announced
concurrently with £3.9 billion p.a. for carbon capture and storage schemes, and a further £5.5bn to continue Sizewell C’s nuclear fission ‘development’. As yet, no final decision has been taken to build Sizewell C.
EIBI | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2024
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
