Property owners urged to place greater importance on their EPC
Sustainability and low energy solutions provider, Inteb, is urging businesses and property portfolio owners to take a closer look at their EPC (Commercial Energy Performance Certificate), as a tightening of carbon emissions regulation and the arrival of Green Deal enhance the significance of the EPC.
Inteb, which has a head office at Myerscough near Preston, but which works with high profile commercial real estate and business managers nationwide, warns that by 2018, it will be illegal for landlords to rent properties with an EPC energy efficiency rating lower than an “E”.
The advice to those at this level of energy efficiency is to schedule in improvements to an agreed plan, to assist with budgeting. Alternatively, property owners should assess what is possible for them under Green Deal – a financing mechanism for energy improvements that requires no up front outlay.
An EPC is becoming recognised as a communication of a business’s green values, so Inteb stresses the importance of trying to improve an EPC rating, wherever you are on the energy efficiency ladder. Failing to display an EPC, where required, can lead to financial fines and penalties.
Additionally, for those taking out the recommendations laid out in a Green Deal Advice Report, the EPC is crucial to the calculations made in the report. If the EPC is not accurate, the anticipated benefits of energy efficiency improvements may not materialise as predicted. Unfortunately, many EPCs are currently sub-standard, so the best advice is to get an expert to review your EPC, if you have any concerns about it.
Inteb can not only use its cutting-edge software to give the building an Operational Rating (OR) following a full assessment visit, but also produce the necessary report, to advise on how energy usage could be reduced to save money. It can then lodge the required documentation with the central database.
Inteb’s Compliance Manager, Amy Field, says: “Property owners and occupiers should not underestimate the importance of the EPC and definitely not ignore it, if they are required to display one. We can quickly offer advice and an assessment visit, as well as helping property owners gain an accurate assessment of their building’s energy efficiency rating”.
Inteb’s compliance team has just received an impressive testimonial following the completion of several projects focused on EPCs and Air Conditioning Inspections for a nationwide high street bank and a different nationwide building society, which required ACIs. Its ability to get inspectors on site promptly, produce high quality reports, handle lodgement and liaise with the client were all commended. Short-notice requests were also turned round quickly and the can-do approach was something that the client particularly welcomed.
The client stated: “Every stage was well managed and SLAs were always met, giving us the confidence to task Inteb with taking on additional inspections where other service providers had failed to deliver, or where urgent client requirements came up. I would not hesitate to use Inteb in the future, or to recommend them to others”.
Commercial real estate portfolio holders, businesses and public sector facility managers all use Inteb to handle their EPCs and ACIs, as well as their DECs (Display Energy Certificates) and many other building compliance services. For more information visit inteb.co.uk.