Increased energy for EPCs and eco matters

Cast your mind back to 2018, if you can. Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa had the best-selling single with One Kiss, the Beast from the East blanketed the country in snow and Harry wed Meghan. What wasn’t in the news was something called the energy price cap. Little did we know how we’d become fixated by such a measure. 

A new fascination fueled by energy 

Introduced on 1st January 2019 by Ofgem, the energy price cap is designed to ensure customers pay a fair amount for the gas and electricity they use. The cap considers the energy costs in the wholesale market and ensures consumers aren’t paying too much – or even too little – for what they use. 

As a nation, we started paying more attention to the energy price cap in the summer of 2021. Post-lockdown conditions and the new war in Ukraine meant the cost of gas, electricity, oil and other fuels started to rise alarmingly. As a result, the price cap increased by 54% in April 2022 and energy bills became unaffordable for many. If you had a smart, the sense of panic was quite overwhelming. 

Fast forward to October 2024 and the cost of energy has decreased somewhat, although the price cap continues to fluctuate. The latest revision came on 1st October, with the cap rising by 10% to £1,717, with a forecast of a further increase of 3% in the first quarter of 2025. 

No dramatic drop in energy prices 

While the Government can’t control how much we pay for our energy, it has made a comment on the future of prices. It says there is ‘little immediate prospect of savings from fixed energy tariffs or substantial further cuts in the price cap’. Instead it says ‘the only way to substantially reduce energy bills, while still adequately heating and powering homes, is to improve the energy efficiency of properties.’  

Now, more than ever, homeowners, tenants and landlords who offer a ‘bills included’ property monitor the energy price cap as it’s a simple way to measure whether their energy costs are set to increase. There’s also a more acute awareness of using less energy in the first place, with running costs at the forefront of home movers’ minds. 

Searching for the right property to save money 

It was just 48 hours after the latest energy price cap increase that a new relationship between the types of property people want to purchase and energy bills was exposed. The Mortgage Advice Bureau conducted a survey among prospective homebuyers and found 29% now consider energy efficiency to be a determining factor when making purchasing decisions. Additionally, 61% are more likely to make an offer on a property if it has a good EPC rating (C and above). 

A further 17% of prospective buyers actively go out of their way to research the EPC rating when searching for a property – perhaps influenced by the volatile cost of energy and price cap increases as we head towards the coldest, darkest months. 

Better EPCs add value 

While the Mortgage Advice Bureau study shows property purchasers want ready-made, eco-friendly homes, Rightmove set out to prove that sellers who make energy efficiency alterations can increase their home’s value in the process.  

The portal scrutinised 300,000 properties that had changed hands twice in the last 15 years and crucially, homes that had seen a new EPC issued in that timeframe. Properties where energy efficiency had been improved clearly carried a price premium. 

For example, properties where the EPC had been upgraded from a D to a C saw an average increase in value of 3% – equating to £11,157 – while those moving up from a F to a C rating saw additional value worth 15% added – equivalent to an extra £55,786 in value. 

A separate survey by Uswitch concurred. The comparison site found 43% of home buyers questioned would consider paying an average of £45,000 more for an energy efficient home, with 22% willing to pay an additional £58,000 for a property with an EPC rating of A or B. 

Renters equally as concerned 

It’s not just homeowners who are preoccupied with energy usage. The findings of a survey conducted by Handelsbanken were released earlier this year, revealing there has been a surge in tenant enquiries for eco-friendly features in rental properties. 

Looking at the results in more detail, renters wanted to know more about heat pumps and solar panels. Additionally, property investors found 58% of their tenants asked for a rental home with a minimum EPC rating of C, while 28% of renters specifically requested electric vehicle chargers (EV chargers). 

A note to landlords about EPCs in rental properties 

The energy efficiency of properties in the private rental sector is back on the political agenda. While increasing the mandatory EPC grade in private rentals is not part of Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, it is a topic that was discussed by MPs during the document’s second reading in October. At present, changing the compulsory EPC grade from E to C is a separate rental reform Labour is pursuing but there is nothing to say this can’t be included in the Bill as it works its way through the Houses of Parliament.  

It’s clear everyone benefits from more energy efficient homes and we haven’t even touched on the positive perks for the environment. If you are involved in the drive to improve EPCs or retrofit stock with energy saving features, Viewber can be your project partner. 

As well as providing EPCs for properties on a seven-day-a-week basis, thanks to our bank of qualified energy assessors, we have a Viewber local to every property in the UK, able to let in trades and lock up after – whether they’re installing solar panels, insulation, EV chargers or heat pumps. 

All our property services, including EPCs and visits – can be booked online.

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