By George Webb – Herald
ACROSS Scotland nearly a quarter of homes are based off the gas grid, which
means they often use fuels such as heating oil or coal to heat their homes,
as well as low-carbon solutions such as LPG or heat pumps. These homes,
which are typically in idyllic rural locations, are notoriously difficult
to treat with energy efficiency measures, both in terms of cost for the
homeowner but also practically for the building type.
The Scottish Government is proposing that all homes must reach an Energy
Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C before they can be sold by 2024.
While well-meaning in principle, this proposal is set to leave rural
off-grid homeowners disproportionately out of pocket due to the
long-standing flaws with EPCs.
For off-grid homes, the EPC methodology – which is managed by the UK
Government – paradoxically promotes less sustainable fuels such as heating
oil and coal. This will likely see rural homeowners forced to spend
thousands more to get an EPC rating of C than they need to.
Positioned as a measure of energy efficiency, in reality, the EPC rating is
actually a measure of energy cost per square metre. This already flawed
methodology for homes is distorted when comparing various fuel types,
especially when all alternative heating options are more expensive than
natural gas. As a result of this, an identical property, built to the exact
same standards, will receive a much lower EPC rating just because it
happens to be off the gas grid.
Despite cross-party consensus to support more energy efficient heating
solutions, this methodology also paradoxically favours higher carbon fuels,
such as heating oil, instead of encouraging lower carbon heating solutions
such as LPG, bioLPG or heat pumps. This is self-defeating and at odds with
what the Scottish Government is hoping to achieve, especially with its
ambitious 2045 Net Zero goal.
Left unaddressed, rural homeowners will be forced to disproportionately
spend far more money on off-grid homes to meet this standard, when compared
to an identical home on the gas grid, for no other reason than it not using
natural gas. The difference may be as much as two or even three EPC
ratings, not to mention the thousands of pounds of extra spend.
These unintended consequences could have a much further reach than the
pockets of rural homeowners as the proposals also risk significantly
devaluing off-grid rural properties. If individuals are not able to afford
to, or do not want to, retrofit the property, it is expected the cost of
the work to get it to Band C would be knocked off the value of the home.
This could have significant repercussions for the rural, off-grid housing
market.
If the Scottish Government wants this policy to be a success, fixing the
EPC methodology and levelling the playing field would resolve the issue,
which is a roadblock to that success. Removing the cost element from the
methodology will help off-grid homeowners achieve an EPC rating that is a
true measure of energy efficiency not energy cost. This will ensure
homeowners are empowered to make the right decisions when looking to
improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
With a higher proportion of Scots living in off gas grid properties than
the UK average, it is vital that the Scottish Government commits to
addressing this issue, and presses the UK Government to develop a fair EPC
methodology that does not disproportionately penalise rural homeowners.
George Webb is CEO of Liquid Gas UK , the trade association for the LPG and
bioLPG industry in the UK
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