What an EPC actually tells you
An Energy Performance Certificate grades a home from A down to G on how cheap it should be to run, based on its insulation, its heating system, its windows and so on. The average home in England and Wales sits around D. An assessor produces one when a property is built, sold or let, and it stays valid for ten years.
The letter is not decoration. The gap between a C and a G on the same street can be thousands of pounds a year in heating, and unlike most of a listing’s claims it comes from a register you can check yourself.
Why it matters when you're buying
Because the asking price is a one-off and the heating bill arrives forever. Our view, argued at length in the guide, is that you should assume pessimistic energy costs by default and only soften them for a specific property once you know something real about the building. The EPC is exactly that something.
Where the data comes from
Every result here comes live from the Energy Performance of Buildings Register, the official record maintained by MHCLG. It covers England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland keep separate registers this tool does not search. For the full certificate, use the government’s own certificate service.
Return to EPC checker, or see all four free tools.