Oct 1st 2021 What is an energy performance certificate

What is an energy performance certificate needed for?

For all new buildings, an energy performance certificate (EPC) is already required for the official construction process. An energy performance certificate is also required for extensive refurbishment, additions and conversions. An EA must also be submitted when selling or letting houses, flats, offices, etc.The validity period of the EA is a maximum of ten years.

Obligation of the seller/landlord to present the certificate

When selling a building, the seller must provide the buyer with an EA that is no more than ten years old at this point in time, and the lessor must provide the lessee with an EA that is no more than ten years old at this point in time before the buyer or lessee submits their contractual declaration. Obligation to issue the energy performance certificate. The energy performance certificate or a complete copy of it must be handed over to the buyer/tenant within 14 days of the contract being concluded.

Attention with newspaper adverts or web advertisements!

If a flat, office or building is to be sold or let/leased, advertisements are often placed in daily newspapers and/or on various property platforms. According to § 3 EAVG, the heating requirement (HWB) and the overall energy efficiency factor (fGEE) of the building or property must be stated in the advert. This obligation applies both to the seller or landlord and to the estate agent commissioned by them. Failure to do so can be expensive, as Section 9 EAVG provides for the possibility of an administrative fine of (up to) €1,450. A real estate agent is excused from violating Section 3 if he has informed his client of the duty to provide information in accordance with this provision and requested him to disclose the two values or to obtain an energy performance certificate, but the client has not complied with this request.

Demand certificate

The requirement certificate is based on a technical expert opinion as to how high the theoretical energy requirement of a building should be due to its construction method. The assessment is based solely on structural aspects, such as the condition of the building envelope, the type of heating system or the quality of the windows.

Consumption certificate

The consumption certificate, on the other hand, is based on the actual energy consumption of the residents of a building. Here, the measured consumption of all flats in the building from at least three billing periods is used. This means that there is only one energy performance certificate for the entire building, not for individual flats.

Explanation of terms in the energy performance certificate

Only energy performance certificates for residential buildings are considered here. These contain the heating requirement, the hot water heating requirement, the heating technology energy requirement, the final energy requirement and, if applicable, recommendations for improvements. Any cooling requirements or lighting requirements are not included; these values are only determined for non-residential buildings.

Specific heating requirement HWB (energy index)

The specific heating requirement (the actual energy index) is the most commonly used comparative value to describe the thermal quality of the building envelope. This energy index is given in kWh/m².a (i.e. kilowatt hours per square metre and year). It indicates how much energy your house would require per square metre of surface area per year for room heating if it were located at the reference location (i.e. based on a reference climate, not the actual location). This value is therefore very suitable for comparing the thermal quality of houses. In order to be able to estimate the characteristic value at a glance, it is printed next to the coloured scale in the corresponding category.

Specific heating requirement HWB (location-based)

This heating requirement describes the expected energy consumption of your home. Depending on your user behaviour (energy-saving behaviour), your actual consumption may differ. In the case of new buildings, consumption is often significantly higher in the first year because building components still have to dry out. Overall energy efficiency factor fGEE This value compares the building with a reference property from the existing building stock from 2007. It can therefore be estimated whether the building in question is a better (fGEE < 1) or worse (fGEE > 1) building in terms of energy efficiency. The higher the fGEE, the worse the building is.

Hot water heating requirement WWWB, heating technology energy requirement HTEB

The energy requirement for the provision of hot water and the energy requirement for the losses of the heating system (during generation, storage, distribution and discharge). Final energy demand: The amount of energy required from outside for space heating and hot water (e.g. the electricity for the heat pump or the energy content of the pellets supplied). This not only covers the demand for heating and hot water, but also all losses that occur in the process. Gross floor area: Also referred to as gross floor area or gross floor plan area. The gross floor area is the sum of all areas including the walls (without walls it would be the net floor area). The annual energy requirement is related to this value.

Compactness (A/V ratio)

This is a characteristic value for the building geometry. More details can be found here. Climate region: In reality, the house will have a different energy requirement than at the reference location. For this reason, the local climate is taken into account by means of the climate regions.

Climate data

The climate data describes the long-term average values for your building address. The heating days describe the number of days on which heating is required in average houses. The heating degree days also describe the temperature difference between outside and inside on the heating days. The standard outdoor temperature indicates the coldest average temperature in the year (long-term average). Global radiation is the energy supplied by the sun to one square metre of flat surface during a heating period. The U-value describes the heat transfer per square metre and degree of temperature difference between the inside and outside of a building component (e.g. wall or window). The U-value should therefore be as low as possible for each component of the thermal envelope. The energy performance certificate therefore also states the average U-value of the building envelope.

What costs are incurred for the creation

The costs are not regulated and must therefore be negotiated directly with the issuer. The guideline value of 1 euro per square metre often quoted in the past is rather unrealistic. In the property sector (many similar flats in one building), this may be achievable, but for single-family homes you have to calculate at least twice as much. The costs can be significantly higher, especially for old buildings with many components and poor plans. Overall, however, the risk of not submitting an energy performance certificate is far too high compared to the cost of obtaining one. If you want to sell or let a property, you should therefore definitely submit an energy performance certificate to avoid any subsequent claims.

Who is authorised to issue an energy performance certificate?

There are several decrees from the responsible federal ministry according to which the following professional groups are authorised to issue an EA:

• Master builders, electrical engineering, gas and sanitary engineering, heating engineering, refrigeration and air conditioning engineering, ventilation engineering, master timber construction engineers;
• Engineering offices (consulting engineers), particularly in the following specialist areas, are qualified and authorised to issue EAs: Building physics, electrical engineering, building technology (installation, heating and air conditioning technology), interior design, mechanical engineering, technical physics, environmental technology, process engineering;
• Chimney sweeps: Issue of certificates on the overall energy efficiency of existing residential buildings with the exception of new buildings and changes to buildings requiring a building permit.
• Stove fitters: Issuing of energy performance certificates for detached and semi-detached houses.
• Civil engineers with the relevant authorisation, in particular: Architects, civil engineers and engineering consultants for civil engineering, industrial engineering - civil engineering, technical physics, process engineering, mechanical engineering, building services engineering.