Energy performance certificate
One of the few documents about a flat produced by an independent expert to a single method. It lets you compare two flats — and it will not tell you what your heating will cost.
Updated on
The energy performance certificate is one of the few documents about a flat produced not by the seller but by an independent qualified expert working to a single method. That is what makes it useful for comparing two flats — and it is also why it will not tell you what your heating is going to cost. Understanding that boundary is the whole value of the document.
What the certificate measures
The certificate assesses the energy performance of a building or a part of it: how much energy a year is required for heating, ventilation, hot water and lighting, given the properties of the envelope, the engineering systems and the geometry of the building. The result is expressed as a class and as figures in the certificate's tables. Certification is governed by the Law on Construction and construction technical regulations, and certificates are held in a state system where a certificate's validity can be checked by its number.
The nature of the method is the thing to grasp: the calculation is run under standard conditions, with a standard assumption about use. That is deliberate — only then can two different buildings be compared with each other. But it also means your actual invoices will depart from the certificate's figures, because the people in your household do not live to a standard.
When it is required
A certificate is required when a building or part of it is sold or let, and on completion of a new building. In practice that means a buyer is entitled to ask for it and to have it — it is not a courtesy on the seller's part.
Requirements for new buildings are higher than for old ones and are set in legislation that has been tightened over time. So comparing a new building with a flat in the old town by class alone almost always ends in the new building's favour, and says nothing about the quality of the particular flat.
A certificate has a validity period and a number. Check both: a certificate drawn up before a building's renovation says little about the building as it stands today.
What the class means
The class is the certificate's headline, and often the only thing a buyer sees. The scale runs from the most efficient classes down to the least, with each class matching indicators set in legislation. A higher class means a lower calculated energy demand for the same floor area.
More useful to a buyer than the class is the body of the certificate. It shows what the class is made of: the properties of walls, windows and roof, the heating system, ventilation with or without heat recovery, and any renewable sources. Two flats in the same class may have arrived there by entirely different means, and your day-to-day comfort is decided by the means — whether there is mechanical ventilation, for instance.
A building certificate and a flat certificate
A certificate can cover a whole building or a single part of it. In apartment buildings a building certificate often exists and the flat's figures are derived from it. That is normal, but it is worth knowing which document you are reading, because a flat's position in the building matters: a corner flat or one under the roof has more external envelope than a flat in the middle.
Check too that the object in the certificate is the object in the register extract: same address, same area, same unique number. A certificate for the neighbouring flat is a more frequent mistake than it sounds.
What it cannot tell you
The certificate does not predict your heating bill, which depends on energy prices, the weather and how you live. It does not assess sound insulation, does not show the quality of the building work, and does not judge whether a window was fitted properly. It says nothing about how the building is managed, although the monthly figure depends on that just as much.
So read the certificate alongside two other things: the history of the building's monthly charges, and your own eyes on site. Where the certificate and the actual state of things disagree, that is a question for the seller, and anything you find goes into the handover record.
This article is general information and is not legal, technical or energy advice. Your object's indicators are established by its own certificate and by the qualified expert who issued it.
This article is general information, not legal or tax advice.
About this building
Related terms
Ask about this building
Two sentences are enough: what you want to know about the building on Gerosios Vilties street, and how to reach you. The answer comes from the person who works on this project. Where nothing has been settled yet, you will be told that instead of a number that later turns out to be wrong.