Introduced by the Department for Communities and Local Government last June, EPCs are intended to rate energy efficiency and carbon emissions for every home bought and sold in England and Wales. It is intended that the energy ratings will be included in Home Condition Reports (HCRs) from June this year.

The BRC has acknowledged that EPCs are necessary to meet the requirements of a European Directive and that their introduction may make some contributions towards reducing energy consumption in buildings.

However, BRC’s chair Rick Haythornthwaite said that while the proposals may be aimed at reducing carbon emissions, they fell short of BRC expectations for good regulation and failed its recommended tests for better climate change policy.

“In our recent review of the regulatory aspects of the Stern report, we explicitly cautioned against ill considered regulatory responses to the climate change challenge, and using climate change as a justification for measures which have other motivations,” he said. “Here we have an example of proposals that are not part of a clear strategic framework and impose additional admin burdens with inadequate justification.”

The BRC is calling on government to delay the introduction of EPCs until it has had the opportunity to reconsider the BRC's proposals. Those proposals can be found in the BRC paper, Energy Performance Certificates and Residential Property which is available for download. Visit www.brc.gov.uk