A change in legislation means that businesses that fail to display an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) could face fines of up to £1,000.
The new Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations came into force yesterday and they state amongst other things that all commercial buildings of over 500m2 in size and which members of the public regularly visit must display a valid EPC.
An EPC gives a building an energy efficiency rating of between A and G and can only be issued by an accredited energy assessor.
Businesses can be fined £500 for not having a valid EPC on display, and up to £1000 for not having one in its possession.
Previously, only businesses with buildings over 1,000m2 and public authority buildings had to display an EPC.
This change in legislation therefore means that if you run a large shop, bar, restaurant, or any other venue then you are now required by law to have your EPC on view.
The only buildings that are exempt are those that has “no reasonable potential for energy performance improvements compared to the energy performance requirements in force”. No we don’t understand either how that can be objectively measured.
More red tape, paperwork and legislation to burden small businesses. The ultimate goal of a more energy efficient commercial sector may be diligent but the benefit to a customer of knowing the business they are visiting is of average energy efficiency is unlikely to have any bearing on their custom. Like all small businesses we would hope that common sense prevails and investment is made in subsidising energy efficiency measures for businesses and not in penalising those that should be the target of support.