Consumers left in the dark when it comes to buying Energy Efficient new homes
New research reveals that over 95% of house builders' sites fail to comply with Government regulations on the display of energy efficiency information.
The research published this week by the Foundation's subsidiary company, National Energy Services Ltd (NES), and De Montfort University reveals that homebuyers are not being given the information they need, and are legally entitled to, about the energy efficiency of brand new homes.
Over 95% of house builders' sites fail to comply with the current Building Regulations to display energy ratings calculated using the Government's Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP). These ratings give new homes a score between 1 and 120 for energy efficiency and help potential buyers judge which home is cheaper to run and more environmentally friendly than another.
Three quarters of the builders' sales negotiators interviewed by NES's researchers could not explain the SAP energy rating to customers, and over half didn't even realise that new homes now come with an energy rating at all. Over half could not say whether a brand new home would have lower running costs than a similarly sized Victorian property.
"Every homebuyer and householder can make a significant contribution to reducing global warming by purchasing more energy efficient properties and appliances," says Dr Patrick Devine-Wright of De Montfort University, who supervised the research. "But what hope have we got of informing or influencing the buying decisions of the public if this basic information is not made available at the point of sale? The carbon dioxide emissions of new cars are very well communicated these days, and the same should go for new homes. It's something that the house building industry needs to start taking more seriously."
Austin Baggett, head of energy programmes at National Energy Services says: "SAP energy ratings have been around for seven years now. House builders were given plenty of warning that these ratings would have to be made public. But two years since the new regulations took effect, our research has shown a surprisingly low level of compliance with either the letter or the spirit of the law. We need to find some workable solutions."
NES's 'mystery shoppers' looked at the top 10 house builders' websites and visited a sample of their eligible sites across the South and East of England during autumn 2002, posing as people who wished to move out of an older property and buy an energy efficient brand new home.
The results of their research reveal that:
No SAP rating information on house types was available on any of the top 10 builders' websites;
98% of visited sites failed to comply with Building Regulations by not displaying SAP ratings within unsold completed properties;
Just one site out of 50 had a significant proportion of homes clearly displaying the SAP ratings where they should be placed;
Only 12% of sample sites had any information available at all about the energy efficiency of the new homes up for sale (mostly in sales literature);
Only two house builders out of the top 10 had sales negotiators who could begin to answer questions accurately about the energy efficiency of the properties they were selling;
74% of sales negotiators could not explain what the SAP is or how the energy rating scale or system works;
51% of sales negotiators do not believe that the new homes they are selling have received an energy rating at all;
55% of sales negotiators could not say whether a brand new home would have lower running costs than a similar older property;
43% of sales negotiators could not answer questions about a new home's heating system or controls;
64% of sales negotiators did not know the energy rating of the appliances (fridges, freezers etc) within the new homes they were selling.
National Energy Services has already shown its report to officials from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). Over the next few months it will be working closely with Government to bring together consumer groups and representatives from the house building and energy efficiency industries to discuss possible solutions.
In the meantime, NES's report offers several ideas that could help the consumer, including a new SAP energy rating display notice that is more attractive, easy to understand and visible to potential purchasers and training for sales negotiators and estate agents on how to explain energy efficiency features of brand new homes.
Also up for discussion will be the possibility of modifying the Building Regulations to make it more practical for house builders to comply, as well as additional support for house builders from organisations such as NHBC which carries out the majority of quality assured SAP ratings on brand new homes.
Click here to download the full press release (PDF format, 33K) and here (PDF format, 450K) for the final report. Or follow this link to the home page of the National Energy Services website.
30 January 2003
The National Energy Foundation: Registered in England - Charity No. 298951
New research reveals that over 95% of house builders' sites fail to comply with Government regulations on the display of energy efficiency information.