EPC rating estimator
Five questions for a rough idea of your home’s EPC band — and the three upgrades likely to improve it most.
Estimate Rough guide only
Score is a simple model of the main EPC drivers (fabric, heating, glazing, renewables), scaled 0–100 like the real SAP-based rating. Real assessments measure your actual home — expect this to be off by a band either way.
How EPC ratings work — and why yours matters
An Energy Performance Certificate rates a home from A (most efficient) to G on a 0–100+ scale, calculated from the building’s fabric (walls, roof, floor, windows), its heating system and controls, lighting, and any renewables. It’s needed when you sell or let a property, and it increasingly affects money: some mortgage products reward C-and-above homes, and landlords face a legal trajectory toward EPC C by October 2030 for rental properties, with fines for non-compliance — the single biggest reason EPC improvement advice is in demand right now.
The improvements that move the needle most are boring and cheap relative to their effect: loft insulation to 270mm, cavity wall filling, heating controls, and — at the big-ticket end — a heat pump or solar panels. The estimator above ranks the upgrades you haven’t done by their likely points gain, so you can see which order to tackle them in. Real assessors weigh your exact construction, so a solid-walled 1920s terrace will improve differently from a 1990s semi with the same shopping list.
Getting a real EPC
A proper assessment costs roughly £50–£100 (market rate, varies by region and property size) from an accredited domestic energy assessor, takes under an hour, and lasts 10 years. If you’re planning work funded by ECO4 or Warm Homes, an assessment is often part of the process anyway. Use this page to plan the work; use a real EPC to prove it.
EPC questions
How accurate is this estimator?
Deliberately rough — it models the biggest rating drivers but can’t see your home. Treat the band as “probably around here” and the improvement ranking as the genuinely useful part.
What’s the cheapest way to gain a band?
Usually loft insulation and heating controls first, then cavity fill. The insulation calculator prices them with paybacks; many homes gain a band for under £1,000 of work.
I’m a landlord — what do I actually need by 2030?
The stated policy direction is EPC C for rented homes by October 2030. That’s a legal deadline about real certificates, not estimators: get an accredited EPC, follow its recommendation report, and keep evidence of spend. Confirm the current rules on gov.uk, as they’ve been revised before.
Ready for real prices?
Calculators give you the ballpark. Get free, no-obligation quotes from MCS-certified UK installers and compare them against these numbers.