Know your ABCs of BER certification: With homes with B or A ratings commanding a premium of €110k or more, what should you do if you’re disappointed by the letter your home gets?
Homes with A and B BER ratings command a premium. All estate agents agree on this. Dublin-based valuation company Geowox recently put a value on that premium.
It recently found that the median sales price achieved for homes with a top building energy rating (BER) of between A and B was €465,000 in the first quarter of this year.
This was 31 per cent or €110,000 above the median sales price achieved for homes with a lower BER rating of C to G, which was €355,000.
Simplifying BER certification
This dovetails with the BER certification format, which is being simplified. From Sunday, May 24th, the 15-grades of certification will be reduced to a seven-point scale.
The incoming system will simply run from A to G without sub-categories such as C1, C2 and C3.
A-rated homes will be the most energy-efficient. G-rated homes will denote the lowest energy efficiency and typically require a lot of energy to heat.
The altered standards will apply to all properties that do not possess a BER cert before Sunday, May 24 of this year.
This scale is being introduced slowly. Properties that already have a valid BER-certs will retain validity for the remainder of their 10-year lifespan.
As you might determine the difference between two different calibres of cars, you have an indicator of how you drive the building, according to Joe Durkan, head of technical national retrofit at the Sustainable Energy Association of Ireland (SEAI).
The importance of kilowatts per hour
You can already compare homes of the same size by the numerical indicator on their BER rating.
When viewing listings on the portals, it isn’t always evident to the non-expert. In this property, 15 Riverrun, Lough Dooley, Belturbet in Co Cavan, seeking €295,000 through agents DNG O’Dwyer, listed on MyHome.ie, you have to click the ‘learn more’ button to see the numerical kilowatts per hour (kWh) rating displayed
In this case, the rating on the three-bedroom, three-bathroom, 165 square metre residence is 181.56 kWh/m2/yr, which is a C2. This numerical indicator will continue to be published on the new BER certificates.
The main purpose of the BER is to allow prospective buyers or tenants to objectively compare the energy performance of different buildings on a like-for-like basis.
The real value of expressing the rating in a per m2 format is that, if you were to see another property that was 110m2 with the same rating (181.56 kWh / m2 / yr), you would know that while both properties were a C2, the smaller property would use nearly a third less energy than the Lough Dooley property - 110 square metres is two-thirds of 165 square metres.
It is not a predictor of energy comparison. The calculations are made on how much energy you need to keep your house warm. But there is no scientific definition of what warm means. The calculation assumes a set standard of 21 degrees Celsius in the living areas and 18 degrees in the bedrooms, Durkan explains.
From Sunday, there will also be an Ao rating for highly efficient homes with zero carbon emissions, where there is no onsite use of fossil fuels.
How to get the most from your BER assessment
Get your paperwork in order before booking an assessment. This will deliver the correct data-led results.
“If someone is looking to get a Ber done and they don’t have the documentation, if there’s a risk, the accessor will always err on the side of caution,” explains Brian McIntyre, programme manager for high-performance building technologies at the SEAI.
If the householder can’t demonstrate what was done and what materials were used, a default value will be used. It’s for quality assurance. There is an audit process. The assessor doesn’t want penalty points.
A Ber assessment takes about three hours to complete. There are some 80 or 90 inputs into the BER assessment. One house could have three different kinds of wall types, for example, a recent house viewed had mass concrete in its original part, cavity walls in the extension and block walls in the garage, which had also been incorporated into the home.
How many chimneys, the number of vents, and whether the windows are sealed are also factors.
There is care and attention needed to measure the size of the windows and the radiators. There’s also a fair amount of paperwork, McIntyre says.
It is faster, as in more time efficient, to go to the default values. Maybe the accessor didn’t go to the nth degree and isn’t getting paid that much.
How do you find a Ber accessor?
Always ask for quotes. And gather the relevant documentation demonstrating what insulation materials have been used on or in the walls, under the floors, in the attic, windows and dates installed, as well as materials they’re made from and whether single, double or triple glazed.
Don’t use social media channels. Go to a reputable source. You will find a list of registered contractors here.
If you don’t have the documentation, it is very difficult for the accessor to put anything other than the default value. This means your investment in your home is not properly documented.
Make a case if you don’t have paperwork
In the absence of documentation, you can make a case if you can demonstrate visually the work done and show the materials used.
Photographic evidence can be used to help build a more comprehensive picture, McIntyre explains.
Most double-glazed windows, for instance, should have their date of fabrication stamped into the silver seam between the two panes, but not every window has a date stamp.
If planning to sell, while you still own the home, you could open up one of the walls to get the relevant photographic evidence to give the assessor to help ensure your home gets the highest BER it can achieve, given the works you may have done.
Technologies change
A Ber cert lasts 10 years. Since it was introduced, technologies have changed. When McIntyre bought his house first, for example, it had storage heaters that had a grade of 2.4.
This has moved this down to 1.75, which is considered better, not because of anything he’s done, but because of infrastructural upgrades at the plant that have delivered improved transitional loss.
Better understanding your bills
If your primary power source is electricity, while the rates on your bill are for delivered energy, the rates being measured in a BER rating are the primary energy, what’s generated at the power station, your distance from it and so on, McIntyre explains.
The driver is efficiency. If your electricity bill shows you spent 15,000 units of heat in the last 12 months, to generate the same level of heat using gas or oil will take 16,500 units, while a heat pump technology will use one third of the energy standard electric heating will use, so 5,000 units.
For more information, see seai.ie
