Check your EPC before you apply for a grant

Step one

Finding the certificate

Every energy performance certificate issued in England is held on a national register. GOV.UK's "find an energy certificate" service lets you search it by postcode or by certificate number. Choose the address, open the certificate, and look at the current rating at the top: a letter from A to G and a score.

The certificate also shows a potential rating, what the home could reach with the recommended improvements, and lists those improvements. That list is a useful preview of what a retrofit survey might suggest, including whether solar panels are among them.

The test

What D to G means for the grant

GOV.UK's description of Warm Homes: Local Grant says the home must have an EPC rated D, E, F or G. Liverpool City Council's page says the same for properties within the Liverpool boundary. The scheme is aimed at the least efficient homes, where improvements make the biggest difference to warmth and bills.

A home rated A, B or C is already at or above the level the scheme aims for. However low the household's income, the home won't pass this test, and no pathway changes that.

No certificate

If your home doesn't have one

Not every home has a certificate. Certificates are produced when a home is sold or let, so a house that has been in the same family for decades may never have had one. GOV.UK says that if you don't know your home's EPC, you can find it out when you apply.

Before paying for a new certificate yourself, ask the council how it treats homes without one. Liverpool City Council's process includes a retrofit survey by its contractor that establishes the home's current energy rating, so the council may not need you to commission one first.

Old certificates

When the certificate is out of date

A certificate describes the home when it was assessed. If you've since added loft insulation, new windows or a new boiler, the rating may have improved, perhaps from D to C. The reverse can happen too, if a certificate was optimistic. The scheme's own survey is what counts in the end: the government's guidance to councils says pre-retrofit assessments now use the RdSAP10 method.

If your certificate is borderline, mention it when you register and let the council decide. Don't commission improvements in the hope of qualifying; they could take the home out of the scheme.

What the certificate says about solar

Reading the recommendations

The recommendations section lists improvements in a typical order, with an indication of their effect on the rating. If solar panels appear, the assessor thought the roof was suitable in principle. If insulation appears first, a retrofit survey is likely to prioritise it too, because the scheme aims to improve the whole home. Treat the list as a starting point, not a promise: the survey looks at the home in more detail.

Next

After the EPC check

If the home passes, the next step is the household: one of three pathways. The quickest to check is the postcode route, which doesn't look at income at all. See eligible postcodes, the income test and who qualifies, or try the route finder.