The 10 best ways to improve your home’s EPC rating

Apart from a few exceptions, every domestic and commercial property in the UK (that’s available to rent or buy) must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). This means that your home will almost certainly have an EPC rating, even if you don’t know what it is. 

Cutting your energy bills and improving your property’s EPC rating are very closely connected - if you do one, it is very likely the other will follow. And whenever you’re looking to sell up and move on, a property with a higher EPC will generally fetch a better price.

In this article, we run through all the best ways to improve your home’s EPC rating.

What is an EPC rating?

An EPC rating is a way of measuring your home’s energy efficiency. In the simplest terms, it refers to how much energy is required to heat your property.

It’s done on a scale of A to G, with A being the highest possible level of efficiency and G being the lowest. This means that an A-rated property needs far less energy to achieve a certain internal temperature compared to a G-rated property (which consequently means the G-rated property will have much higher energy bills).

The A–G scale is colour coded, which gives homeowners a clear and easily understandable picture of their home’s efficiency. Unsurprisingly, bright red is the worst and bright green is the best. 

Your home’s EPC is calculated by an assessor who needs to physically inspect your home. If this hasn’t happened since you moved into your property, it probably will have happened some time before. You can check your property’s EPC rating here. 

The assessor will inspect your property’s energy usage and heat loss, taking into account things like the age and size of your property, whether it has any wall or loft insulation, whether it has double glazing, whether any energy-saving light bulbs are in use, the efficiency of your home-heating system, as well as checking whether you have any renewable sources of electricity (such as solar panels). 

Your property’s assessor will use the SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) methodology introduced by the government to score the inspection. This score is then converted into an EPC grade. 

Here’s how many points each of the EPC bands count for:

• EPC rating A = 92-100 SAP points
• EPC rating B = 81-91 SAP points
• EPC rating C = 69-80 SAP points
• EPC rating D = 55-68 SAP points
• EPC rating E = 39-54 SAP points
• EPC rating F = 21-38 SAP points
• EPC rating G = 1-20 SAP points

What are the benefits of improving your EPC rating?

The benefits of improving your EPC rating are numerous, and they include:

• Cheaper energy bills
• Reduced carbon footprint
• Warmer winters and cooler summers (if your EPC improvements include insulation / double glazing)
• Increased property value (KnightFrank has said by as much as 20%)
• Access to green mortgages

What’s more, it can often be tricky to get a mortgage for a property that has a very low EPC rating and has little potential for improvement.

The average EPC rating for UK properties is D, so there is a widespread, national need for the UK to improve its housing stock. A key problem is that around 1.7 million homes are physically unable to reach above C, according to research by Rightmove.

What are the best ways to improve your EPC rating?

Generally speaking, the most impactful measures you can take are also the most expensive, but there are also a few cheaper steps that can still turn the dial. Here are our top 10:

1. Insulate your loft

Looking for a cheap but highly effective way to improve your EPC rating? Insulate your loft with either fibreglass or renewable wood fibre and you’ll immediately add 10 to 16 points to your EPC rating.

Loft insulation works by creating a barrier between your roof and your home, which drastically reduces heat loss. Uninsulated homes tend to lose around 50% of their heat through their roofs, which can lead to hundreds of pounds more being spent on energy bills.

With loft insulation, you can reduce the time (and temperature) of your heating because less of it is escaping out of your house. 

Plus, loft insulation is pretty simple to install yourself, which is something many UK homeowners do. In many cases, you just need to place the insulation between the rafters that support your roof.

2. Replace your boiler

A home’s heating system has a huge impact on its overall EPC score, and having an old inefficient boiler can bring your property’s EPC down to the very bottom. 

In some cases, getting a new, efficient boiler can add up to 40 points to your EPC rating.

3. Get double glazing

If you’re among the 15% of UK homes without double glazing, you should definitely consider getting it. Doing so will add around 10 points to your home’s EPC rating and make your home more insulated. 

You’ll also reduce the amount of outside noise making its way into your home, which is great if you live on a busy street. 

However, double glazing isn’t the cheapest way to improve your EPC rating, with the cost of replacing all the windows in a three-bedroom home coming in at roughly £2,000. 

4. Switch to solar power 

Solar panels should improve your EPC rating by around 15-20 points, which will put you up by at least one grade.

A solar panel system capable of powering a three-bedroom home is roughly £9,000 (including installation costs).

It’s worth it if you can afford it, because the benefits of solar panels are numerous. If the high upfront cost is a significant barrier, you should consider Sunsave Plus, which is the UK’s first solar & battery subscription. It enables UK households to switch to solar at no upfront cost, and instead requires fixed monthly payments for 20 years. You can find out more here.

Other types of renewable energy would also help to increase your EPC, such as a mini wind turbine or a micro hydropower system.

5. Buy efficient light bulbs

Replacing your older incandescent light bulbs with halogen bulbs, LED bulbs, or compact fluorescent bulbs is a quick, cheap, and easy way to score two or three points on your EPC rating.

You’ll spend £5 on average for a 12 watt (w) LED light bulb, which is more than the £1 you’ll spend on an incandescent bulb, but it’s worth paying the extra.

An LED light bulb will last 50,000 hours on average, compared to 2,000 hours for incandescent bulbs. So you’ll need to buy 25 incandescent bulbs to reach the same 50,000 hour lifespan of an LED light bulb, which would actually end up costing you around £20 more.

LED bulbs are cheaper to run too – roughly £58 per year instead of the £394 you’ll spend running an incandescent light bulb.

6. Use a smart thermostat

Smart heating controls are something EPC assessors check for when they inspect your property. Using a smart thermostat allows you to heat your home more efficiently, as you can control the temperature in individual rooms instead of just heating the whole house. 

Smart thermostats usually require a new energy-efficient boiler to work properly and cost between £120 and £220.

Also, some smart thermostats can sync with your phone’s GPS, meaning they’ll turn off the heating when they detect you’re away from home (and then switch it back on when you’re getting near).

7. Wrap up your hot water cylinder

Spending just £17 or thereabouts for a hot water cylinder jacket is a small but effective way to improve your EPC rating. With one, you’ll get up to five points on your home’s EPC score. 

These cost-effective jackets can save you up to £35 a year, meaning it’ll usually take only half a year for you to get your money back.

8. Insulate your walls

Like loft insulation, insulating your walls is a fantastic way to add to your EPC rating - it can increase your score by up to 24 points. 

However, getting wall insulation is considerably more expensive than loft insulation. For cavity wall insulation, expect to pay around £2,700 if you live in a typical semi-detached property (Checkatrade, 2023).

Meanwhile, solid wall insulation costs closer to £9,000 for a semi-detached house.

9. Add underfloor heating

Underfloor heating is a highly efficient way to heat your home when combined with good insulation. A typical three-bedroom semi-detached home can add around five points to its EPC score by installing underfloor heating. 

It’ll cost around £120–£135 per square metre for water-based underfloor heating, which is the most efficient. Electric underfloor heating is cheaper to install at £60–£85 per square metre, but is less efficient and actually costs more to run overall.

10. Seal any draughts

Sealing draughts in windows and buying a draught excluder for your door can add a point or two to your overall EPC score.

These are cheap solutions, too — silicon sealant for windows costs just £30 and you can purchase a draught excluder cushion for around £15. 

Alternatively, if you don’t trust the DIY approach then you can spend around £250 to have your home professionally draught-proofed.

Improving your EPC: FAQs

What improves an EPC rating?

Investing in upgrades to your heating and insulation is the best way to improve your EPC rating. For insulation, consider starting with your loft because this is typically the cheapest option and can be highly effective.

For heating, if you have an old boiler you should think about switching to a new, high-efficiency condensing boiler, as this can add up to 40 points to your EPC score.

How can I improve my SAP rating?

SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure) is a methodology used by the UK government to assess and compare the energy and environmental performance of dwellings. Your property’s SAP score directly determines its EPC rating.

You can improve your SAP rating by installing things like low-energy light bulbs, insulating your home, and switching to renewable energy sources such as solar power.

Does double glazing improve EPC?

Double glazing will improve your EPC rating by around 10 points. It’ll keep your home warmer, reduce the amount of noise coming in from the outside, and improve security (double glazing is more difficult to break into). 

Expect to pay around £2,000 to replace all the windows of a typical three-bedroom home with double glazing.