The Building Energy Rating Certificate (BER) is part on the Energy Performance of Buildings EU Directive. The aim of the Directive is to make the energy performance of a building transparent and available to potential purchasers or tenants.
The BER is simply a check to see how good your house is at using energy and will measure how much energy and carbon your house will use or produce over a given year.
The certificate will most likely be similar to the energy label for domestic electrical appliances, which rates the energy performance of the appliance from A to G.
The BER will cover energy use for space heating, water heating, ventilation and lighting, calculated on the basis of standard occupancy and will be valid for 10 years from the date of its being issued
The certificate will be required at the point of sale or rental of a building, or on completion of a new building. At this time the BER is only a rating of a home's energy efficiency. The homeowner looking to sell or rent is under no obligation to make any recommended improvements.
The Building Energy Rating is an indication of the energy performance of a specific dwelling. It covers energy use for space heating, water heating, ventilation and lighting, calculated on the basis of standard occupancy. It is expressed as primary energy use per unit floor area per year. A Rated properties will tend to be the most energy efficient and will have the lowest energy bills.
A Building Energy Rating is a certificate that is given to a dwelling to measure the energy efficiency of the dwelling. It gives a rating from A to G which measures the CO2 emissions and KWh/m2/yr of a property.
To see what a BER Certificate looks like please click the link [BER Cert].
InsulateYourHome.ie are offering BER certificates for FREE* if you get insulation or heating system grants from the SEAI Home Energy Savings Scheme.
InsulateYourHome.ie will complete a BER cert for the homeowner for the €100 that the homeowner will get back through the Home Energy Saving Scheme if the homeowner uses InsulateYourHome.ie for their upgrade works!
Generally the homeowner has to pay the bill for the BER certificate, however if the homeowner uses InsulateYourHome.ie for their insulation upgrade they will receive a BER certificate free of charge to the home owner*.
If you are selling or renting a property you will need to get a BER certificate for the house or apartment.
Also, from the 1st June 2010 if you receive grant money from the SEAI for insulation works or heating system upgrades you are required to get a Building Energy Rating. You will receive a grant of €100 for the BER certificate on top of other grant monies that you have been granted.
Heating oil and gas are more efficient types of heating. However if you upgrade insulation in your home this would reduce the difference. A good energy efficiency, in broad terms, is based on how well insulated the envelope of the dwelling is and the efficiency of the heating system.
Upgrading your insulation will hugely improve the energy rating of your home, reducing your heating bills and your carbon footprint.
Public buildings and listed buildings are currently exempt from BER. All other domestic buildings need a BER if for sale, for rent or receiving grant money from SEAI for insulation or heating system upgrades.
If you do not obtain a BER when required by law, you could be fined, your auctioneer/solicitor could be fined and you will not get your grant money from the SEAI if a BER is not completed as part of the HES Scheme grants.
If your building scores low in energy efficiency, do not worry there is plenty you can do. Insulateyourhome can upgrade your insulation and heating system which is guaranteed to improve your BER rating. You can also receive grants from the SEAI to help you with the cost of the upgrade.
A BER Assessor will conduct a site visit of the property and take a detailed survey of the property. The Assessor will take account of measurements, building fabric, building space and water heating. The Assessor will then record the data and input this into the DEAP software. The software produces a file that is lodged with NAS, which is an online administrate system. NAS then publishes the BER certificate. The certificate can now be given to the client.
A BER is based on the characteristics of major components of the property i.e.
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