Skipton Building Society is to invest £11m in greening UK homes by giving all of its mortgage customers a free EPC Plus report.
Skipton’s EPC Plus launch comes as the latest household data reveals homeowners will be paying on average £1,570 more this year on energy bills alone.
However, following a recent government announcement, it is estimated that improving your homes efficiency could shave £450 off annual household bills.
The latest UK EPC data reveals that 60-70% of all homes across the UK currently have an EPC rating of band D or lower. In the recent Autumn Statement, the government reconfirmed £6.6bn will be committed to energy efficiency. However, it is currently estimated that it will cost more than £330 billion to upgrade all properties in the UK.
In partnering with Vibrant (which is part of the Skipton Group), the Society’s mortgage customers and all of its colleagues can register to have a free EPC Plus inspection carried out on their home – with a free report provided bespoke to their property. As a customer-owned organisation, where profits are not generated for shareholder benefit, Skipton is preparing to invest over £11 million to support its members over the coming months and years.
The EPC Plus report is the first of its kind, going one step further than a traditional EPC report. It provides each homeowner not only with the current energy efficiency rating of their home, and what the home’s potential EPC rating could be too. But it also includes a bespoke guide on how the homeowner can achieve this, how much it could reduce their energy bills by, and signposts to sources of funding potentially available. It also estimates the tonnes of carbon produced by the household.
Crucially, Skipton is also committing to helping landlords improve the energy rating and energy efficiency of their rental properties by enabling buy to let mortgage customers request up to 10 EPC Plus reports for the properties they own. The landlord is only required to have one mortgage with Skipton Building Society to enable them to benefit from up to 10 free EPC Plus reports for their property portfolio.
Kris Brewster, interim chief commercial officer at Skipton, said: “Home energy efficiency is a huge societal challenge where everyone needs to play their part. It is only right that the business community steps up to the mark, and as a customer-owned organisation we’re reinvesting some of our profits to help our members save money and improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
“We understand that making any upgrades to the home can be a significant financial undertaking. For that reason, the reports also include details of any government-funded schemes available through local authorities and installers that customers are eligible for. The qualifying funding can be used towards the recommended upgrade works listed within their bespoke EPC Plus report.
“To have a healthy housing market, we need to support every rung on the property ladder, and that includes people living in rental properties. Landlords play an integral part of housing provision but equally face massive challenges in greening their homes. So, we believe it’s only right that we help here too. We’ve taken the decision to also offer free EPC Plus inspections and reports to our buy-to-let customers too. Irrespective of if they only have one rental property mortgaged with Skipton, we will provide up to 10 free EPC Plus assessments and reports for their property portfolios. It is only through making such investments, that we will see positive change in the UK.
Each report also details the typical costs associated with making any of the recommended changes to their home mentioned in the report and provides access to registered, independent tradespeople who come recommended to carry out any changes.
Daniel Kittow, managing director at Vibrant, added: “We are proud to be collaborating with Skipton Building Society to provide free EPC Plus reports to Skipton mortgage customers.
“As a leading supplier of EPCs and residential energy efficiency upgrades, we are committed to providing homeowners and buy-to-let landlords with the tools they need to improve their homes and reduce energy bills in the future.”
To secure their free EPC Plus assessment and subsequent report Skipton Building Society mortgage customers need to visit skipton.co.uk/epc-plus and follow the instructions provided.
