General Question - Energy Performance Ratings

[SuperGlumFairy]

I wasn't having much luck where I previously posted this so hope it's okay to pop here.

I am an Aussie, looking to rent in Cambridge and as I have been looking at rentals online have noticed that there is often an Energy Performance Certificate included in the listing. I understand these show how energy efficient the home is, and how much better it could be and thus the more efficient it is the more money it saves you on your gas/electric but just how big a difference is there?
Many of the houses in the location I am looking at can be quite old, and have some quite dismal looking performance ratings..one as low as 35! How much does this bump up the bill? Obviously the newer houses have much better performance ratings but the rent is much higher, or the location a bit further out from town.
What level should I be looking at? I can't imagine everyone is living in an A performing house..so I am aiming for a C if I can. Does that sound about right? If I was to get an E level house how much extra a month could I be forking out to the gas/electric company? Is there a point at which the lower rent cancels out the extra utilities cost?

All I can say is that when we sold our house, the lady who did the EPR said E was average for a UK house, and she'd never seen an A.

Quite a lot of your energy consumption will depend on a) if you're around the house most of the day, and b) what sort of ambient temperature you need in the winter!

We bought a brand new house last year (so completely insulated, with a brand new efficient boiler etc) and it's rated C. I don't know if B and A are reserved for the underground-recycle-your-own-water type houses but I would have thought C to E was fairly average.

Heating bills can be quite high depending on how you use it. We scrimp on ours, and simple things like keeping all interior doors closed can help enormously in winter (with a little blast of fresh air in the morning to freshen things up!). We noticed it was much warmer once we started doing that, even with our thermostat set to 15degrees.

I wouldn't make the most important part of your choice of house -costs will depend a great deal on the size of house, whether detached or terraced etc
I would say in the rental market in cambridgeshire location and whether the property is pleasent and rental cost would have much more weight on me than the EPCr

Thanks for the input that's really helpful. While I know the energy rating isn't everything it's nice to know that it's actually quite normal to be a C or below rated house and will help when I do find something I like.