F rating on EPC in all electric house: what are the consequences?

[DecisionTime123]

Had offer accepted on a house with electric radiators and boiler. I currently live in a flat that's all electric and had no problems so it didn't really register with me. The house needs other work, I wouldn't be able to afford to redo the heating system as well. The agent said oh yes you can have gas laid here, apropos nothing I thought that was odd but dismissed it - but having had the mortgage approved yesterday I went through the rightmove listing again, no EPC rating, then the agent's own listing and there it was - F. Looked on HM Gov website and it's the only house in the road with an F, everyone else is C or D so I assume they've all chosen to have gas laid to the properties. The EPC estimated heating and hot water costs at around £195 a month with the existing system rated as "very poor". Plus I didn't realise the ground floors are solid, so they might need more insulation as well.

I'm buying with a mortgage, borrowing the maximum I can afford. I had a cash budget of £20k to do all the work on it, which was meant to be just flooring, new appliances, a new bathroom and redecorating. The vendors wanted an extra £5k which I would have to pay out of my cash budget; that's left me with £15k so its tight (I was asking on here the other day about doing the conservatory roof and that was a bit of a pipe dream) but if I have to install GCH, after having the pipes laid, where am I going with this? I am on my own in my 60s so taking on a refurb is daunting as it stands.

Many people make incorrect assumptions about EPCs and confuse what they represent with what they think they should represent.

The EPC rating is currently a cost-based metric. If the property costs more money to run over the period of a modelled year then the rating will be lower (such as an F in this case), and if it costs less to run over the period of a modelled year then the rating will be higher.

Electricity costs about 3.5 times that of gas in terms of pence per kWh of energy. Therefore if you have a peak-rate direct-acting electric heating system with an efficiency of 100% like the one in this property, then the running costs will be almost 3.5 times that of running a gas boiler, which might have an efficiency of 93%.

There is no question that this property, with its current boiler, is going to relatively cost a huge amount of money to heat.

An electric heat pump however operating with an 'efficiency' (SCOP) of 3.5 or more will run at about the same cost as a gas boiler and will therefore score about the same rating on an EPC, so long as the exact make and model are available in the Product Characteristics Database (PCDB). Savings beyond this are also possible from leverage such as solar PV, batteries and EV smart tariffs.

By the way, at our house it only cost £200 to get gas connected 10 years ago as the gas main ran in front of our house.

However, if the OP were going to complete on this property, it might be worth looking into the cost of getting the electric boiler replaced with a heat pump, particularly as they may already have wet radiators around the house. but they'd need to check how the domestic hot water is currently heated. Suggest Heat Geek as first port of call, and of course the BUS grant is still providing £7,500 towards the cost of installation.

OP, if you intend to rent the property out in the future bear in mind the minimum rating required currently is an E, and the bar is likely to be lifted higher in the near future. If you have no intention of renting it out then this is irrelevant.

Prices quoted on utility websites will be estimates based on the previous owners usage over 12 months. This will almost certainly be different to your own usage, and anyone else's useage because everyone has their own preference over room temperature, how many hours to have the heating on, and how many months of the year etc. and this should be taken into account.

EPCs use an assumed occupancy model so that the headline cost-based metric can be directly compared from one property to another, its therefore not about the occupant, its only about the building, and on the EPC it says "People living at the property may use different amounts of energy for heating, hot water and lighting."

The EPC rating is calculated based on a fixed energy cost in the methodology to maintain rating consistency. The financial figures expressed on the EPC however are based on energy prices which are updated every few months, and will relate to energy costs at the time of the assessment. If you are looking at an old EPC produced when energy prices were different to today, such as prior to the war in Ukraine, then those won't match prices today. Again, this is expressed in the text on the EPC where it says: "This is based on average costs in xxxx when this EPC was created."

Yes, unfortunately you'll find that type of opinion in many forum postings. My advice would be to take notice of advice specifically from people who actually have experience or qualifications in energy assessment. Good luck.

Is it a house you like, in an area you like for a reasonable price that you like, then buy it. All this 'modern epc stuff' has been largely manufactured by out of touch govt to be ignored imo.

Also @Bilivino just googled and EDF gives an estimate of £5.5k or thereabouts to install a heat pump using a grant of £7.5 to top up - I had no idea. I wasn't up for any big works apart from a modest new bathroom but yes this could work? Will research further, thank you.

I really do appreciate all the thoughts on here because some echoed my own - just pull out - but then I kept thinking maybe there is a way through it? Anyway, I'll be talking to whoever I need to talk to on Monday when no doubt the estate agent will be having a fit as I haven't arranged the full survey or given the solicitor the green light!