A Home Energy Baseline Worksheet

A baseline worksheet is a single, dated document that records a home's energy starting point in a structured way, so later change can be judged. It is not a rating, a survey, or a plan; it is a record. A good worksheet has sections for the home as found, for paper evidence, for meter history, for lived comfort, and for work already done, each with dates, so a future reader can see what was known, when, and what was assumed.

The worksheet's value is in its structure. Without structure, baseline notes scatter across bills, emails, photographs and memory, and a future comparison becomes guesswork. With structure, each new reading, certificate or work record has a place, and the baseline grows into a history rather than a pile. This guide sets out that structure in general terms, for any home.

The first section records the home: type, age band, built form, number of storeys, floor area if known, wall and roof types, glazing type, heating system and controls, and hot water arrangements. Each entry should note whether it was observed, evidenced by a document, or assumed, because that distinction determines how much weight a future assessor can give it. Unknowns should be marked unknown, not guessed, since a marked unknown invites investigation while a guess misleads.

The second section records paper and meter evidence: certificate date and rating, audit or survey dates, a year of meter readings in kilowatt-hours by fuel, with actual versus estimated marked, and tariff notes. The third section records lived experience: room-by-room comfort, draughts, condensation, heating hours and room use, with dates and weather notes. The fourth section records work already done, with dates, installers, products and guarantees, so future work builds on a known history.

Check completeness section by section, rather than aiming for perfection in one section. A worksheet with a complete meter section but an empty comfort section is still useful, provided gaps are marked, while a worksheet that appears complete but contains guesses in place of unknowns is misleading. Mark gaps, date every entry, and update the worksheet after each phase of work, not just at the start.

Check comparability before using the worksheet for before-and-after judgement. Note heating season periods, occupancy changes, tariff changes and major weather events alongside readings, so later comparisons can allow for them. A worksheet without context notes invites false conclusions, such as attributing a mild winter saving to insulation, or a tariff rise to building deterioration.

In the UK, a worksheet should include EPC register details, certificate date and nation, because register history is a public part of the baseline, and it should note scheme or grant records where applicable, since those affect future eligibility. Different nations' registers and schemes mean a worksheet for a Scottish home will reference different records from one for an English home, and that difference should be visible in the worksheet's paper section.

In EU member states, a worksheet should include national certificate details, register access notes, and any renovation passport or roadmap reference, where such schemes exist. A worksheet abroad should therefore adapt its paper section to national documents, while keeping the same overall structure: home, paper, meters, comfort and work history, which travels across systems even though document names do not.

One worksheet mistake is recording only numbers, without context. Meter readings without occupancy, weather and tariff notes cannot support fair comparison, and comfort notes without dates and conditions cannot support diagnosis. Numbers need context, and a worksheet that omits context will mislead its future reader, including its own author a year later.

Another mistake is creating a worksheet and never updating it. A baseline frozen at the start, while work proceeds and seasons pass, quickly becomes history rather than a living record. Update the worksheet after each meter reading, each certificate, and each phase of work, with a new dated entry, so it remains a current history rather than a snapshot that ages into irrelevance.

Keep the worksheet as a single file, in paper and digital form, with supporting documents filed behind each section: certificates, bills, photographs, invoices and guarantees. Pass the worksheet to future owners, tenants where appropriate, and professionals, because a structured history saves every future professional from rediscovering the home from scratch.

Ask an auditor or assessor to review the worksheet before a visit, and to note which sections are most useful and which need strengthening. Ask installers to provide handover information in worksheet form, with dates, products and settings, so each phase adds to the record rather than scattering it. This guide is a structure, not a substitute for professional assessment.