File 04: Reading your energy rating
The rating in detail: demand, costs, carbon, potential, and the limits of a single letter.
The file guide
Working guides on this file
Reading your energy rating Carbon Dioxide on a Certificate What the carbon dioxide figure on a certificate means, how it is calculated from fuel and energy, and why it moves differently from energy and cost. Reading your energy rating Comparing Two Homes by Rating How to compare two homes fairly using ratings, scores, features and context, without being misled by bands, dates or different methods. Reading your energy rating Estimated Costs on a Certificate How certificate cost estimates are built, why they differ from real bills, and how to use them for comparison without treating them as forecasts. Reading your energy rating Fabric Scores vs Systems Scores How to separate fabric performance from heating system performance on a rating, and why that separation matters for choosing work. Reading your energy rating How a Rating Changes After Work What happens to a rating when work is completed, why a new assessment is needed, and what changes, and does not change, in the new document. Reading your energy rating Keeping Rating Evidence What rating evidence to keep, how to organise it, and how a good evidence file helps future sales, lettings, work and reassessments. Reading your energy rating Primary Energy, Explained What primary energy means, why certificates use it, and how it differs from the energy a household actually buys and uses. Reading your energy rating Rating and Mortgage Questions, in General How energy ratings can feature in mortgage discussions in general terms, what lenders may ask, and what a rating does and does not determine about borrowing. Reading your energy rating Rating History and Trends How to read a home's rating history over time, what trends mean, and how to separate real improvement from method changes and input corrections. Reading your energy rating Rating Improvement Potential What potential rating means, how it is calculated from recommendations, and how to judge whether that potential is realistic for a particular home. Reading your energy rating Rating vs Energy Demand Why a rating and energy demand are related but not identical, and how to use each figure for the question it actually answers. Reading your energy rating Ratings and Energy Labels, Compared How building energy ratings differ from product energy labels, and why a home's rating and an appliance's label should never be read as the same kind of score. Reading your energy rating When a Rating Does Not Move Why a rating sometimes stays the same after work, what causes that, and how to tell whether the work failed, the model missed it, or the assessment missed it.