If you think that your home's energy consumption is too high or the thermal comfort is not correct, then an energy efficiency certificate can help you get answers. This document gives you information about how energy is used in your home and provides ideas on how to improve efficiency, reduce costs and make your home more sustainable. We'll tell you everything you need to know.
What is energy efficiency?
Energy efficiency indicates how a building uses energy to offer maximum comfort with minimum consumption. Increasing this energy efficiency saves money, consumes fewer resources and reduces environmental impact. It is also key to moving towards a cleaner and more sustainable energy model.
TOPWhat factors go into calculating energy ratings?
Energy efficiency ratings measure the energy consumption necessary to meet a building's energy demand, such as for heating, cooling and hot water. Aspects such as thermal insulation are also taken into account. Buildings or homes are classified on a seven-letter scale, from A to G. The letter A corresponds to the most efficient building and the letter G to the least efficient building.
Two documents are obtained in the energy certification process:
- Energy efficiency certificate: a document that verifies the energy efficiency rating.
- Energy efficiency label: a label that shows the energy efficiency rating level obtained by the building or home.
What is the energy certificate for?
The energy certificate provides useful information to people who want to buy, lease, renovate or enlarge a home. It allows you to assess the structure’s energy characteristics and find out the approximate annual energy expenditure. It also offers recommendations to improve the efficiency of the home and an estimate of the investment recovery times. In Catalonia, the energy certificate comes with an additional report.
Energy efficiency certificates have a maximum validity of 10 years, except when the energy rating is a G. In this case, the maximum validity will be 5 years. It is possible to renew an energy certificate that is currently valid if a better rating can be obtained after a renovation.
When is it mandatory?
- Existing buildings or homes that are sold or leased.
- Newly constructed buildings.
- Buildings or parts of buildings where renovations or extensions are carried out.
- Buildings or parts of buildings where a public authority occupies a total useful area exceeding 250 m2.
- Buildings with a total useful area greater than 500m2 intended for administrative, health, commercial, public residential, educational, cultural, recreational activities, catering, transport and sports use.
- Buildings that must undergo a mandatory Technical Building Inspection or equivalent inspection.
What information does an energy certificate contain?
The certificate contains:
- Building identification: building name, address, cadastral reference number, etc.
- Details of the certifying technician and the developer or owner.
- Use of the building and operating and occupancy conditions.
- Indication of the recognised procedure used to make the rating.
- Indication of the applicable regulations.
- Description of the energy characteristics of the building: envelope and facilities.
- Energy efficiency rating obtained.
- Date of visit to the property and description of the tests and checks carried out by the qualified technician during the energy rating phase.
In the case of existing buildings, the energy certificate contains the above plus the following documentation:
- Document of recommendations by the certifying technician for improving the building's rating including estimated investment recovery periods.
How can I request an energy efficiency certificate?
To request an energy efficiency certificate, you will need to follow these steps:
- Contact a qualified certifying technician
- Consult the Registry of Certifying Technicians to find accredited professionals.
- The selected technician will be responsible for:
- Inspecting the building to gather information about insulation, installations and other energy-relevant characteristics.
- Carrying out the necessary checks in order to collect all the required data.
- Using the necessary data to create a proposed certificate.
- Access the online procedure
- You can request an energy efficiency certificate online. You will need to enter the requested data and attach all the necessary documents. We recommend that you do this with the help of the certifying technician. If you do so, you will also have to sign the representation document to delegate administrative processing to the Catalan Energy Institute (ICAEN).
- Once all the documentation has been received, the Administration will review it.
- If everything is in order, the technician will be notified and will issue the corresponding certificate and energy efficiency label. It will also be entered in the Public Registry of buildings with energy efficiency certification in Catalonia.
- If the documentation is incorrect or incomplete, the technician will be informed of the defects that have been detected and how to remedy them.
Other procedures related to certification
In addition to requesting the certificate, there are other procedures that may be of interest to you:
- Request for exemption: if you believe that your building or home is exempt from the requirement to have an energy efficiency certificate.
- Request for amendments: if you detect errors in the issued certificate.
- Request for duplicate: You can download a copy of the certification dossier using the Certificate Finder. In this case, the personal data will be removed and a stamp will be added to the footer of each page indicating that it is a duplicate.
- Procedure for the refund of undue payments: If you made a mistake with the fee amount when registering your certificate.
- Cancel a record: if you need to cancel a registered certificate for any reason.