Energy performance tool launches after successful retrofit pilots with social landlords

The government confirmed in February that private landlords in England and Wales must achieve an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of Band C in their homes by 2030. A date is yet to be confirmed for social landlords.

David Partridge, co-founder of Senze and chair of house builder Related Argent, told Inside Housing: “We’re greatly heartened by the pilot projects undertaken with social landlords such as Bromford, Wales & West, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the New York City Housing Authority.

“The key to scaling our work with social landlords is trust. The UK government acknowledged in this year’s consultation that we need to increase trust in the accuracy and reliability of EPCs.

“The live data inputs Senze provides can be the tool that unlocks greater trust in EPC assessments, as we can measure the precise thermal performance of a home rather than relying on the variability of a visual inspection.

“As our live data starts to build much greater trust in EPCs, social landlords become better informed about the genuine thermal performance of their homes.

“Ultimately, this will give greater assurance for property, asset management and estates teams and lead to warmer, happier and healthier residents.”

The new technology uses sensors to capture live data from all rooms inside a building, providing real-time insights into a home’s energy performance before and after retrofitting.

Senze believes its tool could help properties save £4,890 per home on capital retrofit costs, £133.90 in annual fuel bills and 1.29 tonnes of carbon emissions per year on average.

Many landlords have been looking to technological solutions to retrofit their stock. One large city council partnered with a major energy firm and a tech start-up to pilot a thermal camera drone heat-mapping scheme on more than 4,000 homes.

The government is due to publish a consultation on meeting EPC targets for social landlords in the coming months.

Under the plans, private landlords will not be able to rent out homes from 2030 if they do not achieve an EPC C rating, up from the current level of EPC E.

At the moment, 48% of private rented homes in England are already EPC C or above and 2.5 million homes have a rating of D to G.

The government estimates the average cost to landlords of complying with the proposals to upgrade their properties at between £6,100 and £6,800 per home.

The higher standard would apply to new tenancies from 2028 and all tenancies would be required to be compliant by 2030.

Tom Fenton, former head of technology company Veritherm and chief executive of Senze, said: “Councils and housing associations still have the largest numbers of old homes to retrofit and their finances are stretched. We want to help social landlords go faster but make their budgets go further.”

In March, a number of sector bodies welcomed the allocation of £1.8bn in funding for energy-saving upgrades for up to 170,000 homes.

The cash comes as part of the roll-out of the government’s Warm Homes Plan, and will be provided to local authorities and social housing providers to deliver warmer, more energy-efficient homes across England.

Joseph Michael Daniels, co-founder of Senze and former chief executive of housebuilder Project Etopia, said the sector had a mountain to climb to meet the government’s net-zero goals.