Under official guidelines, a church, (as a place of worship) does not require a EPC. However from time to time, we still get requests to carry out a commercial EPC on a church. The reason for this tends to be solar PV and claiming the Feed-in Tariff.
Typically, churches are old buildings and as such are very inefficient, but since they aren’t used all the time it is rare for them to have traditional central heating systems. Instead they often have maintenance-free electric heating (such as infrared heating). This can be turned on and off very easily and will quickly heat the space inside the church, ensuring the visitors are kept nice and warm.
Solar PV on a church requires commercial EPC to claim FIT
Electric heating, while convenient on paper, is more expensive to run than gas central heating, so often the energy bills in churches are very high. This is why some churches have solar panels installed on their roof – these provide a large amount of free electricity to help meet some of the demand of heating the interior space. In addition, under the government’s Feed-in Tariff scheme, the owners of the system are paid for the electricity produced, providing a small secondary income stream for the church.
In order to claim the Feed-in Tariff, the church requires a commercial EPC. This is why, despite it not being legally required, many churches across London still get in touch with us to get a commercial EPC carried out.
Price of commercial EPC for a church
Price-wise, a commercial EPC for an average sized church is £350 + VAT, but we can always provide a more accurate quote provided we have the address of the property. If you need a commercial EPC for a church in London, get in touch today!
I thought an EPC wasn’t required for a church! It appears this was the blog with the just the answer! Thanks