Research and analysis

Energy Performance Certificates for Buildings and Energy Efficiency of Housing Statistics: user engagement July 2026

Updated 19 August 2026

Applies to England and Wales

This is an interim report on user engagement carried out in July 2026, asking for comments on proposals for small changes to the quarterly Energy Performance of Buildings Certificates (EPC) Statistics and the introduction of an annual release to replace the discontinued Office for Statistics (ONS) Energy Efficiency of Housing release.

Engagement on these proposals will remain open until 31 August 2026. If you would like to provide feedback or comments on these proposals, please contact EPBStats@communities.gov.uk.

Any further feedback will be incorporated into a final report to be published in September 2026, with changes incorporated into the releases published in October.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) publish an engagement strategy to meet the needs of statistics users.

Summary of proposals

• A new developmental statistical release on energy efficiency of housing will be published in October 2026 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), as part of the continuation of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) energy efficiency of housing in England and Wales release.

• The statistical series will remain as annual and variables within the report deemed as ‘Critical’ will be included.

• ‘Nice to have’ variables and variables ‘not required’ will be de-prioritised and not included in the first release, but may be considered for future releases based on user need.

• The quarterly EPC statistical release will be pared down given the extra data the annual release will provide e.g. although, live tables within the quarterly EPC statistics will be maintained, text within the report on DECs will be removed (the live table will remain), local authorities will be presented in their most current boundaries and historical names will be removed, and the dashboard will be re-tasked for the annual release.

Introduction

MHCLG publishes quarterly Official Statistics based on Energy Performance of Buildings Certificates in England and Wales (EPC) for domestic, non-domestic properties and Display Energy Certificates (DECs) issued for buildings occupied by public authorities. The data provide an indication of the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings, as well as an early indicator of housing supply. They also inform a more definitive estimate of housing supply as part of the Housing supply: net additional dwellings statistics, adjusted to account for demolitions.

The Office for National Statistics publishes annual statistics on the Energy efficiency of housing in England and Wales, also based on EPC data. As part of ONS’ steps to focus on quality over quantity, they have reviewed their outputs and decided to discontinue these statistics as from October 2026.

Both departments are aware that the information published in the Energy efficiency of housing release is of value to users and we want to ensure the continuation of this, where possible. Given MHCLG already publishes data based on EPCs, it made sense to take over the release. However, the statistics team within MHCLG is small with limited resource. Therefore, users of the statistics were invited to provide feedback to help identify:

• How the data are currently being used?
• Whether the two EPC statistical releases should be merged or stay as they are?
• What data are critical to users and what could be de-prioritised in both releases?
• What is more likely to be ‘nice to have’ or could be de-prioritised?
• What is not needed or used at the moment?
• What would you like to see in our releases in the future?

The full list of proposals and questions posed to users is in Annex A and Annex B.

Users included:

• local authorities
• Welsh Government
• analysts and policy colleagues within MHCLG
• other government departments including the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Department of Security, Energy and Net Zero (DESNZ)
• private companies

Responses

Three user engagement workshops were held and users were invited to provide views on proposals for prioritising and de-prioritising data to be published (see Annex A for the full list of proposals) and suggestions for merging or discontinuing certain data tables from the Energy efficiency of housing in England and Wales release (see Annex B for full list of proposals). Additional feedback was also sought via email from users unable to attend the workshops.

Uses of the data

Both statistical series have a range of uses including:

• Local authorities use the data for benchmarking and monitoring quarterly progress
• Data on new dwellings feeds into the Net Additional Dwellings statistics and is used by a range of users to monitor progress towards the target of 1.5 million homes
• One of a number of indicators in a Cost of Living dashboard
• A proxy for housing quality
• Local area energy plans to find areas to target for action and retrofit
• Providing a plug for the data gap for the private rented and owner occupied sectors in Wales
• To monitor MEES (minimum energy efficiency standards) and energy standards
• Local Area Energy Plans

Main points

• Users agreed that a separate annual release to the quarterly Energy Performance of Buildings Certificates statistics was preferable to merging two releases
• Users agreed that the timing of the ONS energy efficiency release did not need changing and an annual publication was sufficient to meet their needs
• Users agreed with the proposed actions for the data tables in Annex B
• Users asked for the quarterly live tables remain as they are, but that the release could be pared down to remove DECs and the dashboard. Users agreed that historical local authorities (LA) were not as useful for presenting the data as the most recent boundaries

The following is a summation of what users considered to be Critical; Nice to have; Not required:

Critical

The following are variables identified as critical for users that will be taken forward and included in the new release in October 2026:

1. Median energy efficiency rating (Highest and lowest for local areas) – allows better benchmarking
2. Lower level of geography than local authority e.g. Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA). Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) are made up of groups of Output Areas (OAs), usually four or five. They comprise between 400 and 1,200 households and have a usually resident population between 1,000 and 3,000 persons.
3. Maps (split by new and existing houses and flats)
4. Percentage of dwellings covered by an EPC – useful for benchmarking
5. Local Authorities labels for the data – most recent boundaries
6. Carbon dioxide emissions – Co2 by m2 is actually more useful than number of homes
7. Cumulative energy efficiency rating A to C percentage
8. New dwelling count
9. Time series of EPC by band
10. 10 year relevant because of the validity period of EPCs
11. The percentage of dwellings with an EPC by region and property type
12. Both England and Wales
13. De-duplication of the existing dwelling dataset as well as the new dwellings to provide accurate figures for all domestic dwellings

Nice to have

The following were identified as being ‘nice to have’, but not essential for users. These variables will not be published in the first release in October 2026, but we will continue engagement to check whether these data will be needed in the future:

1. Age of property – “age band is merely a very rough indication of construction date and not widely used”
2. Environmental Impact Rating (EIR) – but could be replaced with carbon emissions
3. Main fuel type – for monitoring local authorities’ progress towards off gas in the future
4. Tenure: this will become more important in the future but the current variable is unreliable
5. Solid wall properties uninsulated: “Data on solid wall uninsulated perhaps of more value than age of property”
6. 5 year rolling: “might be helpful”
7. Tenure – this variable was deemed to be useful by most users e.g. MEES targets in both social and private rented sectors, however given the weaknesses of the data collected in the EPC on tenure, we would not recommend including the tenure split from the EPC data. Instead we will investigate data linking options going forwards, with a view that tenure is fluid between sectors.
8. Urban/Rural split (but maybe only data tables)

Not required

Users were asked whether there were any variables or data published that they didn’t use, either because it was published elsewhere or that it was not required for their work. The following were Identified as not required by users and will not be included in the release going forwards:

1. Number of heat pumps - these data are available from MHCLG’s Energy efficiency characteristics of new dwellings statistics for new dwellings and DESNZ currently publish Heat pump deployment statistics for existing properties.
2. Main fuel type - this data is available from other sources including MHCLG’s Energy efficiency characteristics of new dwellings statistics for new dwellings.
3. Display Energy Certificates (DEC) for public buildings - the data does not need to be published within the release, but instead just published as a live table
4. MSOA level data – this level of data was not used by users in the workshops

Next steps

• This report will be sent to users to ensure the summary of proposals made above meet their needs.
• Any further feedback will be incorporated into a final report to be published in September.
• If you would like to provide feedback or comments, please contact EPBStats@communities.gov.uk.

Annex A: Proposals for data to be prioritised or de-prioritised

Questions asked:

1. What is most beneficial – having historical local authorities attached to the data for when the EPC was carried out, or showing the data using the most recent merged local authorities?
2. Currently in the EPC quarterly statistics MHCLG only de-duplicate the new dwellings data. Would it be critical to de-duplicate the existing data too for the annual release and the quarterly?
3. Do users rely on the median EPC rating?
4. The ONS release produces the median over the last 10 years, would it cause any issue if this was changed to since records began?

Prioritise	Potentially de-prioritise	Proposal/question
Percentage of dwellings covered by EPCs
Cumulative band A to C
Proportion of dwellings A to C by region and Local Authority
	Main fuel type	These data are provided in a different release for new dwellings only, so we feel this can be de-prioritised, unless it is required for existing dwellings?
	Data at LSOA/MSOA  level	Is data required at these levels? Would Local Authority level suffice?
	10 year/5 year rolling year outputs	Is this required?
	Urban/Rural split	These splits are provided already elsewhere, therefore we would propose de-prioritising them unless they are critical?
	Heat pumps	The  new Energy efficiency characteristics of new dwellings release covers Heat pumps for new dwellings and DESNZ publish data on existing dwellings. Can we therefore deprioritise?
	Age of property	The data on age of property in the ONS release is from VOA data. MHCLG will not have this data and will need to rely on EPC certificates if this is required, which may not be as reliable – is this critical?

Data tables

Table Name	Sheet name	Proposal
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	1a	We would suggest prioritising
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	1b	We would suggest prioritising
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	1c	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	1d	We would suggest combining this table with 1a
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	1e	We would suggest combining this table with 1b, or could this not be included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	2a	We would suggest prioritising
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	2b	We would suggest prioritising
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	2c	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	2d	We would suggest combining this table with 2a
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	2e	We would suggest combining this table with 2b, or could this not be included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	3a	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	4a	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	4b	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	4c	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	4d	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	5a	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	5b	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	5c	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
epcbandcoraboveenglandandwales	5d	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	1a	Is the Median critical?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	1b	Is the Median critical?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	1c	We would suggest prioritising
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	1d	We would suggest prioritising
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	2a	We would suggest prioritising
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	2b	We would suggest prioritising
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	3a	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	3b	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	3c	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	3d	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	3e	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	3f	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	3g	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
energyefficiencyofhousingenglandandwalesfiverollingyears	3h	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
representativetables	1a	We would suggest prioritising
individualepcbandsenglandandwales	1a	We would suggest combining this table with median/above band C sheets
individualepcbandsenglandandwales	1b	We would suggest combining this table with median/above band C sheets
individualepcbandsenglandandwales	1c	Is this useful? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?
individualepcbandsenglandandwales	1d	We would suggest combining this table with table 1a

Annex B: Proposals for changes to the quarterly Energy Performance of Buildings Certificates statistics

Energy Performance of Buildings Certificates

• Replace Environmental Impact Rating (EIR) with carbon emissions

• Change the Non-Domestic and DECs charts to longitudinal, to be consistent with Energy efficiency ratings Figure 1.

• How useful is the information presented on Display Energy Certificates (DECs)? What would be the impact if this wasn’t included?’