What is a BER Certificate?

If you’ve ever bought, sold, or rented a home you’ve definitely heard of a BER Certificate. The BER is the Building Energy Rating and it measures the energy efficiency of commercial and residential buildings in Ireland. The BER of a building is represented by a scale of A to G, where A1 is the most energy-efficient rating and G is the least.

The BER is an indication of a home’s energy efficiency and takes into account energy used for heat, light, pumps and fans. The aim of the BER Directive is to make the energy performance of a building easily understandable and to ensure that the information is readily available to potential purchasers or tenants. In the current economic climate, the rating of a house will have a deciding effect on the resale or rental value of any property or building. 

Why do I Need a BER?

If you are selling or renting a property, you are legally obliged to provide a BER Certificate to prospective buyers and tenants. All advertising materials promoting the property must also display the BER rating. But aside from the legal requirement, an A rated is a much more attractive prospect than a poorly rated one and will have a massive impact on the value of the property. The higher the building’s rating the less it will cost to heat it and therefore the property value is greater.

How do I get a BER Assessment? 

BER Assessments can only be carried out by specially trained assessors. It should be noted that the BER strictly measures the energy efficiency of the building with regards to heating and is not concerned with individual appliances like dishwashers and washing machines. Measurements considered in the assessment include effective wall insulation, the use of high efficiency boilers, the use of renewable energies and solar panels, effective ventilation, insulated pipework, etc. The BER Certificate is valid for 10 years as long as no significant structural changes are made to the property that might affect the rating.

What Happens if I get a Low Rating?

If your building or home receives a low BER Score then you should consider making changes to improve it. There are many things you can do to increase your BER including increasing the insulation in the walls, attic and floors, replacing an old or inefficient boiler with a more efficient boiler, installing modern heating controls and certain types of renewable energy heating systems and insulating the hot water cylinder and pipework. However, there is no obligation on the homeowner or property owner to do anything, as the BER is just an assessment or summary of the building’s efficiency. While making improvements is recommended there is no legal requirement for you to do so.

BER Assessors Dublin 

Usher Insulations are qualified and experienced Building Energy Rating Assessors. We have conducted hundreds of building energy assessment tests and have helped clients identify and correct areas where they were wasting energy and wasting money. We are available for all domestic and commercial BER tests in Dublin. If you need a BER Assessment carried out for your home or property then contact the team at Usher Insulations today on 018201921.