A BER is similar to the energy label for a household electrical appliance like your fridge. The label has a scale of A-G. A-rated homes are the most energy efficient and G the least efficient.

From the 1st of January 2009 a BER certificate is compulsory for all homes being sold or rented. If you are buying or renting a new house or apartment now, you are entitled to a BER - so do ask the seller/landlord or their agent for it.

All new homes (even when not for sale) must have a BER certificate before they are occupied as detailed under S.I. 666 under http://www.environ.ie/en/Legislation/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/

BER assessments performed on new dwellings will also help determine compliance to Part L of the Building Regulations.

BERs will be carried out by specially trained BER assessors, registered by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).

It is an offence for persons not registered with SEI as BER assessors to purport to carry out a BER assessment service for the purposes of the Regulations.

To see what a Building Energy Rating Certificate looks like please click here .

BER is based on primary energy demand and the BER scale ranges from “A1” (most efficient) to “G” (least efficient). To see what each band relates to in terms of primary energy, download a copy of a BER Certificate here .

Building Energy Rating (BER) is a requirement of the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (2002/91/EC of 16 December 2002), which has now been transposed in Ireland by the European Communities (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 666 of 2006)

BER will make the energy performance of the building visible. For the first time, this will allow buyers and tenants to take energy performance into consideration in their decision to purchase or rent a building.

Overall, the message in a market context is: “information is power”. BER is about equipping the consumer with information and the consequent power to act in their own best interests.

1. 1st January 2007: Newly constructed dwelling for which planning permission was applied for on or after 1.1.2007.
   • When the new dwelling is offered for sale “off plans”: a provisional BER certificate must be produced by the vendor to potential buyers or tenants, based on the pre- construction plans; and when the same new dwelling is completed, a BER certificate must be supplied to the purchaser, based on the plans of the dwelling as constructed (to take account of any design changes during construction.
   • When a the new dwelling is built for a specific owner-occupier: A BER certificate must be procured by the person commissioning the dwelling, prior to taking up occupation of the dwelling.
   • A BER certificate must accompany an offer to sell or let a dwelling by the vendor or by the landlord or by their agent (e.g. auctioneer, estate agent, solicitor).
2. 1st January 2009: Sale or letting of ALL dwellings
3. All new homes (even when not for sale) must have a BER certificate before they are occupied as detailed under S.I. 666 under http://www.environ.ie/en/Legislation/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/

BER assessments performed on new dwellings will also help determine compliance to Part L of the Building Regulations.

BER assessments are carried out by registered BER assessors who have trained under the National Framework of Qualifications and have registered with SEI, and passed the national BER assessor exam. 

BER assessors must meet requirements set by SEI, including the signing up to a Code of Practice

It is an offence for persons not registered with SEI as BER assessors to purport to carry out a BER assessment service for the purposes of the Regulations.

Any fee for a BER for a dwelling will be payable by the owner (directly or through their agent) and is responsible for any fees payable to the BER assessor.

There is no legal penalty for getting an inferior BER (e.g. “D1” as against “B1”) for a dwelling. However, new dwellings must comply with the “Conservation of Fuel and Energy” provisions of the Building Regulations.

The impact of a lower BER on the marketability of dwellings offered for sale or letting will depend on overall housing demand, other factors such as the location of the dwelling, and the availability/price of domestic fuels.

The advisory report which accompanies the BER certificate will contain recommendations on how to improve the energy performance of the dwelling. This may encourage the carrying out of energy performance improvement works either:

(i) before the sale or letting of the dwelling, in order to improve the BER/ marketability; or
(ii) after the sale by the purchaser of the dwelling, in order to reduce home heating bills and/or improve home comfort.
Building energy performance options might include measures such as:

• insulating the hot water cylinder and pipework;
• increasing the insulation in the walls/attic/floor;
• installing advanced energy efficient glazing;
• measures to achieve controlled healthy ventilation;
• replacing an old or inefficient boiler with a more efficient boiler;
• installing modern heating controls;
• installing certain types of renewable energy heating systems.

For this reason, the advisory report will be a key document. It may be particularly useful to those who have just purchased an existing dwelling which they plan to improve or remodel in their early stages of occupation.

A BER for a building will be valid for 10 years from the date of its being issued, unless there is a material change in the building in the meantime which could affect its energy performance – for example an extension to the building, a significant change to the building fabric or a change in the heating system or fuel used.

Therefore if a property which has received a BER is placed on the market within 10 years of that BER being issued, and the property has experienced no relevant alteration in the meantime, then that same BER may be used by the building owner for the purposes of meeting their obligations under the Regulations.

The regulations apply to new dwellings for which planning permission was applied for on or after 1st January 2007, new non domestic buildings for which planning permission was applied for on or after 1st July 2008, and to Existing Buildings (dwellings and other buildings) when offered for sale or letting on or after 1st January 2009. A person wishing to sell or rent a building will be required to get an energy rating carried out and to provide prospective buyers or tenants with this information. This will increase awareness of energy performance as a factor in the property market. Those with better rated buildings i.e. more energy efficient buildings will be motivated to highlight this as a positive selling point while those with poorer rated buildings may be motivated to upgrade their buildings as set out in the advisory report.

It is expected that investments in the energy performance of buildings will benefit building owners and users in terms of improved comfort, lower energy running costs and possibly higher property values. Over time it can be expected to contribute to a change in market behaviour, which will ultimately improve the energy efficiency of the national building stock and collectively, over time, these market activities could result in an environmental protection benefit in terms of a reduction in CO2 emissions from Ireland's national building stock.

The BER is concerned with "primary energy" which accounts for energy required to bring the delivered energy to the dwelling. In the case of electricity, primary energy is significantly higher than the actual amount of energy delivered to the home. This is largely because of the inherent significant inefficiencies in thermal electricity production.

Currently, DEAP has a figure of 2.7kWh primary energy for every 1kWh delivered electrical energy at the dwelling. In other words, the kWh figure on the Electricity bill (delivered energy) would be multiplied by 2.7 if correlating it to the BER result (primary energy). Conversely, oil and gas have a much lower primary energy conversion factor of 1.1. Primary energy includes delivered energy plus an allowance for the energy "overhead" incurred in extracting, processing and transporting a fuel or other energy carrier to the dwelling. In the case of electricity it takes account of generation efficiency at power stations.

In summary, if you have an electrical heat source compared to an efficient oil or gas boiler, the boiler will fare better in terms of primary energy usage (and Building Energy Rating).