Display Energy Certificates (DEC's)

Non-dwellings are responsible for almost 20 per cent of the UK’s energy consumption and carbon emissions. Display Energy Certificates (DEC’s) promote the improvement of the energy performance of buildings and form part of the final implementation in England and Wales of the European Directive 2002/91/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings.

The purpose of introducing Display Energy Certificates (DEC’s) is to raise public awareness of energy use and to inform visitors to public buildings about the energy use of a building. DEC’s provide an energy rating of the building from A to G, where A is very efficient and G is the least efficient and are based on the actual amount of metered energy used by the building over a period of 12 months. An affected organisation must display a DEC in a prominent place clearly visible to the public and have in its possession or control a valid Advisory Report. This report contains recommendations for improving the energy performance of the building. Affected organisations have buildings, with a total useful floor area currently greater than 1000m2, (it is believed that this will reduce significantly later this year), occupied either by a public authority or an institution providing a public service to large number of people and therefore frequently visited by those persons.