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Keep warm this Christmas and beyond - how to make your home more cosy and add value to it at the same time
As winter takes a firm grip on the country, we become more aware of how long we are using the heating or whether a draughty window is letting in the cold. If you want to keep warm and cosy and at the same time slash your energy bill, you should have an energy audit carried out on your home.
Energy auditors can help you find out which devices consume the most electricity and what kind of modernisation measures are best suited to your situation and your budget. They will provide you with a detailed modernisation roadmap covering all relevant aspects from the heating system you use all the way to thermal insulation, energy-efficient windows and hot water.
They provide independent and impartial advice about the measures you can take to make your home more energy-efficient. They advise you on the best ways to get your energy consumption down, save money and make the right investment. Often, you will be able to save energy and reduce your bills even on a small budget.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is now making it easier for consumers to find a qualified energy auditor by allowing more experts to act as energy auditors under the Federal Government’s energy auditing programme. Since 1 December 2017, energy auditors are no longer required to work in a particular sector, they only need to fulfil the high qualification requirements set out in the funding programmes. Up until now, experts working in trade, crafts and for utilities were not allowed to act as energy auditors under the government’s publically funded energy auditing programme.
Making energy audits more attractive by letting people choose from a larger group of energy auditors
Rainer Baake, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy said: “Having a qualified energy auditor carry out an audit is the first step towards a professional renovation that improves your building’s energy performance. We want to provide even better support for consumers by letting them choose from a larger group of qualified energy auditors.”
This means that they can also use experts they know and have worked with before, for example a master craftsman they trust. And most importantly, the audits will continue to have the same high quality, as the requirements that auditors need to fulfil will remain unchanged. The Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control will continue to monitor whether the auditing reports (including the tailored modernisation roadmap) comply with the requirements, ensuring that the high quality of the reports will not be compromised.
How is an energy audit being carried out?
If you want to have an energy audit carried out on your home, you need to find a qualified energy auditor first. He or she will then take care of the rest. First of all, your energy auditor will apply for the funding, and will then closely scrutinise your building, using software to collect a wide range of data. Finally, you will receive a modernisation plan that is tailored exactly to your needs or a tailored modernisation roadmap setting out how you can improve energy efficiency and save energy more effectively.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy covers 60 percent of the auditing costs
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is encouraging more people to use energy audits by covering 60 percent of the auditing costs. As a consumer, you will not have to apply for the funding yourself, as your energy auditor will do all of this for you. The funding will be taken into account in the auditor’s invoice, with the amount you need to pay being calculated based on the fee charged by the auditor minus the amount of funding that has been granted.
For single-family-homes and two-family-homes, the maximum funding amount is €800, for buildings with more than three housing units it is €1,100. If the energy auditor is asked to present the report at a regular home owners’ meeting or a meeting of the advisory board, an additional €500 will be granted. This is to take account of the fact that in apartment blocks, the owners will need to make a joint decision about which measures they want to implement. The ‘residential energy audits’ are targeted at home-owners, condominium owners’ associations, tenants and lessees, commercial undertakings (only small and medium-sized enterprises) and non-profit organisations, charitable organisations and churches.
How can I find an energy auditor?
You can use the list of energy efficiency experts to find a qualified energy auditor. The www.energie-effizienz-experten.de (in German only) website offers a list of certified energy auditors. This list also includes information about the sector that the energy auditors work in. You have two different options: either you can ask one person, for example a master craftsman who is also a qualified energy auditor, to carry out both the audit and the renovation, or you can ask an independent energy auditor to carry out the audit only. It will still take some time for the new energy auditors to be added to the list of experts. From 1 December 2017, energy experts from other sectors can be certified as energy auditors by the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) provided they can prove that they meet the requirements. They can only be added to the list once they have been approved by the BAFA.
In order to receive information about the wide range of energy efficiency-related funding programmes, please call 0800 0115 000 (calls can be made free of charge). For more information around energy efficiency, please go to www.machts-effizient.de (German, for English click here).