A Building Energy Rating (BER) is much the same as the A to G rating labelling you see on electric appliance like washing machines and fridge freezers, a BER ranges from A1 the most energy efficient to G the least energy efficient.

Regulations provided for the legal implementation of articles 5 and 7 of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2002 require the Building Energy Rating (BER) of buildings as follows: New Dwellings commencing on or after 1st January 2007 New Non Domestic Buildings commencing on or after 1st July 2008 and existing buildings, when let or sold, on or after 1st January 2009.

There are fines of up to €5000 for non-compliance

A BER can only be carried out by specially trained BER assessors registered with Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI). A list of assessors can be found on SEI website. >> www.sei.ie

The assessor will have to gather information on a survey of the dwelling the procedure takes into account of building elements such as windows floors roofs, space and water heating, lighting and ventilation (measurements, sketches and photographs will need to be taken by the assessor) and then input all the information into a program called Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure (DEAP) this will then give the energy rating of the dwelling

The assessor will give you an advisory report with your BER certificate that will outline the improvements that you can make to improve the energy efficiency of your dwelling. If you implement all or even some of the measures that the advisory report recommends this will improve the rating if you should choose to get a second BER rating.