The Department for Communities and Local Government has launched a new service allowing users to access property level data from the Energy Performance Certificate register for England and Wales. The data cover the domestic register and non-domestic register (which also contains the Display Energy Certificate for public buildings)
Anyone who is interested can access information from individual certificates or access bulk downloads via the service search tool or developers API. You can access the data via the registration process at https://epc.opendatacommunities.org.
Why does data release matter?
Data has enormous value and can drive huge societal transformation. Data is infrastructure and underpins transparency, accountability, public services, business innovation and civil society. Data is the fuel of the digital economy, and it has the power to transform the way government works and arguably the UK Government is a leader (if not the leader) in open government and transparency.
We’re in a data revolution in government with the potential to drive greater efficiency, support economic growth and deliver better public services for citizens. All departments are committed to building a data-¬driven government where data and evidence is used to transform insight and evaluate and monitor policy delivery. and transform insight. Releasing data about the energy performance of buildings at individual property level has the potential to provide benefits in all these areas.
The EPC dataset by itself can provide great value for researchers, businesses, analysts and policy makers but there’s even greater value when this dataset is compared or linked to other datasets to build an evidence base, monitor policy or objectives, gain insights and target service delivery more effectively.
Understanding how you use the data and the value it brings to you is important to us and helps us shape the data services we provide in the future. Please do get in touch and share your stories, tell us how you’ve used the data and the insights or value you’ve gained. We would be delighted to highlight your story if you so wish - in future blogs
Where can I find out about the Energy Performance Certificate register and the data being released?
Official guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-performance-certificates with additional information at this link - https://www.gov.uk/buy-sell-your-home/energy-performance-certificates
Background and contextual information about the data release can be found at https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/docs/guidance including descriptions of the data variables being released. More general frequently asked questions are located here https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/docs/guidance#FAQ
The API lets developers perform searches programatically, and access certificate data in CSV and JSON formats. The documentation is located at https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/docs/api. There’s a SPARQL query endpoint coming soon.
It’s vitally important users understand the restrictions and responsibilities of data use set out in our terms and conditions (https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/docs/copyright) and the obligations under the data protection act (https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/docs/protection)
In the meantime please feel free to feedback to us by email ODC@communities.gsi.gov.uk