Cheap EPCs are produced using various business models but the two below are the most common ones:

Business Model 1

A company employs Domestic Energy Assessors (  DEAs ) on a PAYE basis and pays the DEA a basic salary. To justify his basic salary the DEA has to meet targets, say 5 EPCs per day over a large geographical area. To earn a higher salary the DEA has to exceed the target. How? By working faster. i.e. spending less time on site. Even using PDAs the unfortunate DEA cannot achieve higher targets without cutting corners.

Question: Would you want an EPC from a company using this business model?

Answer: Choose an independent local DEA to provide your EPC

Business Model 2

A company advertises cheap EPCs nationwide. It claims to employ hundreds, if not thousands of DEAs nationwide. It gets an order for an EPC. It sends out a mass e-mail inviting quotes from DEAs. DEAs bid against each other and the lowest bid gets the job. The company pockets the difference as the bid is even lower than the price quoted to the end user, which is already low, typically £39 + VAT.

Question: Would you want an EPC from a company using this business model?

Answer: Choose an independent local DEA to provide your EPC