Notice of government’s intention to publish more data related to Energy Performance Certificates
Notice of government’s intention to publish more data related to Energy Performance Certificates. This is your opportunity to opt out of having this data disclosed publicly.
As part of the government’s move to make more data publicly available, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will be enabling greater access to data from Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for domestic and non-domestic buildings and from Display Energy Certificates (DECs) for public authority buildings in England and Wales.
Currently this information is available on an individual basis meaning that EPCs and DECs can be viewed online at an individual property address level. However data is currently only made available in bulk form to a limited range of users. The government has decided to widen access to the data on a bulk access basis to anyone who wants to access it, subject to the terms of a copyright notice. This is in addition to the existing access to individual property details. The decision regarding which data items will be made free to access reflects considerations made as part of the privacy impact assessment, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-better-use-of-energyperformance-of-buildings-data-privacy-impact-assessment
DCLG have also issued a formal privacy notice, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-performance-certificates-opt-out-ofpublic-disclosure
DCLG recognise that the holders of EPCs may have concerns about information relating to their building being made public. Therefore, holders of EPCs may want to opt-out from allowing the data about the building they own or occupy being released.
Why is data being released?
The value of information about the energy performance of buildings to researchers, local authorities and environmental organisations in delivering national climate change objectives is significant. DCLG believe it is in the public interest to make this information more readily available for these purposes.
How can people opt out?
Holders of EPCs may opt-out by visiting https://www.epcregister.com/optout/oo/ before June 2016. It will still be possible to opt-out after this date from future data releases, which will take place on a six monthly basis. However data may have been made available for any requests after June 2016.
Opt-out is available to holders of EPCs but not to holders of DECs as these relate to public buildings. Where will this data be published? The information will be released on http://opendatacommunities.org/ which hosts data on a variety of communities and local government themes.
How can this data be used?
A copyright notice will accompany the data advising that use of the data is subject to conditions. The copyright notice includes the prohibition of re-use of the addresses for other purposes because the address data contains the intellectual property rights of Royal Mail Group Ltd. If you have any further questions, please contact our EPC Enquiries team at the following e-mail address: epc.enquiry@communities.gsi.gov.uk.