Recommendation Reports provide suggestions to improve the way energy is managed and used within a building. Completed properly, they are the most useful part of the feedback from an assessment. Display Energy Certificate (DEC) assessors also typically have more freedom than other energy assessors to consider a wider range of improvements and the effect they may have on your building.
As such, the Recommendation Report provides recommendations for improving energy efficiency which can help reduce energy bills if successfully implemented. A good assessor will often be able to reflect your organisation's own environmental sustainability priorities when producing the report.
Therefore, even where they are not required, it can be beneficial to have the Recommendation Report for a building completed or updated. This is particularly true when your energy assessor has to complete a site visit to complete the assessment as the additional work for the assessor is limited and this should be reflected in the assessment price. In our case, we rarely charge any different for a site visit with or without a new Recommendation Report.
Recommendation Report Requirements
In England, a valid Recommendation Report is legally required to be in place before a Display Energy Certificate is issued. Your assessor will need to lodge one if either there is no report currently on the register or if the last report has expired. In reality, both the Display Energy Certificate and Recommendation Report are usually added to the National Register at the same time.
The Recommendation Report must be for the same building and occupier as the DEC so they should both be accessible under the same entry on the register. It is the responsibility of the energy assessor to check the register to ensure that the Recommendation Report is in place before lodging the Display Energy Certificate (DEC).
If a DEC is being used to meet an organisation’s obligations under the Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) it must be accompanied by a valid Recommendation Report completed since the organisation’s previous ESOS report was finalised i.e. you can’t use the same report twice.
In Scotland, Recommendation Reports to accompany Display Energy Certificates (DECs) are voluntary.
However, if the DEC is being used to meet an organisation’s obligations under the Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) it must be accompanied by a valid Recommendation Report. This Recommendation Report must have been completed since the organisation’s previous ESOS report was finalised i.e. you can’t use the same report twice.
In Wales, a valid Recommendations Report is legally required to be in place before a Display Energy Certificate is issued. Your assessor will need to lodge one if either there is no report currently on the register or if the last report has expired. In reality, both the Display Energy Certificate and Recommendations Report are usually added to the National Register at the same time.
The Recommendations Report must be for the same building and occupier as the DEC so they should both be accessible under the same entry on the register. It is the responsibility of the energy assessor to check the register to ensure that the Recommendations Report is in place before lodging the Display Energy Certificate (DEC).
If a DEC is being used to meet an organisation’s obligations under the Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) it must be accompanied by a valid Recommendations Report completed since the organisation’s previous ESOS report was finalised i.e. you can’t use the same report twice.
In Northern Ireland, a valid Recommendations Report is legally required to be in place before a Display Energy Certificate is issued. Your assessor will need to lodge one if either there is no report currently on the register or if the last report has expired. In reality, both the Display Energy Certificate and Recommendations Report are usually added to the National Register at the same time.
The Recommendations Report must be for the same building and occupier as the DEC so they should both be accessible under the same entry on the register. It is the responsibility of the energy assessor to check the register to ensure that the Recommendations Report is in place before lodging the Display Energy Certificate (DEC).
If a DEC is being used to meet an organisation’s obligations under the Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) it must be accompanied by a valid Recommendations Report completed since the organisation’s previous ESOS report was finalised i.e. you can’t use the same report twice.