Want to earn £50,000 a year?

That was the promise when EPC Certificates were launched back in 2008. At the time the Government predicted the need for up to 4,000 energy assessors and many training bodies claimed that first year earnings of £50,000 were virtually guaranteed. So with a new year in prospect, what lessons have we learnt since 2008 and what advice would I give to an aspiring EA in 2010?

OMB first, DEA second

OMB stands for Owner Managed Business and that is exactly what you will be. You will need to understand your market, develop and market winning propositions, sell them to your customers, carry out energy assessments, keep the books and undertake continuous professional development. Big decisions will be about registering for VAT, building (or not building) your website and deciding who you are going to work for. This is the really big question to ask yourself, if you don’t want to be in business don’t be a DEA.

Too few instructions, too many energy assessors

Those 4,000 jobs estimated by the government were based on 2007 transaction levels. Since then we have entered the biggest property recession encountered in a generation. If this wasn’t bad enough, current estimates suggest that there are 20,000 registered DEAs operating in the UK. So that’s 5 times as many DEAs chasing sixty per cent of the business. You do the math.

It’s a buyers’ market

This over-supply has created downward pressure on fees. In the early days DEAs were charging £100 per survey. Within 12 months this fell to around £50 per survey. At the moment a lot of DEAs are working for £35 and there are rumours of people offering a Energy Performance Certificate at £23.50. Again, do the math.

That £50,000 a year could still be a little way off

Figures supplied by the accreditation bodies this year suggest that on average DEAs are carrying out around 100 surveys a year, or enough to earn £5,000 a year. 

A Tory victory could spell trouble

If that wasn’t enough, if the Conservative Party win at the next election they have pledged to scrap HIPs and have a good hard look at the Energy Performance Certificate. This could involve giving all EPC certificatess a 10-year shelf life, only requiring an EPC at point of sale (not marketing as is the case today), or giving responsibility for their production to the energy companies.

So if having read this you are still considering a career as an energy assessor, I can only say this. Build relationships with your chosen customer base, maintain your fee levels, build on value added services, stay on top of your accounts and keep up with all of the training and you may yet have a rewarding and successful career ahead of you.