Quidos review reverse auction EPCs

Have you seen the latest news from Quidos?

Quoted from Quidos email

Quidos review reverse auction EPCs

Quidos Accreditation has always strived to maintain the highest quality standards within the energy assessment industry, however recently it has become apparent that quality is being compromised by cost with the launch of "Reverse Auction" panels.

Quality should not be compromised by cost!

These panels allow assessors to bid for the lowest price to complete the job - but the lowest price is by no means the best price. Quidos, our insurance provider, and various industry stakeholders are becoming increasingly concerned that such panels are not only devaluing the Energy Performance Certificate itself, but also leading to a lower quality of assessment being completed.

As of 1st October, the Quidos Domestic Energy Assessor insurance policy will no longer be valid for EPC's which originate from such "Reverse Auction" panels, not least prompted by our insurance provider's concerns surrounding the quality of reports produced from such bidding systems.

Katie Fielden, Quidos Accreditation Manager explained: "In the past years Quidos assessors have achieved an excellent pass rate on quality assurance audits. We would wish to uphold and indeed reinf orce the quality of reports; unnecessary price driven auctions simply cannot be healthy for hard working assessors and therefore we shall fully support such considered views of select industry stakeholders and of our own insurance company, and hence now urge our assessors not to compromise the quality of reports conducted".

Whilst Quidos understands that it cannot prevent Energy Assessors from continuing to carry our work for such panels on other insurance policies, we hope that this action will encourage assessors to think twice before bidding for work at the lowest fees.

"Quality must remain at the forefront of the industry" added Philip Salaman, Managing Director of Quidos "As an industry we must focus on the long term goal of reducing energy consumption and promoting efficiency within the built environment. We should not devalue the industry, the EPC Certificate and ourselves by accepting the lowest possible fee and then inevitably compromising quality and indeed acc uracy".

I think that's a step in the right direction for independent DEA's and the whole industry. I hope other accreditation schemes follow suit.

So, what do you think about this?