domestic energy assessors

 Following on from my recent blogs on the low fees being offered by the Panel Operators several assessors have been in touch to say that there are assessors out there who are offering to carry out energy inspections for as little as £30. Whilst a PO may be able to justify a slice of the pie in return for sales and marketing activities, what justification can there be for doing everything yourself and then charging such a paltry sum?

 

I think the answer might lie in the fact that when Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) were launched, a lot of people saw being an EA as an ideal opportunity to down-shift, change career entirely, augment an existing portfolio career or provide an extra income on top of an existing pension. These individuals, or amateurs as I’d like to call them, are mostly in the very fortunate position that whilst the money they earn as an EA is welcome they don’t have to rely on it to pay the mortgage every month and this is at the heart of the problem. Even if they are only walking away from an assessment with £20 in their pocket they don’t really mind.

 

But what does this mean for the professional Energy Assessors who set up business expecting (somewhat foolishly, it now appears) to earn as much as £50,000 per year? Well, there is one thing for sure; the amateurs aren’t likely to go away anytime soon. They are yet another thorn in all of our collective sides.

 

Whilst they may feel that they are doing no harm they may well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back with the result being that the entire industry becomes unsustainable. As we all know the market for EPCs is commoditised with customers perceiving little value in the document and looking for the lowest price. 

 

Professional Energy Assessors who are prepared to cover a big patch, undertake serious professional development, offer rapid turnaround and a professional service simply cannot afford to operate at £30 an instruction. So customers will use the amateurs. Now, whilst the market is depressed with low transaction levels the amateurs can manage to cope. Not too much travel, customers prepared to wait and low expectations all work in their favour. The result will be that professional EAs will simply exit the market and look for alternative careers. 

 

The problem comes when the market gets back to normal and transaction levels rise. The amateurs won’t want to take on all of this work but equally customers, having got used to low fees, will not pay more. The laws of supply and demand may well suggest that new EAs will enter the market but after the bitterly disappointing launch of Energy Performance Certificates there has to be some doubt about that. 

 

As the backlogs build up along with customer frustration the Government (whoever gets in) will be forced to take some kind of action and this could well result with responsibility being handed over to the power companies who will be only to happy to have their sales forces given the opportunity of providing energy assessments for their own and prospective  .

 

Not a pretty picture I will agree but one that I feel is a very likely one if we don’t act as an industry to stop amateur EAs undermining the hard-working and committed professional Energy Assessors. In the meantime I guess it’s up to all of us to explain why EPCs are important to the public, why they need to use a professional EA and why it’s worth paying a little more.