The new BER scale: All you need to know

Kya deLongchamps offers her need to know on the new BER scale introduced in May.

Most, but not all, BERs will remain the same following a new assessment. If your BER is valid, it’s still valid for 10 years after its published certification.

So, we’ve all heard the news that the BER ratings system has been overhauled. This was desperately needed to express (in more meaningful terms) the embodied energy and real energy demands of a home throughout the course of its useful lifetime. 

Jeff Colley, editor of Passive House Plus, reminded me in a November interview in the Irish Examiner that the BER launched in 2007 had never been fit-for-purpose. He argued that the BER, as we knew it, needed to move closer to the European Home-Performance-Index (HPI). Well, that all changed on the 24th of May. The new BER, according to the SEAI, provides “Additional information on energy use, renewable energy contribution, and the amount of carbon emissions involved in the whole lifecycle of the building measured in Global Warming Potential (GWP).”

Yes, the finer detail is a bit complicated, and there’s an inclusion there of decarbonisation of the energy grid with the new BER mechanism, which may positively influence extremely poor BERs, saving them from dropping a band following a new assessment. How much embodied energy does the house have as a structure? Can materials used in the construction of the house be recycled? This now all counts. Could wood-framed and finished houses be due for a BER boost? These topics will not bother most of us, or profoundly affect our existing BER ratings. Here’s what you need to know for now.

Will my BER remain the same?

Most, but not all, BERs will remain the same following a new assessment. If your BER is valid, it’s still valid for 10 years after its published certification. If you don’t have your cert to hand, you can look it up here: ndber.seai.ie. 

The new BER scale (following any assessment from 24 May 2026) loses all its sub-categories, falling from 15 to just 8, with a simplified A-G scale. It’s topped off by an A0 rating for highly insulated homes with no fossil fuel air or water heating whatsoever - regarded as zero-emission homes. These are most likely low-energy buildings warmed by a heat pump and powered by renewables like PV-solar. Well detailed, Passive homes should, in theory, shoot right up the scale to A0, the new gold standard for progressive new builds and superb energy renovations (where appropriate) to existing buildings. By January 1, 2030, all new builds must reach zero-emissivity, so A0 BER as standard.

Our new BER system brings us into a closer parallel with other EU countries, but it also simplifies ratings for consumers comparing like with like when home hunting. The government press release statement says, “- all existing valid BERs will continue to meet the requirements for mandatory obligations, e.g. sale, rental, conveyancing, advertising, etc. The letter A, B, C … etc., indicating the energy performance rating of the vast majority of houses, will remain the same.”

When do you need a new BER?

It may be sparked by any of the following:

· Selling your home or rental (when you come to sell and the BER is over 10-years old).

· Renovations or extensions where 25% of the external envelope is highly altered, and you must achieve Part L standards in the Building Regulations.

· A mortgage application which requires a B rating. Banks have yet to make it clear which standard of BER they will accept for green mortgages if an existing BER is nearing the end of its validity.

· By the stipulations of an SEAI grant award, which often require a post-works BER to release the grant award.

If you are selling, an existing valid BER (10-years old or less) is acceptable, but any buyer/agent/surveyor will, of course, be aware that the BER is set by the old system. I am quite certain an older BER cert will be routinely noted, but will probably not upset most buyers. BERs not only matter as a worthy expression of reaching our national climate obligations, but also improve personal comfort and striving for energy-efficient living with manageable bills. The grasp of the BER has pervaded our mortgage industry, and its real influence on the pricing of property in Ireland is tightening. Again, most homes are expected to keep their BER rating letter following a new assessment.

Valuation company Geowox (Dublin) released new data in January, based on the Property Price Register for the whole of Ireland, that suggests that A-B rated homes commanded €110,000 in a median price compared to C-G rated homes. A-B rated homes are often newer or highly renovated homes that are simply in better overall shape. However, it’s impossible to deny that BER ratings matter to buyers. 

Reaching for an A0 rating will deliver homes closer to the Passive standard we all raved about 20 years ago that then slipped down to N-ZEB and onto an A2. Incidentally, if you are going for a One-Stop-Shop whole house retrofit through the SEAI, if you can drop the energy demand of the house by 100kW/m2 per year, you will only need to reach a post-works BER of B, not an old B2, so qualifying for inclusion in these deep renovations should be easier.

How is the new BER different?

The parameters for the new BER are slightly different, and when you have a new BER carried out, that rating may stay the same (even looking better on paper as a solid letter) but it could slide. I’m left wondering if mortgage lenders will ask for new BER for green mortgage products to be released to buyers (if the existing one for a property is say 7-9 years old). We have not heard much from financial institutions as yet, which gives me pause. If you have a green mortgage based on a B3 or better, nothing should change for now, but there may be variations lender to lender going forward, and I think we could all do with more clarity.

If you have an assigned 200kW/m2/year C3 BER, on the cusp of a D rating, could you end up nudged down to a D when the house is given a BER assessment under the new system? It is entirely possible, and this is not just due to the new BER parameters. BERs were always to a certain extent, subjective. They are open to some reasonable decision-making by the assessor (for instance, if insulation hidden in the walls is not professionally certified). Losing a better BER rating for a worse one happened with the old system too. Assessors are mandated to award the BER rating on what they can see and what is properly and fully certified for the building. There are instances where BERs have fallen even after energy renovation work, as the old BER was simply inaccurate in the judgment of the new assessor.

• For more on the BER, go to seai.ie.