The source
The GOV.UK Energy Performance of Buildings Register bulk extract, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. We hold the full non-domestic dataset locally, which is why lookups on this site return instantly rather than depending on a third-party API.
At the date of this analysis the extract contains 1,297,123 non-domestic certificates.
Deduplication – certificates to properties
A building can hold many certificates over time. Counting certificates would overstate the stock and double-count buildings that have been re-assessed, so we reduce to one row per property, keeping the most recent certificate.
Properties are identified by UPRN where one is recorded (about 90% of rows), falling back to the recorded address plus postcode. Where two certificates share a key, the one with the later lodgement date wins.
That reduces 1,297,123 certificates to 998,164 unique commercial properties.
Scope
- England and Wales only. MEES is an England and Wales regime; Scotland and Northern Ireland operate separately. Rows without a local authority code, and the handful of Scottish rows in the extract, are excluded from area pages.
- Non-domestic certificates only. Display Energy Certificates and domestic certificates are excluded entirely.
- 319 local authorities have non-domestic certificates recorded against them.
Definitions used throughout
| Term as we use it | Definition |
|---|---|
| Below EPC B | Current band C, D, E, F or G |
| Below EPC E | Current band F or G – below the minimum that has applied to lettings since April 2023 |
| The 2031 cohort | Floor area over 1,000 m² and band below B |
| Expired | Certificate expiry earlier than the analysis date of 11 September 2026. The published register carries no expiry column, so we calculate it as ten years from the lodgement date |
| National rank | Position among the 319 local authorities by share of stock below EPC B, rank 1 being the highest share |
| Average floor area | Mean of the recorded total floor area across the deduplicated set |
Sector normalisation
The register carries both pre-2020 and post-2020 use class naming for the same categories – "A1/A2 Retail and Financial/Professional services" and "Retail/Financial and Professional Services" are the same thing recorded under two conventions. Reporting them separately would split every retail figure roughly in half.
We normalise 45 recorded values into 24 sectors by matching on the substantive part of the label. Anything unmatched falls into "Other non-domestic" rather than being dropped.
What this data cannot tell you
- Whether a building is let. MEES bites on letting, and the register records no tenure. A sub-E building may be owner-occupied and entirely lawful.
- Whether an exemption is registered. The Exemptions Register is separate.
- Whether the rating is right. A certificate records what was evidenced on the day. See why your score is what it is.
- Anything about buildings with no certificate at all – which, for a building never sold or let since 2008, may be a substantial and invisible population.
Updates and corrections
The analysis is refreshed when a new bulk extract is published. Each page carries the date of the analysis it was built from. Corrections policy is on the about page; if you think a figure is wrong, tell us and we will check it and publish the correction.