Energy label costs energy

The introduction of the new, mandatory energy label on January 1 has cost many people a lot of energy and money, but in practice it does not yet work. The consumer program Radar received many complaints and the Home Owners Association spoke of a careless introduction. Although outgoing minister Kaisa Ollongren has denied this, the fact is that she has decided for a second time to postpone ‘enforcement’, first until July 1 this year, now until January 1, 2022. Simply put: until January 1, 2022 you will not receive a fine if you do not indicate an energy performance indicator in the advertisement for your house, because you do not yet have that label.

Here’s the background: you could apply for a “Simplified Energy Label” via a website until January 1 of this year. You filled in some information about the size and energy consumption of your home and an expert remotely pasted a label on it (from A to G). The cost was 10 euros. In the new scheme, seller-owners are obliged to hire a professional energy advisor who comes to inspect the house extensively. He/she will determine the energy label based on the on-site inspection and will also make recommendations for improvements. Last year it was expected that this would cost about 190 euros. Anyway, it is not wet finger work and you can also make your home more energy efficient based on the investigation.

But what did research by Radar show? More than half of the applicants for an energy label-new style-paid more than 190 euros, sometimes double. For others, the sale of the house was delayed and in a few cases the sale did not take place at all. Many people felt they were being hurried along unnecessarily. Moreover, not only was the housing market tight, but so was the supply of competent energy consultants. The corona lockdown also caused the training of ‘fresh’ advisors to stagnate. This led to higher prices and longer lead times.
Although Minister Ollongren expected to get things back on track by the middle of this year with additional training and exams, she did not succeed. As of May 1, there were 1,000 skilled energy advisors available and she now expects that number to double in the coming months. That is apparently too few to provide all home sellers with a valid energy label, so that is why the obligation to list them is again suspended for six months. We will see if the overheated market of energy consultants will have relaxed by then. It can freeze or it can thaw!