Anyone can do an EPC?

"Now everyone can do an 'EPC' thanks to new phone app

Friday 27th August 2010
In what sounds like bad news for the already beleaguered energy assessor industry, a new phone app is being launched which will give everyone the ability to audit and generate an A to G rating on any home.
A London firm called Qreative Medias is behind the application ‘Home Energy Performance’ which is available on the iPhone and iPad in the Apple Stores.It is thought users will be home owners, buyers, estate agents, letting agents and builders.The app not only delivers an energy rating but also recommendations and advice, with a pdf report.The report indicates the EPC score, including the A to G graph required under the EU directive. The app is available worldwide and in several different languages.
However, a spokesman for Qreative Media said that whilst the app generates an EPC, exactly as a survey would do and in conformity with guidelines, it would not count as the 'real' thing in terms of requirements for selling or renting a property, as it is generated by the iPhone user and not by a registered and accredited Domestic Energy Assessor.

http://home-energy-performance.mobi"

The above story comes from http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/News/Story/?storyid=3468&title=Now_everyone_can_do_an_'EPC'_thanks_to_new_phone_app&type=news_features.

It may seem like an absolutely awful idea and the final death blow to all those people who spent their life savings/remortgaged their houses to become a fully trained accredited Domestic Energy Assessor but even the creaters of the software Qreative Media said that the app generates an EPC it DOES NOT count as the real thing. Plus in my mind unless the person who is using the app understands exactly what a DEA looks for and assesses then there is a large possibility of the data being collected incorrectly, entered incorrectly etc so it can never be a substitute for a real EPC. There is of course the possibility that the app may be used by some people to try and get away with not having a correctly done EPC by an accredited and trained DEA.

On the plus side if it gets people interested in EPCs and the fact that they can save money and energy that has to be counted as a positive.