North Yorkshire is the most expensive large authority in England and Wales to heat.
| Band | Certificates | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Band A | 309 | 0.7% |
| Band B | 1,972 | 4.4% |
| Band C | 18,107 | 40.6% |
| Band D | 16,500 | 37.0% |
| Band E | 5,583 | 12.5% |
| Band F | 1,659 | 3.7% |
| Band G | 503 | 1.1% |
North Yorkshire ranks 34 of 319 for the share of certificates below band C, where rank 1 is furthest from the standard, and 9 of 319 for modelled heating cost.
At £1316 a year modelled, heating a home in North Yorkshire costs £372 more than the national average of £944. The county combines the two things that drive EPC cost hardest: large detached and semi-detached houses, and a rural population well off the gas grid. Average modelled energy use runs to 222 kWh per square metre per year against 201 nationally.
The new unitary authority covers an enormous area, from Dales farmhouses to Harrogate suburbs, so a county-level figure hides a lot. The pattern that holds throughout is that the stone-built rural housing scores worst and costs most.
We cannot show a comparison for North Yorkshire, and the reason is a boundary change rather than a gap in the data. North Yorkshire became a single unitary authority in April 2023, replacing the county council and seven district councils. Certificates lodged before that sit under the old district codes, so there is no like-for-like earlier figure to compare against without stitching the districts back together, which would introduce its own errors. We would rather show nothing than show a number we cannot stand behind. The same applies to the other authorities reorganised in 2023 and 2024.
For areas with a continuous record, see where retrofit is happening.
The order that pays is the same everywhere, and it is cheapest first: loft insulation, then cavity walls if you have them, then draught-proofing, then floors, then solid walls. Our insulation payback calculator puts a number on each of those for your property at current Ofgem prices.
Before paying for anything, check funding. The grant eligibility checker covers ECO4, the Warm Homes: Local Grant, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the 0% VAT relief in one pass, and it gives you an answer on the page rather than asking for your phone number.
If your home is off the mains gas grid, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £7,500 toward a heat pump and an additional £1,500 until March 2027 for properties currently heated by oil or LPG. Our boiler replacement cost calculator compares that against a like-for-like replacement.
“In North Yorkshire, 54.3% of energy certificates lodged for existing homes in the last three years fell below band C, against 43.0% across England and Wales. 4.8% were in the worst two bands. Modelled heating cost averages £1316 a year against a national £944.”
BetterHomeEnergy Research Team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page.
Underlying figures: MHCLG EPC live tables, Open Government Licence v3.0, data to 30 June 2026. Our processed dataset: CSV download · JSON. Media contact: contact page.