Ranked by the share of energy certificates falling below band C, the standard proposed for rented homes from October 2030.
The government has proposed that privately rented homes in England and Wales reach EPC band C by 1 October 2030. That proposal is not yet law, and the minimum in force today is band E. On current assessment activity, some areas start that journey twice as far back as others.
| # | Local authority | Below C | F or G | Certificates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Norfolk | 63.6% | 6.8% | 8,388 |
| 2 | Staffordshire Moorlands | 62.4% | 5.4% | 5,353 |
| 3 | Gwynedd | 61.0% | 9.8% | 10,398 |
| 4 | Ceredigion | 60.4% | 8.2% | 5,181 |
| 5 | Pembrokeshire | 60.2% | 6.9% | 9,014 |
| 6 | Malvern Hills | 59.4% | 6.3% | 4,730 |
| 7 | Derbyshire Dales | 59.2% | 5.1% | 5,173 |
| 8 | West Devon | 58.5% | 8.3% | 4,021 |
| 9 | Westmorland and Furness | 58.3% | 6.0% | 19,406 |
| 10 | Carmarthenshire | 58.0% | 4.3% | 15,886 |
| 11 | East Lindsey | 57.9% | 6.3% | 12,091 |
| 12 | Cotswold | 57.8% | 6.3% | 6,741 |
| 13 | South Hams | 57.4% | 7.4% | 7,674 |
| 14 | Ribble Valley | 57.3% | 5.1% | 3,548 |
| 15 | Cornwall | 57.1% | 8.6% | 44,852 |
| 16 | King's Lynn and West Norfolk | 57.1% | 4.2% | 13,149 |
| 17 | Torridge | 57.1% | 6.6% | 5,083 |
| 18 | Tandridge | 56.8% | 2.1% | 7,185 |
| 19 | Tendring | 56.8% | 4.0% | 10,037 |
| 20 | Powys | 56.7% | 9.2% | 9,485 |
| 21 | Mid Suffolk | 56.3% | 5.1% | 6,115 |
| 22 | Castle Point | 56.1% | 1.2% | 5,318 |
| 23 | North Devon | 56.1% | 5.7% | 7,228 |
| 24 | Rother | 55.8% | 3.7% | 6,592 |
| 25 | Denbighshire | 55.7% | 5.2% | 6,437 |
The pattern at the top of this table is rural and off the gas grid. North Norfolk, Gwynedd and Pembrokeshire are not deprived urban areas. They are places with older, larger, detached housing, a high share of solid-wall construction, and heating that runs on oil, LPG or electricity rather than mains gas. Those homes score badly on EPC and cost a great deal to heat: the same authorities appear near the top of our heating cost ranking.
Bands F and G matter more than the headline. A band D home usually needs loft and cavity work to reach C. An F or G home generally needs solid wall insulation and a heating system change, which is a different order of cost. North Norfolk has 6.8% of certificates in F or G against a national 2.0%.
If your own home is one of the band D majority, here is how to get a D to a C, cheapest measure first.
| # | Local authority | Below C | F or G | Certificates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 305 | Bracknell Forest | 30.9% | 0.8% | 8,711 |
| 306 | Islington | 30.8% | 0.5% | 23,304 |
| 307 | Salford | 30.4% | 0.6% | 22,438 |
| 308 | City of London | 30.0% | 0.5% | 1,640 |
| 309 | Slough | 29.9% | 0.7% | 10,175 |
| 310 | Southwark | 29.6% | 0.8% | 21,683 |
| 311 | Rochdale | 29.4% | 1.0% | 17,898 |
| 312 | Manchester | 28.7% | 0.6% | 47,045 |
| 313 | Crawley | 27.4% | 0.6% | 6,501 |
| 314 | Milton Keynes | 27.1% | 0.9% | 16,698 |
| 315 | Stevenage | 27.1% | 0.2% | 10,441 |
| 316 | Welwyn Hatfield | 25.9% | 0.6% | 13,547 |
| 317 | Hackney | 25.6% | 0.4% | 21,536 |
| 318 | Knowsley | 25.4% | 1.1% | 9,986 |
| 319 | Tower Hamlets | 18.9% | 0.3% | 23,076 |
The other end of the table is dominated by dense urban London boroughs. Flats share walls, floors and ceilings with other heated homes, have small exposed surface areas and are usually newer than the national stock. They score well almost automatically.
“The proposed 2030 EPC C standard would land very unevenly. In North Norfolk, 63.6% of recent certificates fall below band C. In Tower Hamlets the figure is 18.9%. The areas furthest behind are overwhelmingly rural and off the gas grid, where the cheap fixes have already been done and what remains is solid wall insulation and a new heating system.”
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.