Handley Park in Sixpenny Handley, near Salisbury, has the lowest energy efficiency of any street in England and Wales, according to analysis of 23 million EPC certificates by Uswitch.com.
The cul-de-sac of 32 park homes has a median energy efficiency of just five – compared to a nationwide average of 67 – due in part to a lack of insulation, and heating that is fuelled by bottled liquified petroleum gas (LPG).
Installing eight energy-savings measures including wall and floor insulation, replacing boilers and adding high-performance external doors would increase the homes’ rating to 31. This would reduce households’ energy bills by almost half, but the measures would cost each resident between £9,535 and £21,675.
The ten streets with the lowest median EPC ratings include park homes, flats above high street shops, and detached mansions that cost more than £650,000 but have uninsulated walls. All of the properties have the potential to dramatically improve their energy efficiency with insulation and other measures.
Low energy efficiency is not due to one single cause, and among the 100 leakiest postcodes in the country are caravan parks, holiday homes, old rural properties and ten mansions.
Flats and maisonettes are the most energy-efficient homes in general, with park homes and bungalows commonly seeing greater heat loss. New-build homes are much more likely to have a higher EPC rating due to good insulation, and some even have solar panels and heat pumps pre-installed.
The most energy efficient street in England and Wales is Howgate Close, Eakring in Nottinghamshire, which is a row of one and two-bedroomed eco homes with triple-glazed windows and solar panels. Its median energy efficiency of 143 means it generates more electricity than it uses.
Nine of the ten roads in the best streets to heat have solar panels on their roof, half have heat pumps, and all of them have high-performance glazing like triple glazed windows.
Some 114 locations across England and Wales have an average energy efficiency of above 100, meaning they generate more power than they use.
