# Heating and hot water in an EPC upgrade

> Where heating plant, controls and hot water sit in a commercial EPC plan, what they move that lighting cannot, and why they rarely come first.

Source: https://commercialepcupgrades.co.uk/measures/heating-hot-water

---

# Heating and hot water in an EPC upgrade

Heating is usually the largest single influence on a non-domestic rating and almost never the sensible place to begin. It matters here for one reason: if lighting will not bridge the gap between the rating you have and the rating you need, this is where the remaining headroom is, and you want to know that before you spend anything.

Large improvement, large capital

## Why this page exists on a site about lighting

Because a page that tells you lighting is the answer to every building is not worth reading. In a warehouse with good plant and bad lighting, lighting is the answer. In a 1970s office with an ageing gas system, lighting is a sensible first move that will not get you to a B on its own, and being told otherwise wastes a year.

The honest version is that measures come in an order, the order depends on the building, and the cheap ones go first only up to the point where they run out of headroom.

## What the cheap end of heating looks like

Not every heating measure is a plant replacement. Controls, zoning and time scheduling on an existing system sit much closer to lighting in cost, and in a building where the heating runs on a crude time clock they can be the easiest remaining win after the lights.

- Zone controls and thermostatic control where there is currently none.
- Time scheduling matched to actual occupancy rather than to a lease term.
- Insulating distribution pipework and hot water storage, which is cheap and routinely skipped.
- Decommissioning oversized or redundant hot water provision, common in buildings whose use has changed.

## The expensive end, and when it becomes unavoidable

Plant replacement — including electrification with heat pumps — is a different order of capital and a different order of disruption, and it usually needs a lease event or a planned refurbishment to make sense. It is also where the largest rating movements live.

If you are several bands short, the realistic plan is lighting and controls now, a proper assessment to confirm what is left, and plant tied to the next refurbishment or void period rather than done in a panic near a deadline.

## Questions we get asked

### Should I do heating before lighting?

### Will a heat pump improve my EPC rating?

### Can I get a rating improvement without touching heating at all?

Sources

- A non-domestic EPC is an asset rating: it is based on the fabric of the building and its services rather than on metered consumption. [A guide to energy performance certificates for the construction, sale and let of non-dwellings, DCLG, 2014](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-performance-certificates-for-the-construction-sale-and-let-of-non-dwellings)

Last updated 8 October 2026 .

- [Which measure first The order measures should go in](https://commercialepcupgrades.co.uk/improve-commercial-epc-rating)
- [Commercial solar The other large-capital measure](https://commercialepcupgrades.co.uk/measures/solar)

Next step

## Get heating and hot water priced for your building

Tell us the building type, the floor area and the rating you are on now. One commercial contractor comes back to you with a quote off a survey.

Or call [07367 293494](tel:+447367293494). Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm.