The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme, or NatHERS for short, is a performance based rating system that describes the thermal performance of a home. It’s based on a scale of 0-10 and put simply, the higher the star rating, the less energy is required to make it comfortable. Theoretically a 10 Star rated house shouldn’t require any artificial heating or cooling to be comfortable year round.
A house energy rating is required for all alterations and additions, and new houses and individual units in apartments under Class 1 and 2 buildings detailed in the National Construction Code (NCC). This national assessment involves the thermal modelling of the house to provide an energy efficiency star rating.
Proposed changes to the National Construction Code (NCC) may soon require new class-1 buildings (residential homes) to be increased to a 7-star NatHERS rating. Under the current guidelines, the requirement is to achieve a 6-star rating.
The higher the NaTHERS star rating, the more energy efficient your home will be. Even without any mandatory changes to the National Construction Code, your goal should be to achieve the highest star rating possible for your budget. Doing so will save you heating and cooling costs long-term, create a more healthy, liveable home, and increase property value.
Only assessors trained, certified and accredited can provide official thermal efficiency star ratings and issue relevant certificates. Companies like Australian EnergyRaters are certified accredited NatHERS assessors that can issue these relevant certificates. You can also find more information or a list of other accredited assessors on the NatHERS website.
