epcdata.scot
An unofficial REST API for Scottish domestic Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)
We built epcdata.scot while working on Orang Energy, an energy savings calculator for properties across UK.
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) provide energy efficiency information and specifications for a dwelling, such as floor area and materials used. We needed to be able to lookup certificates based on addresses performantly across this data. While England and Wales has an API that returns EPC data from address lookup, Scotland publishes the data as CSV files only. The data files are a ZIP of 18 CSV files totalling 7.17 GB.
Using tap we:
- Cleaned and standardised address data and field naming conventions.
- Deduplicated the data to only return latest certificate for an address.
- Enhanced compatibility by mimicking the England & Wales EPC API structure.
- Enabled performant geospatial queries through enrichment with ONS postcode lookup data and H3 indexing.
- Secured access with API key authentication while maintaining accessibility.
- Serve the complete dataset with various filtering with sub-100ms response times.
epcdata.scot is used both by us and external organisations that came across our data portal when looking for an API for EPCs. It enables focusing on user value rather than the laborious process of data transformation and building out a data service around the EPC dataset.
Rather than forcing each user to solve the same data challenges, the API provides reusable building blocks that eliminate duplication and accelerate innovation. It supports use cases such as energy savings calculators, lead generation, property research and climate policy.
Built using Fresh. Deployed to Kubernetes on Hetzner via Github Actions.