The merits of making energy costs visible: The sustainability benefits of monetizing energy efficiency certificates in Spanish rental homes

Reducing energy consumption in the building sector is a priority issue in European policy. The aim of legislation on energy certification is to provide incentives for the energy renovation of buildings. To help achieve this goal, a methodology is proposed to provide information on the economic cost of the energy bill, in addition to the current indicators of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. By applying this methodology, it can be seen that energy costs account for between 5% and 62% of the price of renting a house in Spain. Making this information available to the consumers would have a direct impact on rental prices. The landlords/landladies who carry out the energy renovation of their home could charge a higher rent, which would allow them to recover the investment made. Also, tenants of homes with more expensive energy bills would benefit from having their rent reduced. Landlords/landladies who renovate their home and tenants who access a home without energy renovation would benefit from making energy costs visible. This simple legislative measure would help to overcome the added difficulty that owners of rental homes have - they pay for the energy renovation while the tenants enjoy the savings after the improvement of the property. With a minimum of additional effort, a significant impact on an important issue could be achieved.