Energy carrier factors 2027 – what do the new factors change?

On 8 October 2026 the Government issued a decree on energy carrier factors, and the news boiled down to one sentence: “the factors are cut by 25 per cent”. That is true, but only in part. The new factors – 0.90 for electricity and 0.38 for district heating – apply to zero-emission buildings from 1 January 2027. The current factors (1.20 for electricity, 0.50 for district heating) remain in force for nearly zero-energy buildings, and for now the energy certificate of an existing building is still calculated with them. In this article we explain what was decided, who is affected and when.

What was decided on 8 October 2026?

Three decrees were issued on the same day, all part of implementing the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD):

The Government Decree on energy carrier factors for zero-emission buildings.
The Ministry of the Environment Decree on the energy performance of new zero-emission buildings (868/2026), the new requirements for new construction.
The Ministry of the Environment Decree on improving energy performance to the level of a zero-emission building in renovation and alteration work (869/2026), the new requirements for renovation.

The decrees enter into force on 1 January 2027, but they become mandatory only after a transition period: from the start of 2028 for buildings owned by public organisations and from the start of 2030 for all buildings. A building owner may choose to follow the new requirements straight away from 1 January 2027. Under the factor decree, a project that is pending when the decree enters into force follows the previous provisions.

According to the EU directive, a zero-emission building is one with a very low energy need, no on-site emissions from fossil fuels and only a very low amount of operational greenhouse gas emissions. In the energy certificate it may in future use the designation A0.

The new and current factors side by side

Energy carrier	Current factor (nearly zero-energy building and energy certificate)	New factor (zero-emission building from 1 January 2027)
Electricity	1.20	0.90
District heating	0.50	0.38
District cooling	0.28	0.21
Fossil fuels	1.00	1.00
Renewable fuels used in the building	0.50	0.38

Except for fossil fuels, the factors fall by 25 per cent. The ratio between electricity and district heating stays practically unchanged, so according to the Government their relative competitiveness does not change. The factor for fossil fuels stays at 1.00, so their position weakens relative to the other energy carriers. Energy that a heat pump takes from the environment and solar panels from the sun still reduces purchased energy directly, to the extent that it is used in the building.

For zero-emission buildings the decree also sets separate factors for calculating the shares of renewable and non-renewable energy (for example 0.47 and 0.43 for electricity). They are used to calculate how much of the building’s energy is renewable.

Why are the factors changing?

The factors were last set in 2017, and energy production has changed a great deal since then. According to the Ministry of the Environment’s memorandum, the specific emissions of electricity production in 2023 were 61–63 per cent lower, depending on the calculation method, and those of district heating 39–44 per cent lower than in 2017. The share of fossil fuels in domestic electricity production was under 5 per cent in 2023 (15 per cent in 2017), and in district heat production 28 per cent (52 per cent in 2017). According to the Government, the new factors better reflect the growing use of renewable and other zero-emission energy in electricity and district heat production.

The factors are still not emission factors. They weight energy carriers by, among other things, natural resource use and degree of refinement, and the factor for electricity remains higher than that for district heating. More on emissions in energy carrier emission factors.

What does the change mean for the E-value?

The E-value is the calculated purchased energy per square metre, weighted with the energy carrier factors. When the factors fall, the E-value falls too. Our own example: a fully electrically heated house with an E-value of 120 would, with the same purchased energy, get 120 × 0.75 = 90 with the new factors. In an oil-heated house the oil share of the E-value would not change at all.

A lower E-value does not mean a better building. The E-value of a zero-emission building is calculated with new factors, new limit values and a new definition of floor area: it is divided by the reference floor area instead of the heated net floor area. E-values under the new and old rules therefore cannot be compared with each other – just as energy certificates from 2013 and 2018 cannot be compared (see is an old energy certificate still valid).

For example, the E-value limit for a detached zero-emission house is 143 − 0.45 × reference floor area when the reference floor area is 50–150 m². For a 140 m² house it is 80 kWhE/(m²·a) (our own calculation). A new requirement is also a limit value for operational greenhouse gas emissions, calculated with the national emissions database’s emission factors for 2030. For the same 140 m² house the limit is about 11.2 kg CO₂e per square metre per year (19.15 − 0.057 × 140, our own calculation). According to the Government, a key requirement is reducing the building’s energy need by 10 per cent from the current level.

District heating can get a network-specific factor

Another new feature is that the district heating factor of a zero-emission building can be lowered if your own district heating network’s emissions are below the national average. The factor is calculated like this: the network’s emission factor is divided by the district heating emission factor in the national emissions database, and the result is multiplied by 0.38. The factor can fall to 0.20 at most, and the network’s emission factor may not be more than two years old.

In the example in the Ministry of the Environment’s memorandum, the network’s emission factor is 70 g CO₂e/kWh and the national one 82 g CO₂e/kWh, giving a factor of 70/82 × 0.38 ≈ 0.32. The lowered factor may only be used in an energy certificate prepared separately after the building is completed, and the factor and the figures used to calculate it must be recorded in the certificate. It may not be used to show compliance with building regulations.

Who is affected and when?

Situation	What changes	When
You own a building that has an energy certificate	Nothing: the certificate is valid until the date on it, and the new decrees do not apply to certificates already issued	–
You need a new certificate for an existing building	For now it is calculated with the current factors, because the energy certificate decree refers to them	Until the energy certificate decree is amended
You are building new	You can choose a nearly zero-energy building (current factors and requirements) or a zero-emission building (new factors and requirements)	Choice in 2027–2029; zero-emission mandatory for new buildings of public bodies from 1 January 2028 at the latest and for all new buildings from 1 January 2030 at the latest
You renovate with a permit (e.g. facade, windows, change of heating system)	New, stricter renovation requirements and the new factors	For buildings of public bodies from 1 January 2028 at the latest, for all buildings from 1 January 2030 at the latest

An amendment to the energy certificate decree is coming as part of implementing the EPBD, but it was not among the decrees issued on 8 October 2026. According to the memorandum, the new factors are intended to be used in preparing energy certificates for zero-emission buildings once the provisions concerning them are in force.

What changes in renovation?

The new renovation decree (869/2026) applies to all buildings from 2030 at the latest. Today a renovation that needs a permit can choose between three routes; the new decree has two: component-specific requirements or reducing the E-value. The energy consumption limit by building type is dropped.

Requirement	Current renovation decree	New decree 869/2026
External wall	Original U-value × 0.5, at most 0.17 W/(m²K)	Original U-value × 0.45, at most 0.17 W/(m²K)
Roof	Original U-value × 0.5, at most 0.09 W/(m²K)	Original U-value × 0.45, at most 0.09 W/(m²K)
Base floor	Improved where possible	Original U-value × 0.45, at most 0.17 W/(m²K)
New windows and solid external doors	U-value 1.0 W/(m²K) or better	U-value 0.8 W/(m²K) or better (glazed doors 1.0)
Reducing the E-value, detached, terraced and linked houses	At most 0.8 × calculated starting level	At most 0.8 × calculated starting level, with the new calculation rules and factors
Reducing the E-value, blocks of flats	At most 0.85 × calculated starting level	At most 0.85 × calculated starting level, with the new calculation rules and factors

Technical systems get new minimum levels: for example, the annual efficiency of ventilation heat recovery must be at least 55 per cent, and if the new main heating system is a heat pump, it has its own efficiency requirement. The flexibility remains: according to the Government, renovation can still be adapted on grounds such as technical, functional or economic feasibility. If a renovation passport has been prepared for the building, it can be used as the plan for phased renovations. We have gone through the current renovation requirements and what they mean in practice in energy report for renovation.

What should you do now?

You own a completed building: nothing urgent. A valid certificate is fine for selling and renting. There is no point in ordering a new certificate in the hope of a better class, because the certificate of an existing building is still calculated with the current factors. Check your certificate with our energy certificate check tool.
You are building in 2027–2029: discuss with your designer whether to build to zero-emission level already. The building then already meets the requirements known for 2030. We explain the energy report for a building permit in energy report for a building permit.
A housing company is planning a renovation that needs a permit: check whether the building permit falls after the 2030 cut-off. If so, the new requirements apply to the project, and it is worth taking them into account at the design stage – see housing company energy renovation.

We prepare energy reports for new-build and renovation projects as well as energy certificates. Building new: submit a request for a quote. Renovation project: ask for an estimate.

Sources: