Calculate your energy label: estimate it in two minutes
Since 1 January 2021, energy labels are calculated with the NTA 8800 method. Below you can read what exactly is calculated, what weighs heaviest, and why you cannot determine the label yourself.
Which energy label does my home have? Estimate it in ten questions
Fill in the building year, house type, floor area, insulation, glazing, heating and solar panels and you see the probable energy label right away, with a range and the measures that bring the most. The estimator uses the same default values per building year as an assessor without documentation. It is an indication: the official label only follows from an inspection by a certified EP assessor.
Estimate your energy label
In which year was the home built?
The building year sets the default insulation values we use, just like an assessor without documentation.
How does this tool calculate?
The label estimator follows, in miniature, the calculation route of the official label. First it estimates from the house type, floor area and number of storeys how much wall, roof, floor and glass there is. Each building part carries an insulation value: the default of the building year from the inspection protocols (for a home from before 1946, for instance, Rc 0.19 for the walls), or the value of the post-insulation you choose. From that follows the heat loss through the envelope, plus the loss through ventilation and gaps.
Next the tool works out month by month how much heat the home needs, with the outdoor temperature and the solar gain through the windows of an average Dutch year. That heat demand passes through the efficiency of your heating (an older gas boiler, a condensing boiler, a hybrid or full heat pump, district heating), hot water is added and the yield of solar panels is subtracted. The result is the primary fossil energy use in kilowatt hours per square metre per year, exactly the measure the label is based on.
The class limits are set by law: up to 160 is label A, up to 190 label B, up to 250 label C, up to 290 label D, up to 335 label E, up to 380 label F and above that label G; below 105 A+ starts, below 75 A++ and below 50 A+++. Because an estimate is never as precise as an inspection, the tool also shows the label at a slightly better and a slightly worse envelope (12 percent apart). That way you see at once how certain the outcome is.
Questions about the estimator
How reliable is the estimate?
The tool uses the same class limits and the same default values per building year as an EP assessor without documentation. The biggest uncertainty is in what you do not know: is the cavity filled, how thick is the roof package, exactly how much glass is there. That is why the result shows a range of two labels. During an inspection the assessor measures the home and checks every part; that is the only way to establish the label officially.
Why does the tool not ask for my energy use?
The energy label is not about your consumption but about the home itself: the insulation, glazing, systems and generation, calculated at a standard use. Two families in the same home can heat very differently and still have the same label. That is why the tool asks about the properties of the home and not about your annual bill.
What if I do not know whether insulation was added?
Choose "I do not know". The tool then uses the default of the building year, which an assessor without an invoice, photo or measurement does too. The result lists the building parts where that happened. If you do know insulation was added, for instance cavity wall insulation, choose that: it often makes a whole label class of difference.
How is an energy label calculated?
The energy label expresses how much primary fossil energy your home uses per square metre per year, in kWh per m² per year. The lower that figure, the better the label. The method is called NTA 8800 and has applied to all new labels since 1 January 2021.
The calculation looks at the building as a whole: the envelope, the installations and any generation. An assessor records how your home is built and what is in it, and enters that into certified software. One figure comes out, and that figure determines the letter.
Which elements weigh heaviest?
In practice the outcome shifts most through the way you heat. Own generation and the insulation of the envelope follow.
- Heating: a heat pump or a district heating connection scores clearly better than a gas boiler.
- Solar panels: own generation lowers primary energy use directly.
- Insulation: roof, walls and floor determine how much heat escapes.
- Glazing: moving from double to HR++ or triple helps, but less than most people assume.
- Ventilation: mechanical ventilation with heat recovery counts.
Can you calculate your own energy label?
You can get an indication online, but you cannot determine a valid energy label yourself. Only a certified EP assessor may carry out the assessment and register the label in EP-Online, the national register. A label that is not in it does not formally exist.
That is because the assessor has to gather evidence on site: photographs, measured areas and confirmed constructions. Where evidence is missing, the method uses default values that are deliberately unfavourable. A good assessment therefore often produces a better label than an estimate.
What does it cost to have your label calculated?
Through Energielabel24 an energy label for a home costs between €199 and €489, depending on the property type and floor area. You see each assessor's price and delivery time in advance, and pay only after the label is delivered.
The calculation in numbers
| Method | NTA 8800, mandatory since 1 January 2021 |
| Unit | kWh per m² per year (primary fossil energy use) |
| Who calculates | A certified EP assessor, using certified software |
| Evidence required | Photographs, measured areas and confirmed constructions |
| Without evidence | The method uses default values, which are deliberately unfavourable |
| Doing it yourself | Not possible for a valid label; online tools give an indication only |
What is my energy label?
Your energy label is the letter registered for your address in EP-Online, the national register. If your home ever received a registered label that is not older than ten years, you find it with postcode and house number through our energy label check. If nothing shows, the home has no valid label: there was never an inspection, or the label has expired.
To know which label your home would probably get, the calculator above is the quickest route: ten questions about year of construction, insulation, glazing and heating give an estimate. The official label only comes about after an inspection by a certified EP assessor.
Which energy label does my house have?
That depends on the calculated primary fossil energy use in kilowatt-hours per square metre per year: below 160 is label A, between 160 and 190 label B, up to 250 label C, up to 290 label D, up to 335 label E, up to 380 label F and above that label G. Homes from the 1980s and 1990s with cavity-wall insulation and double glazing often come out at C; uninsulated pre-war homes at F or G.
The boundaries per letter and the features of a home in each class are on the page about the energy label classes. Once you have the label, improving your energy label tells you which measure yields the most.
Frequently asked questions
Can I calculate my energy label myself?
You can get an indication online, but you cannot determine a valid energy label yourself. Only a certified EP assessor may carry out the assessment and register the result in EP-Online.
What is NTA 8800?
NTA 8800 is the Dutch method for determining the energy performance of buildings. Since 1 January 2021 every new energy label is calculated with it. The method considers the envelope, the installations and own generation together.
Why does an assessment often give a better label than expected?
Because the assessor gathers evidence. Where evidence is missing the method uses default values, and those are deliberately unfavourable. Having drawings and insulation invoices to hand genuinely helps.
Do solar panels count in the calculation?
Yes. Own generation lowers primary fossil energy use directly and is therefore one of the fastest ways to improve the label.
Sources
The rules and definitions on this page come from the official sources below. Last checked on 12 September 2026.
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