The DesignBuilder SBEM software can either be purchased through annual subscription or through pay as you go licensing. The advantages of pay as you go are:

• No upfront costs
• Low cost per lodgement
• Spread software cost over the year
• Ideal for energy assessors with low or uncertain workloads
• One “pay as you go” license can be used on unlimited computers

Pay as you go licensing is only available for DesignBuilder SBEM EPC and Part-L calculations in the UK and Ireland. It cannot currently be used for simulations.

Costs per credit are banded based on number of credits purchased:  

Note that these costs cover the use of the DesignBuilder SBEM software only and your accreditation scheme will charge extra lodgement fees.

Credits expire after 18 months from purchase date. 

When you purchase DesignBuilder SBEM pay as you go credits you are sent an 8 character activation code by email. This is entered on the License dialog in the same way as for other types of DesignBuilder licensing. Each time an SBEM calculation is run to generate a new EPC or Part-L calculation, a credit is deducted from the account until all credits are used, at which point the account needs to be topped up.

EPCs

Once a particular building, defined by it's UPRN, has had an EPC calculation performed, a credit is deducted from your account. The system deducts a credit each time you enter a new UPRN and run an EPC calculation, so if you are unsure of this information use the default UPRN 012345678912 and only enter the unique UPRN for the building when you know it is correct.  Further credits are not charged again when the same building is re-calculated within 14 days of the first calculation. This allows you to check and re-check the effect of changes to the building without incurring extra charges. An EPC calculation on the 15th day after the first calculation will use a further credit.

Part-L

The system deducts credits linked to the name and address of the building, so if you make a change to the building name or address in any way, (e.g. save a model as 32 Baker Street, go in and make changes and save as 32 Baker Street 1), DesignBuilder will deduct a credit at the time of the next Part-L calculation. Making changes to the address and running Part-L triggers the system to deduct a credit. However further credits are not charged again when the same building is re-calculated within 14 days of the first calculation. This allows you to check and re-check the effect of changes to the building without incurring extra charges. Multiple BRUKL reports can be generated for the building within 14 days of the first Part-L calculation without using more credits provided you don’t change the address in any way. A Part-L calculation on the 15th day after the first calculation will use a further credit.

Swopping from PAYG credits to Certification annual module

When DesignBuilder models are created using a PAYG licence they are “Locked” and cannot run EPC or BRUKL Calculations using a DesignBuilder annual licence. This is the intended behaviour of DesignBuilder to prevent a large number of users running PAYG, giving a single user with annual licence their models for final calculation & lodgement.

Once an EPC has been run on the PAYG system and a Credit deducted then the “Lock” is removed, and subsequent calculations can be run on the annual licence.  Any existing models that have been created using PAYG and have had EPC calculations carried out can be opened and have EPC calcs carried out with the new annual licence  Any existing models, created using PAYG, that have not had EPC calculations carried out will still be locked. These models will need to have EPCs run with a PAYG licence, before they can be used with the new annual licence.

 NOTE: 

For EPCs -  a PAYG credit is only deducted when the model has a valid UPRN, therefore the UPRN must be set before the EPC is run using the PAYG system in order to remove the lock

Pay as you go credits can be installed in combination with other licenses, e.g. EnergyPlus, Visualisation and CFD.

Click here to purchase pay as you go credits