Home Energy Performance Score Stakeholder Panel to Meet May 17
CONTACT:
Rachel Wray, 503-689-0294
Cliff Voliva, 503-378-3637
SALEM — As part of an ongoing effort to provide Oregonians with a standardized home energy performance scoring system and label, a volunteer board will meet next week to refine its product.
The Home Energy Performance Score Stakeholder Panel will gather Wednesday, May 17 in Salem. The public meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the Oregon Department of Energy, 550 Capitol St. NE.
Over the past two years, the panel has been working to develop a reliable and consistent system to summarize a home’s energy performance. Panel members include energy efficiency experts, utilities, a home builder association representative, and home appraisers.
A voluntary scoring system will help prospective home buyers and sellers – as well as real estate professionals and renters – to better understand how much energy a home will use.
Since the panel’s last meeting in June 2016, ODOE staff members have been working with the City of Portland on its newly-adopted ordinance for mandatory home energy performance scores. Portland is using Oregon’s state framework – which is based on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Home Energy Score System – to implement the city’s scoring ordinance policy, which goes into effect on January 1, 2018.
“In Oregon, approved systems and score labels must have three basic things,” says Roger Kainu, an energy analyst at ODOE. “The systems must provide estimated energy use, anticipated energy costs, and a home energy score. Homeowners can use that score to make decisions on whether improvements are needed.”
At the May 17 meeting, the panel will determine if the new City of Portland proposed scorecard meets state requirements. The panel will also review on-boarding activities for interested contractors who would do the scoring, such as training, mentoring, and quality assurance.
A complete agenda for the meeting is on the ODOE website at www.oregon.gov/energy/At-Home/Pages/HEPS-Stakeholder-Panel.aspx. People who want to access the meeting remotely may call 1-877-336-1829 and use participant code 1073769.
To request an interpreter for the hearing-impaired or for other accommodations, please contact Tracy Richardson at 503-378-6874 or via fax at 503-373-7806. TTY users should call the Oregon Relay Service at 711.