What does Olympia’s new home energy score policy mean for homeowners?
The Olympia City Council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance creating a mandatory residential energy performance rating and disclosure ordinance, better known as the Home Energy Score policy.
There is about a one-year implementation period to set up the program, and the requirements will officially begin May 1, 2027.
Director of Climate Programs Pamela Braff spoke during the March 24 City Council meeting, which is when the council approved the policy. Braff said that the city set a goal in 2019 to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, following a climate emergency declaration at the urging of youth in the community.
She said city staff began looking at how to actually cut its greenhouse gas emissions, and they found that residential energy use makes up a significant portion of emissions in Thurston County. To combat that and meet the city’s goal, she said they need to move to 100% renewable energy, adding rooftop solar, electrifying and improving buildings, and reducing solid waste generation.
Braff said one of the policies in the city’s Comprehensive Plan involves partnering with regional jurisdictions to come up with a local policy and disclosure of energy performance ratings.
She said there are energy disclosure policies in place already throughout the U.S., and they all work a bit differently. They all have the same goal of disclosing energy performance at a certain point in a transaction.
Braff said the Home Energy Score route involves hiring a professional to conduct an energy audit of a home. She said they typically take about an hour to complete, and they cost anywhere from $150 to $350 per assessment, based on assessments in Oregon. She said city staff looked to the city of Portland and its program to help create the policy for Olympia.
“A Home Energy Score is different from comparing an energy bill or kind of disclosing energy information, and that’s because it looks at the physical assets of the home that influence the home’s energy performance,” Braff said.
She said the Home Energy Score doesn’t include occupant behavior, or how the people using a home influence energy use. It’s only about the home itself.
What the report provides
Braff said a home’s energy score is ranked on a scale from 1 to 10 based on the home’s physical characteristics. The report will also include the estimated annual energy use and cost, and a list of cost-effective upgrade options.
“It provides a standardized rating that can be easily compared across homes, as well as estimated annual energy costs that can also be easily compared,” she said. “It’s really about providing recommendations of investments homeowners can make over time to help improve energy efficiency and reduce energy demand.”
Braff said benefits of a Home Energy Score policy have been seen in other cities. She said studies have shown that 12% to 30% of buyers implement recommended energy-saving upgrades after receiving an assessment.
“In Portland, they found that home buyers who received their HES report were 10 times more likely to utilize a state energy rebate program than other home buyers in that area,” Braff said. “For folks that are selling their home, it helps to show the value of those home energy features, ensuring that the home’s listing reflects energy investments that have been made.”
Braff said folks who have a Home Energy Score or similar energy report can also access some different energy-efficient mortgages, which she said have more favorable interest rates.
Who does it apply to?
Ultimately, the ordinance will apply to most for-sale residential properties in the city. That includes single-family detached homes, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes, cottage housing, townhouses and attached ADUs.
It does not apply to stacked multifamily properties or mobile homes, Braff said.
She said the score and report must be obtained and disclosed at the time of listing, and included in the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Braff said there would be low-income support and exemptions for the program. She said there will be subsidized or free assessments for low-income sellers. And exemptions would be in place for transactions involving federal or tribal land transfers and cases of undue hardship.
Enforcement
Braff said there will be a required field or form in the Northwest Multiple Listing Service so most listings can’t be posted without the Home Energy Score information. She said city staff will review listings and notices to help bring non-compliant properties into compliance before civil penalties are involved.
On the first offense, Braff said a homeowner who lists a home without an energy score will face a $50 penalty. The second offense will cost the seller $125. The third and subsequent offenses will cost $250 per day of violation.
She said the city will contract with a third-party Home Energy Score program partner for the work, including assessor training and data management.
Braff said with a countywide home energy disclosure policy in place, they would expect to see nearly 3,000 homes rated in the first year. She said 560 of those homes having energy efficiency retrofits would result in more than $300,000 in energy cost savings. She said that’s equal to 586 metric tons of CO2 reduction.
Braff said funding for program development, management and subsidized assessments was allocated in the city’s 2026 budget. And once the program starts, she said the costs are meant to be shared across local jurisdictions that implement similar policies.
She said the cost for program development is about $100,000. She said depending on the partners the city secures, Olympia will cover anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000 of that cost.
Braff said the cost for subsidized assessments for Olympia residents would be funded by the city specifically, and that’s estimated to cost about $5,000 per year starting in 2027 when the policy goes into effect.
The Thurston County Board of Commissioners also voted 4-1 on March 17 to adopt a home energy score ordinance. According to previous reporting from The Olympian, the county hopes the new rules will allow buyers to compare home energy costs for multiple listings and encourage investments in home improvements that will lower energy bills and improve local energy efficiency.
Similar to Olympia’s, the county ordinance does not require home improvements. The county provided the same cost estimate of $150 to $300 for an assessment.
Braff said there currently aren’t many certified HES assessors in this region. If a countywide policy is enacted, she said they would need 68 assessors to meet demand. Part of the reason for delaying implementation to May 1, 2027, is to put money toward supporting HES assessor recruitment and certification, she said.
Mixed reviews from the public
Olympia resident Michele Horaney told the council at the March 24 meeting that she and her husband bought their house in 2018, and they’re aware of energy costs. She said they’ve made upgrades to their home to help bring those costs down, and they support having energy efficient homes and more information about homes on the market.
However, she asked the council to table the ordinance because it doesn’t address current housing affordability issues. She said the program feels like government overreach, and she’d prefer if it were voluntary.
“They can put that little stamp of approval on their listing,” she said. “It’d be like having an Olympic medal, and that would be great.”
Jesse Simmons said he’s the government affairs director for Olympia Master Builders. He said they build homes in Thurston County and across four other counties in the South Puget Sound. He said builders have concerns about the program, and they, too, support a pause.
“This is not simply providing information. This is a mandatory requirement placed on sellers before they are allowed to list their home,” he said. “It adds cost, time and friction at the front of every transaction. In a market like Olympia, where home prices are over $500,000, even small increases matter. That’s how families get priced out.”
Dawn Baker, president of the Thurston County Realtors Association, said they have some concerns with the ordinance as drafted.
“As practitioners working directly with buyers and sellers every day, realtors see firsthand how policy decisions interact with the realities of real estate transactions,” she said. “While we support consumer awareness and climate goals, it is critical that any policy adopted is clear, practical and workable in the marketplace.”
She said at this stage, there are still issues with implementation and technical problems that are unresolved, such as how the requirement will function within the transaction process. She said there may be unintended impacts on housing supply and affordability.
“For these reasons, we respectfully request that the council pause adoption of the ordinance and allow for additional due diligence,” she said. “We believe a collaborative work session involving council members, staff and a small group of industry practitioners would provide an opportunity to work through these issues in a constructive and solution oriented way. Realtors want to be partners in this process.”
Tom Crawford said during public comment that he’s a founder and board member of the Thurston Climate Action Team. He said he’s in favor of the Home Energy Score policy, and his team has been promoting such actions since 2009.
“The ordinance you are considering tonight is the result of six years of community conversations, careful research by staff, regional collaboration with Thurston County, Tumwater and Lacey and thorough legal review and analysis,” he said.
Crawford said realtors have been involved throughout the process as well. He said the Thurston Lewis Mason Central Labor Council has passed a resolution calling for the council to approve the Home Energy Score policy.
He said legal staff from all four jurisdictions have found no legal barriers to adopting the policy.
“So let’s focus on the big picture here. The world is on fire. We need to take action now,” he said. “Our grandchildren and children, when they look back, they won’t care about whether a Home Energy Score audit costs $150 or $250, they will care about whether we took steps to protect them from climate change.”
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