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Proponents said the score could be useful for homebuyers. Opponents said the mandate would add an unnecessary cost to people selling their homes.
The Eugene City Council on Monday, March 9, directed city officials to draft a policy that would require people selling their homes to obtain and disclose a house’s energy score.
The home energy score assesses a home’s physical and mechanical features — such as the foundation, insulation, windows, and heating and cooling systems — to gauge its energy use on a scale of 1 to 10. The score was created by the Department of Energy.
Councilors voted 5-3 to draft a policy requiring sellers to hire an assessor to calculate the score, usually at a cost of $150 to $300, and disclose it at the time of their house’s listing.
“Particularly for someone who hasn’t bought houses before, who isn’t in the market, having that information would have been very, very helpful, and I’m not sure that I would have known to ask for it,” said Councilor Eliza Kashinsky, who made the motion. “I think having that being provided as part of the listing is very helpful for those homebuyers.”
Councilors Greg Evans, Mike Clark and Randy Groves voted to oppose the directive, arguing it was adding an unnecessary cost to people selling their homes and would have disproportionate effects on older, lower-income people with less energy-efficiency homes. The trio first voted to amend the motion to make the program voluntary, but it failed on a 5-3 vote.
“None of these things we add by themselves are that big of a deal, but it’s starting to feel to me like it’s a death by 1,000 cuts,” Groves said. “We just have regulation upon regulation upon regulation.”
Running the program will require half of a full-time position to manage enforcement, respond to questions and support data analysis — a funding requirement of between $70,000 and $90,000, depending whether the service is internal or contracted out. The city projects the first year’s nonpersonnel costs to be $35,000, followed by an annual ongoing cost of $10,000.
Councilors will review a draft ordinance at a future work session that offers more detail about funding mechanisms, compliance, enforcement, financial assistance and exemptions. If they approve the ordinance, it will move to a public hearing, followed by a second council vote.
The proposal stems from a council vote to explore the program in 2021. City sustainability staff, as well as a contracted firm, conducted a slew of research and community engagement about the policy. The Oregon cities of Portland, Hillsboro, Bend and Milwaukie have also introduced mandatory disclosure.
The city previously had a voluntary home energy score policy, offering the service for free to renters and low-income homeowners through a partnership between the city, the University of Oregon and the Eugene Water & Electric Board, but there was little engagement.
This mandatory policy would apply only to home sales, not rentals. The score includes a list of home modifications that could improve the ranking, but the policy does not require sellers or buyers to make those changes.
Four or so assessors serve the Eugene area. The program would require 16 to 20 full-time assessors to run with “minimal disruption to the real estate market,” Climate Policy Analyst Danielle Klinkebiel told the council, adding that research shows those jobs have “ramped up” elsewhere when demand is there.
