Many utilities have programs that support the adoption of energy codes and appliance standards, or improve compliance with energy codes, or both. Codes programs often focus specifically on either residential or commercial building energy codes, and many utilities run both residential and commercial code support programs. Such programs yield considerable energy savings, for which utilities are able to claim credit under energy efficiency resource standards (EERS) policies in about one-third of U.S. states. Currently, early efforts are underway to extend these programs to more recent whole building energy performance improvement policies, such as building performance standards (BPS) or stretch codes.

This white paper provides an overview of states with utility energy codes programs and models for crediting utilities for the associated energy savings. Although many utility programs and attribution approaches include both building energy codes and appliance standards adoption support efforts, this paper focuses on programs supporting building energy codes. Additionally, this paper highlights opportunities for expanding utility energy codes programs to support emerging BPS policies and steps that may be required to do so effectively.