Committee hears concerns on H.181 over working-group staffing, enforcement role and GHG methodology

The House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on April 23 heard detailed testimony on H.181, a bill to update Vermont’s residential and commercial building energy standards, with Kelly Wander, assistant director of the Efficiency and Energy Resources Division at the Vermont Department of Public Service, saying the department "has a few concerns with the bill."

Wander told the committee the draft bill would extend the Building Energy Code Working Group “in perpetuity” and continues to assign the Department of Public Service (DPS) to staff that group despite limited staff time and the likely loss of contractor support. She said the department previously contracted facilitation and drafting support from Energy Futures Group at about "$50,000 a year" and that federal grant funding recently has been redirected to staffing other state energy-office functions.

Those funding and staffing limits, Wander said, make a long-term, department-led working group burdensome. She also said DPS does not agree with one anticipated recommendation from the working group: designating the Division of Fire Safety as the "authority having jurisdiction" for enforcing energy codes. "We don't think the enforcement route is the right way to go because we do feel like it will be very costly for the state of Vermont," Wander said, and she suggested that increased training, education and credentialing for builders and contractors could raise compliance without on-site enforcement.

Committee members pressed DPS on current compliance data and methods. Wander said prior commercial-code market assessments showed compliance around the high 80s to low 90s (she referenced figures of about "87%" and earlier studies near "90%" to "92%"), but she warned the residential compliance sample used during COVID was very small (about "20 homes") and therefore not reliable. DPS staff said they are contracting a new, larger market assessment that will include on-site inspections and a deeper look at where noncompliance actually leaves energy savings "on the table."

Lawmakers also discussed a provision that would allow the advisory committee to review software and handbook guidance "prior to final adoption" of residential rules. DPS staff explained that software tools are developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) only after rules are finalized and adopted; the department therefore called the proposed sequencing "backwards" and said the advisory committee already has multiple earlier opportunities to comment during rule development and rulemaking. "Once the rules are approved and finalized and adopted, then the department starts the process of creating the materials and the tools like the software," Wander said, and at that point the department cannot change the adopted rule language.

Section 5 of the bill asks DPS, in consultation with the Energy Efficiency Utilities, the Office of Economic Opportunity and "any other entities claiming energy or emission savings," to develop a methodology for converting energy savings into greenhouse-gas reductions. DPS staff said the provision appears aimed at weatherization and other state-funded efficiency programs but recommended the bill explicitly state that scope. Wander also noted the department would need to coordinate with the Agency of Natural Resources and the Climate Action Office, which maintain the state greenhouse-gas inventory and measurement tools.

On statutory findings, DPS recommended striking language that said "there's no state agency to interpret or administer energy codes," noting the department currently interprets code provisions and provides guidance to builders and other stakeholders. DPS clarified that where codes conflict the statutory code hierarchy — for example, defaulting to fire and safety code in a conflict — remains relevant.

Committee members raised potential alternatives for improving compliance, including expanded credentialing or licensing on top of the contractor registry and targeted training delivered by Efficiency Vermont and other program partners. DPS said it has recently added more plain-language building science content to its residential handbook, has recorded trainings with Efficiency Vermont, and that expanding such outreach would require additional funding or staff. "We do the amount we do with what we have," Wander said.

No formal committee vote was recorded during the session. Committee members indicated they expect further discussion in the working group and during upcoming committee meetings this session.