Home Energy Score
A Home Energy Score is required at listing in Portland, Milwaukie and Hillsboro. A separate CCB credential issues it, and rule excludes it from the home inspection.
A Home Energy Score rates a house 1 to 10 on the US Department of Energy scale from a physical assessment. Portland has required one at listing since 2018-01-01 under PCC 17.108, Milwaukie since 2020-10-01 and Hillsboro since 2021-09-01. A certified home inspector is not thereby authorised to issue one.
Three cities require it, and the state does not
Portland was first, under PCC 17.108 effective 2018-01-01. Milwaukie followed on 2020-10-01 and Hillsboro on 2021-09-01, each under its own municipal code.
ORS 469.703 makes scoring voluntary statewide and is silent on local authority. Cities have acted under home-rule power. Bend also has a requirement, but its ordinance number is unresolved in this record, so it is not listed as confirmed.
Two credentials, not one
The assessor is a separate CCB credential under ORS 701.532. The business needs its own licence under ORS 701.534, with a 10,000 dollar bond and 100,000 dollars of liability cover.
OAR 812-008-0205 states a home inspection does not include an energy audit. Many Portland firms hold both credentials and bundle them, which hides a legal distinction that still exists.
What the score measures
The US Department of Energy Home Energy Score runs from 1 to 10. It comes from a physical assessment of the envelope and systems, not from utility bills. Five is the Portland average.
Oregon has approved the DOE score fully and two other systems conditionally, Energy Trust EPS and RESNET HERS, under OAR 330-63. The city requirements name the DOE score.
Asked and answered
A 1 to 10 rating on the US Department of Energy scale. Portland has required it at listing for single-family homes since 2018-01-01 under City Code 17.108. It comes from a physical assessment by a Home Energy Assessor certified by the Oregon CCB, a credential separate from home inspector certification. Five is the Portland average. Milwaukie and Hillsboro have similar ordinances.
On the Home Energy Score scale a 10 is the most efficient and a 1 the least, and Portland reports an average of 5. The score is an asset rating from the building itself, not from bills, so two households in identical houses get the same number. The report that accompanies the score lists the improvements that would raise it.
HERS is a different system from the Home Energy Score. It is the RESNET index, where lower is better, and Oregon has approved it only conditionally under OAR 330-63 alongside Energy Trust EPS. The Portland, Milwaukie and Hillsboro ordinances name the US Department of Energy Home Energy Score, where higher is better on a 1 to 10 scale.
Questions are taken verbatim from live Google People Also Ask results for this inspection type. Answers rest on Oregon rule text and the records cited above.