Cost Effective Energy Codes

The bill requires any provision of any energy code adopted by a county or municipality on or after January 1, 2026, to be cost effective. "Cost effective" means, using the existing energy efficiency standards and requirements as a base of comparison, that the economic benefits of the proposed energy efficiency standards and requirements will exceed the economic costs of those standards and requirements based upon an incremental multi-year analysis that: Considers the perspective of a typical first-time home buyer; Considers benefits and costs over a 10-year period; Does not assume fuel price increases in excess of the assumed general rate of inflation; Ensures that the buyer of a home who would qualify to purchase the home before the addition of the energy efficiency standards will still qualify to purchase the same home after the additional cost of energy saving construction features; and Ensures that the costs of principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and utilities will not be greater after the inclusion of the proposed cost of the additional energy saving construction features required by the proposed energy efficiency rules than under the provisions of the existing energy efficiency rules.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)