• About VT DPS
• Information for Consumers
• Information for Industry
• Plans & Publications
• Dockets
• Other Resources
• Press Releases
• DPS Divisions
• Contact Us
• Public Service Board

Accreditation Procedure

Vermont Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Provider Accreditation

In 1997 the Vermont Legislature adopted the Residential Building Energy Standards (RBES), mandated an update process, and required the Department of Public Service (DPS) to implement an accreditation procedure for HERS providers (21 V.S.A. § 267 (a)). The accreditation procedure is the result of several years work building consensus among affected stakeholders, including rating providers, builders, lenders, real estate professionals, and consumer representatives.

The Vermont Department of Public Service Accreditation Procedure for Home Energy Rating Systems Providers (Procedure) was approved and adopted on May 22, 2003 with an effective date of July 1, 2003. The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that accurate and consistent home energy ratings are performed by accredited HERS providers. It will promote an objective, cost-effective, and sustainable home energy rating process which can:

• serve as compliance method for residential building energy codes,
• accurately gauge the performance of energy saving measures, and
• help Vermont's housing market reliably differentiate thier products based on energy efficiency

The Procedure sets minimum standards for rater training, operating procedures and policies, software programs, and quality control. These standards assure that customers can rely on the representations of accredited providers.

General Information
The complete accreditation package contains four documents, which are available in a ZIP file (file size - 141 kb). Providers seeking accreditation need only submit the application, but are strongly recommended to review all of the documents. The documents are available in Portable Document Format (PDF). This format allows documents to appear and print the same across different computer operating systems. The Adobe Acrobat reader is available at no charge.

Files
Accreditation Procedure (file size - 28 kb)
Technical Guidelines (file size - 87 kb)
Rater Training and Certifying Standards ( file size - 48 kb)
Application (file size - 14 kb)
Application in MS Word - This file is provided as a courtesy to applicants. Applicants are required to submit hard copies. (file size - 42 kb)