HERS is now ECC: what changed, and what didn't

From 1 January 2026, field verification for Title 24 compliance is done under the Energy Code Compliance (ECC) programme. Before that date it was done under HERS, the Home Energy Rating System.

On site, almost nothing about this changes what happens on your job. In the regulations it is more than a rename, and the difference is worth understanding if anyone ever quotes chapter and verse at you.

What actually happened

HERS was not renamed. The compliance half of it was moved out.

Field verification and diagnostic testing for code compliance used to sit in the HERS programme under Title 20, sections 1670 to 1675. From 1 January 2026 those provisions live in the Energy Code itself, Title 24 Part 1 section 10-103.3, as the ECC programme.

HERS still exists. Its scope is now limited to whole-house ratings and home energy audits, and it no longer supports a Title 24 compliance demonstration.

Everyone already certified came across automatically: HERS Providers are recognised as ECC-Providers, and HERS Raters as ECC-Raters. Nobody had to re-qualify.

What stayed the same on your project

• The field tests. Duct leakage, refrigerant charge, airflow and fan watt draw, quality insulation installation, envelope air leakage, ventilation airflow.
• The form sequence. CF1R from the consultant, CF2R from the installing contractor, CF3R from the field verifier, all registered.
• The independence rule. The person verifying in the field is still independent of the person who produced the model.
• The certificate of occupancy dependency. Registered CF3R forms still gate final sign-off.

Which name your paperwork uses

It depends on the code cycle your project is on, not on today's date.

Documentation under the 2022 and earlier codes keeps saying HERS. Documentation under the 2025 code says ECC. So a job filed in late 2025 will say HERS on its forms for its whole life, while the job next door filed in January says ECC.

You will see both names in circulation for years. Plan-check comments, contractor emails and most search results still say HERS. We work under either.

One thing that did change substantively

The 2025 code also expanded what gets verified in places. Refrigerant charge verification now applies to heat pumps in all climate zones, and there is a new fault-indicator-display verification for heat and energy recovery ventilators. So "nothing changed but the name" is not quite right, and anyone who tells you that has not read section 150.1(c).

The part worth your attention

All of the above is administration. What actually costs money is that the measures needing verification are decided by your CF1R, not by a fixed list. If the model takes credit for a verified measure, someone has to come out and test it. If it doesn't, nobody does.

That means verification cost is a design decision, and it gets made at modelling stage, well before anyone is standing on site with a duct blaster.

When we run a model we'll tell you which measures the compliance margin actually depends on and which you could drop. That conversation costs nothing and it happens before anyone is committed.

What this costs

Field verification is quoted per project rather than published as a flat rate, because the scope depends on the measure list, the number of dwelling units and how many site visits the construction schedule needs. Registry and coordination on a report we've produced is a flat add-on.

Call and we'll scope it in about two minutes. Have the CF1R in front of you if you have one, because the measure list is most of the answer.