Council approves home energy audits

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin homeowners will soon be required to have an energy audit completed before selling their home. The Austin City Council voted in favor of the energy conservation ordinance on at its meeting on Thursday. The energy audits are part of the city's ongoing Climate Protection Plan to make all single family homes zero net energy capable by 2015.

Under the ordinance, homeowners will now need to contact Austin Energy for an audit on their home energy use and efficiency, including the cost of recommended upgrades and to disclose that information to potential buyers when selling their home. The ordinance at one time included manadatory energy efficency improvements be made by homeowners, a plan that drew a great deal of criticism from the Austin Board of Realtors as well as some prospective homesellers. After months of work by a task force on the issue, making the recommended energy efficiency upgrades will now be voluntary.

The energy efficiency upgrade ordinance will go into effect on June 1, 2009.  The average cost of an audit was expected to be between $200 to $300.