Imagine walking into a car dealership and being told you are not allowed to know a vehicle’s miles-per-gallon rating before buying it.

You would have no idea whether the car gets five miles per gallon or 50. That difference could cost you thousands of dollars every year, money that could otherwise go toward your children’s education, retirement or simply making everyday life more affordable. No rational buyer would accept that kind of information blackout when making a major financial decision.

Yet that is essentially how we buy homes.

When people buy a house, the largest purchase most families will ever make, they usually do so without clear information about one of the most important long-term costs of ownership: How much energy the home will consume every day. Heating, cooling and powering a home are not optional. They are permanent costs attached to the property. But in most home sales, buyers are still left to guess.

That should change, and Eugene has an opportunity to join other communities who have successfully tackled this issue.

Eugene has always prided itself on being thoughtful, practical and community minded. We are at our best when we recognize a commonsense solution, tailor it to local needs and move forward with confidence. That is exactly what the city should do by adopting a Home Energy Score (“HES”) disclosure policy for homes listed for sale.

The Eugene City Council recently took an important first step by directing staff to draft such a policy. That vote reflected the kind of local leadership Eugene residents should expect and applaud. A HES disclosure requirement would give buyers the same kind of transparency consumers already expect when buying cars and appliances. It is simple, practical and is exactly the kind of policy a city like Eugene should embrace.

The stakes for homeowners are real.

For many families, utility bills are among the largest recurring household expenses after the mortgage. As energy costs rise and markets remain volatile, knowing a home’s likely energy costs before purchase becomes even more important. Without that information, buyers can unknowingly purchase a home that becomes a financial drain from the day they move in.

That is where Home Energy Scores (HES) come in.

A HES is a straightforward 1-to-10 rating developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. It evaluates a home’s physical characteristics, such as insulation, windows, heating systems and overall efficiency, and provides an estimate of energy use along with recommended improvements. In effect, it is the miles-per-gallon rating for a house.

That score gives buyers a fairer way to compare homes and understand which ones are likely to come with higher monthly energy costs. Just as important, it gives homeowners a roadmap for practical improvements that can lower those costs over time, especially at the moment when a home changes hands and investments are most likely to be considered.

For many Eugene homes, the improvements identified through a HES, such as better insulation, duct sealing or more efficient heating systems, can reduce annual energy bills by thousands.

That is not a trivial amount. That is real household wealth.

That is money that can stay in the pockets of Eugene families instead of flowing out through unnecessarily high utility bills. It is money that can help cover childcare, health care, home maintenance, retirement or the many everyday costs that continue to stretch family budgets. In a city that cares deeply about affordability and economic resilience, that kind of consumer protection should matter.

And this policy would not require anyone to make upgrades. Sellers would not be forced to renovate, and buyers would not be forced to improve anything after closing. The policy is about information, not mandates. It simply ensures that homebuyers have useful information when they are deciding what they can actually afford over the long term.

We also do not have to speculate about whether such a policy can work. We already know it can.

Back in 2015, Portland adopted one of the first HES disclosure policies in the country. I had the opportunity to work on that effort while serving as climate and energy policy advisor to then-Portland Mayor Charlie Hales. At the time, critics raised familiar concerns: that the policy would burden sellers, slow home sales or disrupt the housing market.

None of that happened. Portland’s housing market continued to function normally, with the policy having no measurable impact on days-on-market or overall sales volume. 

More than 20,000 homes have now been scored in Portland. The average cost of a score was about $125, an extremely modest expense in the context of a home sale and far less than many other routine transaction costs.

This is one of the rare policies that is easy to understand and hard to argue against on the merits. It gives buyers transparency. It rewards efficient homes. It encourages smart, voluntary improvements that strengthen household finances. And it helps shield Eugene residents from the long-term risks of rising energy costs.

It also aligns with something Eugene has believed for decades: that environmental responsibility and economic common sense can go hand in hand. Energy efficiency improvements in existing homes are among the most cost-effective ways to reduce carbon emissions.

That is classic Eugene: practical, forward-looking and rooted in the belief that good policy should improve people’s lives.

This policy is about honesty in the marketplace. It is about giving homebuyers basic information before they commit to a 30-year mortgage. Just as we expect to know a car’s fuel economy before we buy it, we should expect to know how much energy a home is likely to use before signing the papers.

Better information leads to better decisions. Better decisions lead to lower utility bills. And lower utility bills mean more money staying where it belongs, with Eugene residents, in Eugene households, strengthening Eugene’s future.

Eugene should move forward with a HES disclosure policy that is fair, affordable and easy to implement. Portland, Bend and Hillsboro have already shown it can be done. Now it is Eugene’s turn.

Because when it comes to something every household pays for every single day — energy — Eugeneans deserve to know the score.

Zach Klonoski is a lifelong Oregonian, husband, father of two and attorney at the Center for Nonprofit Law in Eugene. He supports practical policies and candidates committed to strengthening democracy, addressing the real-world impacts of climate change and accelerating the transition to a clean-energy economy.