CBECC, the Title 24 compliance software.
CBECC is the California Energy Commission’s public-domain compliance software — the program a CF1R or an NRCC comes out of. What it is, where the CEC posts it, and why running it is not the same as producing a registered compliance document.
What CBECC is, and where it comes from
CBECC stands for California Building Energy Code Compliance. It is the public-domain compliance software the California Energy Commission develops to demonstrate performance compliance with the residential, nonresidential and multifamily requirements of Title 24, Part 6 — and it is where a CF1R or an NRCC comes from. You get it from the CEC: the 2025 installers sit on the Energy Commission’s own GitHub releases, linked from its 2025 Energy Code Compliance Software page on energy.ca.gov.
Only approved software, and only on the performance path
Section 10-109(a) of Title 24, Part 1 requires compliance software to be approved by the Commission before it can be used to demonstrate compliance with Part 6. Which approved list applies is set by the permit application date: applications on or after January 1, 2026 use software approved for the 2025 Energy Code; January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2025, approved 2022 software; January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2022, approved 2019 software. Software only enters the picture on the performance path — that is the compliance approach it exists to serve. Scope is a separate question: the CEC approves each program for specific occupancies and specific project scopes, and unless a program is noted otherwise it is approved for new construction, additions and alterations alike. The CBECC manual does note that prescriptive compliance is sometimes the better fit, particularly on an addition or alteration. What else moved with the cycle is in the 2025 code changes.
CBECC-Res, CBECC-Com, and the 2025 merge
The name has changed shape twice, which is why a search turns up three names. Under the 2019 cycle: CBECC-Com for nonresidential and high-rise multifamily, CBECC-Res for single-family and low-rise multifamily. Under 2022 the line moved — CBECC for nonresidential and multifamily, CBECC-Res for single-family. CBECC-Com does not appear on the 2022 or 2025 approved lists at all; if that is the name you are searching, you are searching for a 2019-cycle tool.
The 2025 cycle unified them, though not on the first release. CBECC 2025.1.0 and CBECC-Res 2025.1.0 were approved as two separate programs on June 11, 2025; the 2025.2.0 update combined single-family into one program, called simply CBECC, covering all occupancies. Inside it, the low-rise side still takes single-family dwellings, duplexes, townhomes, ADUs, JADUs and SB9 units, all R-3; hotels, motels and multifamily buildings sit on the nonresidential and multifamily side.
Approved versions expire
This is the part that catches people. The CEC publishes a running table of approved software carrying an approval date and, once a version is superseded, an expiration date, and a version stays valid for new permit applications only through the end of that listed date. It has already happened this cycle — CBECC 2025.1.0 and CBECC-Res 2025.1.0 were approved 6/11/25 and carry an expiration of 1/6/26 — and in earlier cycles the CEC retired CBECC-Com and CBECC-Res versions 1.0 through 1.3 outright as of 1/1/22. No current version number appears on this page: the list is revised several times a year, and anything here would be stale within a quarter.
What it takes to run one
Nothing stops a designer from doing this in-house. It is public domain, you get it from the CEC, and there is no licensing requirement to be the documentation author. What it takes is the input list. For a single-family model the CEC names what the program needs:
- Address, climate zone, front orientation, fuel type and PV system details
- Conditioned floor area and average ceiling height
- Attic and roof details, roof pitch, roofing material, solar reflectance and thermal emittance
- Ceiling and wall R-values; wall, door, window and skylight areas and orientations, with U-factor and SHGC, overhangs and side fins
- Slab or raised-floor construction, HVAC type and efficiency, duct location, ventilation method, water heating, battery storage
Then the paper behind those numbers, which the CEC lists separately: NFRC-certified U-factor and SHGC for windows and skylights, AHRI-certified efficiencies for cooling, heating and water-heating equipment, CRRC roofing ratings. A model is only as good as the cut sheets under it. And the software will not let you trade away a mandatory requirement: the CEC says the Energy Code prohibits trading off mandatory requirements, and that knowing and complying with the code is the user’s responsibility.
Running the model is not the same as producing a registered document
This is the gap most people miss. When ECC measures are required — ECC is the 2025 name for what earlier cycles called HERS verification — the CF1R that CBECC generates carries a watermark reading “This Certificate of Compliance is not yet registered.” The only way to remove it is to register the project with an approved residential ECC provider data registry. CBECC also stamps “Not useable for compliance” on output when the project does not comply, or when a Quick simulation was run instead of a Compliance run.
Registration is a code requirement, not a convenience. Where ECC verification is required for compliance, the Energy Code requires the residential compliance documents to be registered with an ECC registry, and the CF1R has to be submitted to a data registry by the owner or the person responsible for the design. Not every project has ECC measures; some additions and alterations do not, and those come out unwatermarked with no registration step. The CF2R and CF3R come later, from the installer and the rater.
Where I come in, and where you might not need me
What I sell is not access to the software. It is the model, the certificate that comes out of it, and the registration that makes it something plan check will accept — CHEERS, in my case, included in the flat rate. On the certificate I am the documentation author and you stay the responsible designer. The code splits those roles on purpose: a documentation author prepares the compliance document, and a responsible person, eligible under Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code, reviews and signs it. More on that split in who can prepare a Title 24 report.
A designer who wanted to could learn CBECC. The argument for handing it off is that it is a second discipline to keep current in across three live code cycles, and it is not the one you are paid for. If the acronyms above are the sticking point, the Title 24 glossary has them in one place.
Prices
Flat fees, in writing before I start. No hourly, no bid package, no change-order games — the number on the quote is the number on the invoice.
Your first report with me
One per client, homes under 3,000 square feet. Full energy model, CF1R and CHEERS registration. It’s a test run — send one job and see how it goes.
Every model after the first
The standard rate once you’re a client — the second building, ADU plus main house, the next project that walks in. Back in 3 business days.
Over 3,000 square feet
Quoted from the plans before any work starts, same day.
24×36 plan-sheet set
Your CF1R laid out full size, matched to your drawing set. Comes back as a PDF you drop straight in.
Revisions
Two revisions included, plus questions any time. Past two I quote first, before I touch it.
Commercial / tenant improvement
Send the plans and you’ll have a flat quote back the same day. No deposit, no minimum.
One honest note
I’m not a licensed engineer or architect, and I don’t stamp drawings. On the CF1R I’m the documentation author — you stay the responsible designer. Nothing about your role on the job changes.
That’s on purpose. I’m not after your scope or your clients. I do one piece of the permit set — the piece that usually holds it up — and I do it fast.
CBECC questions
If yours isn’t here, see the full FAQ or call and ask.
Where do I download CBECC?
From the CEC. The 2025 installers are hosted on the Energy Commission’s own GitHub releases and linked from its 2025 Energy Code Compliance Software page on energy.ca.gov; the CBECC user manual also names the NORESCO CBECC 2025 page as an alternate download location. It is a Windows desktop program — the installers are Windows executables, the default install lands under Program Files with data and project folders under Documents, and the manual is explicit that it cannot be installed to a network path. It has to sit on a local or mapped drive.
One trap worth knowing: the Commission also posts pre-release research versions of CBECC on the same GitHub page, and those cannot be used for compliance. Check the version against the CEC’s approved-software list before you build anything in it.
Is CBECC-Com still the commercial version?
No. CBECC-Com is the 2019-cycle and earlier name for the nonresidential tool, back when the split was CBECC-Com for nonresidential and high-rise multifamily, CBECC-Res for single-family and low-rise multifamily. Under the 2022 cycle the nonresidential and multifamily program is called CBECC, and under 2025 it is the unified CBECC. The name CBECC-Com does not appear on the 2022 or 2025 approved-software lists.
The workflow on the commercial side is otherwise the same shape: a performance-path project must use a CEC-approved compliance model, which produces the NRCC-PRF-01 the design team builds the rest of the nonresidential forms from. The CEC also states that regardless of which path or tool is used, the builder or building owner is solely responsible for selecting and completing the correct NRCCs and designing a code-compliant project. On a tenant improvement that responsibility sits with the owner, not with whoever ran the model.
Do I have to use CBECC, or can I use EnergyPro?
CBECC is the public-domain option, not the only approved one. The Commission also approves non-public-domain programs as alternative calculation methods, and it approves them for specific occupancies and specific project scopes — on the 2025 list, EnergyPro for nonresidential, multifamily and single-family; IES VE for nonresidential new construction only; Right-Energy for single-family residential new construction only.
What the CEC does not do is promise they are interchangeable. The Single-Family Residential ACM Reference Manual says outright that it does not specify the minimum capabilities of vendor-supplied software, and that the CEC reserves the right to approve vendor software for limited implementations of what the manual documents — which is how two of the three third-party programs end up approved for new construction only. Some third-party software runs on CBECC’s own compliance manager; some implements the CBECC ruleset in a different engine. The CEC’s approval table records which CBECC version each one is built against.
Can I run CBECC myself?
Yes. It is public domain, you download it from the CEC, and there is no licensing requirement to be the documentation author on a compliance document. The CEC supports people doing exactly that — the Energy Code Support Center collects the training, the compliance manuals and the approved-software lists in one place, and the CBECC manual points residential support questions to a CEC support address.
The work is in everything around the software: the input list, the supporting documentation behind each number, staying current across three live code cycles, and the registration step at the end. What gets handed off is that, not the download.
Does CBECC produce a finished, registered CF1R?
Not on its own. When ECC measures are required — ECC is the 2025 name for what earlier cycles called HERS — the CF1R that CBECC generates comes out watermarked “This Certificate of Compliance is not yet registered,” and the only way to remove that watermark is to register the project with an approved residential ECC provider data registry. Where ECC verification is required for compliance, the Energy Code requires the residential compliance documents to be registered.
Multifamily splits by habitable stories. Three or fewer uses the LMCC-PRF-01-E certificate, registered with an ECC provider when field-verification measures are in scope. Four or more uses NRCC-PRF-01-E and is not registered through an ECC provider, even when ECC measures are present.
Does CBECC do the HVAC load calculations too?
No. For single-family residential, CBECC does not perform the space-conditioning equipment load calculations required by Section 150.0(h) — the CEC says mechanical contractors are expected to prepare those and other calculations as part of their responsibilities. The energy model and the equipment sizing are two separate pieces of paper.
On an HVAC change-out, that is worth knowing before plan check asks for both and only one is in the set.
Send the plans, skip the install
The model, the certificate and the registration come back done, with you named as responsible designer.