Solar & Battery Regulation & Incentive Programs
NOTE: Much of the information presented in this summary is drawn from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Building Energy Codes Program and the Building Codes Assistance Project (BCAP). For more detailed information about building energy codes, visit the DOE and BCAP websites.
Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) has the authority to upgrade commercial and residential energy standards through the regulatory process. The current code, the 2009 UCC, became effective December 31, 2009. On January 2016, Pennsylvania also adopted several residential provisions from the 2015 IECC (see details here).
Over 90% of Pennsylvania's 2,563 municipalities have elected to administer and enforce the UCC locally, using their own employees or via certified third party agencies (private code enforcement agencies) that they have retained. In these municipalities, the Department has no code enforcement authority, except where the municipality lacks the services of a person certified as an "Accessibility Inspector/Plans Examiner." If a municipality has "opted out," the Department is responsible for all commercial code enforcement in that municipality.