Pearl Makes Home Performance Registry Free for Public Energy Programs, Aiming to Capture Efficiency Value in Housing Market

State energy offices, municipalities, and utilities that invest billions in efficiency rebates and weatherization programs can now document those improvements in Pearl’s national registry at no cost. Starting immediately, Pearl is providing free certification services for public programs, including those tied to the federal Home Energy Rebates, ensuring that every upgrade is independently verified and recorded in the home’s profile. This move aims to solve a longstanding problem: once efficiency work is completed, evidence of the upgrade often remains buried in program files and never reaches the housing market, making the value invisible when homes are sold, appraised, or refinanced.

Pearl’s registry assigns a Pearl SCORE to each home, reflecting its performance across safety, comfort, operations, resilience, and energy. By making certification free for public programs, Pearl ensures that improvements paid for with taxpayer and ratepayer dollars become a permanent record that stays with the home through every transaction. Homeowners in those programs also gain free access to Pearl’s tools to track performance over time and document new improvements, preserving the record for resale, refinancing, and appraisal.

Pearl’s revenue model has shifted from charging fees for home certification to charging for products that serve the home transaction—for buyers, sellers, and their agents. The company had already dropped fees for homeowners and now extends the same terms to public programs. ‘Our $50 trillion housing market has a blind spot,’ said Cynthia Adams, CEO of Pearl. ‘Give someone a car’s VIN, and they can tell you its engine, its fuel type, and its mileage. Give them a home’s address, and they can tell you little more than its size and age. We built Pearl’s registry to give every home the kind of durable record cars have always had.’

Pearl builds on standards and data already trusted by the industry. Its energy model uses the physics engine behind the U.S. Department of Energy’s Home Energy Score. Pearl also collaborates with organizations like NASEO (the National Association of State Energy Officials), the National Association of REALTORS, and the Appraisal Institute. ‘It’s a deliberate strategy,’ said Robin LeBaron, Co-founder and head of Standards and Research. ‘We’re building on trusted industry standards. That’s what makes a Pearl SCORE hold up with appraisers, lenders, and state programs.’

Pearl has provided certification services to public programs since 2019, most recently to state energy offices in connection with the Home Efficiency Rebates (HER) Program, which requires third-party certification to ensure publicly funded upgrades are completed and documented. By making certification free, Pearl aims to expand the reach of its registry and ensure that efficiency investments yield long-term value for homeowners and the housing market. For more information, visit pearlscore.com.

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