CBPS Incentives

The Early Adopter Incentive program provides incentives to building owners who demonstrate early compliance with the Clean Buildings Performance Standard (CBPS).

The Tier 1 Early Adopter Incentive Program is available now and applies to non-residential, hotel, motel and dormitory buildings greater than 50,000 ft². An eligible building owner that demonstrates early compliance with the Clean Buildings Performance Standard may receive a one-time base incentive payment. Incentive funds are limited to $75 million. Reference RCW 19.27A.220 the state energy performance standard for more information.

The Tier 2 Early Adopter Incentive Program is available now and covers buildings 20,000 – 50,000 ft², including multifamily residential buildings over 20,000 ft². The program offers an incentive to owners who benchmark their buildings’ energy usage, develop an energy management plan, and create an operations and maintenance program. $150 million is earmarked for Tier 2 incentives.

Tier 1 Incentive Program

Eligibility

• The building must be a Tier 1 or multifamily building over 50,000 sq. ft.
• The building must be served by at least one electric utility, gas company or thermal energy company providing or delivering energy services. Review the list of participating utilities.
  • This is a state incentive and can be administered in addition to utility conservation incentives.
  • Utility providers who do not pay public utility taxes are not eligible to participate in the Early Adopter Incentive program.
• The building must be 15 energy use intensity (EUI) or more above the target
• The building must be brought into full compliance with the Clean Buildings Performance Standard, and meet its energy use intensity target (EUIt). 

Download the Tier 1 Early Adopter Incentive Guidebook (PDF).

At the start of the program, an eligible building owner who demonstrates early compliance with the Clean Buildings Standard may receive a one-time base incentive payment of $.85 per sq. ft, excluding parking, unconditioned or semi-conditioned spaces. This amount has increased to $2.00 per sq. ft. plus $0.05 per kBTU of energy saved over 15 EUI. The new incentive calculation is limited at 50% of the cost of energy efficiency measures being implemented from the energy audit. Current approved applicants can select the calculation that works best for their project. This table shows a comparison on the calculation of the new incentive amount and old incentive amount.

Sample Tier 1 Incentive program calculations

• The incentive is capped at 50% of the total cost of implemented energy efficiency measures. In the example above, the total project cost exceeded $625,000, so the incentive was not reduced.

Tier 2 Incentive Program

The Tier 2 Early Adopter Incentive Program, which launched on July 1, 2025, covers buildings between 20,000 – 50,001 sq ft, including multifamily residential buildings over 20,000 sq ft.   A total of $150 million has been allocated for Tier 2 incentives, with Commerce partnering with Washington State utilities to pay these incentives to building owners. Commerce will review and approve compliance and incentive applications, and the incentive will be paid by the building’s utility provider on a first-come, first-served basis. Click on the link to view the list of participating utilities. There will be a simple application process through the Clean Buildings Portal, so comply and apply early to ensure funding is available. 

The program offers a base incentive of $0.30/sq ft to building owners who benchmark their buildings’ energy use, identify an energy use intensity target (EUIt), as well as develop and implement an energy management plan and operations and maintenance program. It is important to note that Tier 2 buildings are not required to meet a performance metric (EUIt) at this time, only to identify an EUIt. Multifamily building owners willing to sign an Anti-Displacement Agreement may be eligible for an enhanced incentive amount of $.75/sq. ft. The enhanced incentives qualifications may be expanding within the next few months. Provide your email in the subscribe box on this page to receive the latest incentive updates. 

Reference RCW 19.27A.220 to view the legislation that created this program. Please refer to the webpage CBPS Tier 2 compliance for more compliance information. Mandatory compliance and the full glossary of term and forms are located in the Clean Buildings Performance Standard integrated document.

Tier 2 Incentive Guidebook

The Tier 2 Early Adopter Incentive Guidebook is essential reading as it provides all processes and requirements for applying to the Tier 2 Incentive Program.  This guidebook does not cover all elements of the Clean Buildings Performance Standard that are otherwise covered by law or rule. Download the Tier 2 Early Adopter Incentive program guidebook.

Please contact the Incentives team if you are interested in becoming a participating utility. CBPSIncentives@commerce.wa.gov.

Clean building performance grants

The Clean Building Performance Grants Program provide competitive funding for energy efficiency improvements in private and public buildings. Clean Building Performance Grants cut energy costs, reduce pollution, and create jobs in communities across the state. These grants support Tier 1 covered buildings and Tier 1 and Tier 2 covered Public Buildings with compliance with the Clean Building Performance Standard (CBPS).

Energy audits for publicly owned buildings

The Energy Audit Incentive for Public Buildings program has awarded $14.5 million to help publicly owned buildings cover the costs of energy audits necessary for compliance with the Clean Buildings Performance Standard (CBPS) and the Early Adopter Incentive (EAI) Program. Please note that the program has closed; however, be sure to check back for future funding opportunities.

Resources

Office hours

A dedicated space outside of our scheduled trainings and workshops to connect with our Clean Buildings staff, ask questions, talk through scenarios and more. “Office Hours” are held on the 4th Tuesday of every month from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. PT.

• Register to attend a CBPS Office Hour Session (on Zoom)