All-Electric Reach Codes? Read California’s 2025 Local Energy List Carefully

02Three different things often called an “all-electric code”

The statewide Energy Code establishes Part 6 requirements. A CEC-approved local energy ordinance can exceed that baseline for its defined scope. Other local requirements can exist outside or alongside that approval list. Calling all three “the all-electric rule” makes it difficult to identify what a reviewer is actually asking for.

As checked November 6, 2026, the CEC 2025-cycle list is primarily about efficiency improvements for specified additions/alterations and mechanical-cooling changes that encourage air-source heat pumps while allowing air conditioners with additional efficiency measures. That wording should not be rewritten as a universal prohibition on all gas appliances.

This guide reports the official list and a process for asking useful questions. It does not assess ordinance legality, decide whether a separate local requirement is enforceable or tell applicants to disregard a reviewer. Ask the AHJ for the current adopted requirement and its application to the actual permit.

CEC approved local ordinances for the 2025 cycle

03Verified CEC approval register—not a local effective-date table

The rows below reproduce jurisdiction names, ordinance numbers and CEC approval dates from the linked official list. They are a source-check snapshot, not a claim that every project in those cities triggers the ordinance.

04Read the topic column before applying a headline

Corte Madera, San Rafael, Ojai and the residential Santa Cruz entry address specified single-family addition/alteration efficiency improvements. Their scope conditions are not interchangeable. Encinitas explicitly includes single-family and multifamily work in its listed topic, so a summary limited to detached houses would miss an important distinction.

Palo Alto and Menlo Park combine addition/alteration efficiency topics with an altered-cooling topic. Mountain View and Moreno Valley have the listed existing single-family altered-space-conditioning emphasis. A general renovation and an equipment alteration may therefore raise different questions even within one city.

Santa Cruz has two entries. Ordinance 2025-19 concerns residential addition/alteration efficiency, while 2025-22 concerns altered space conditioning in existing nonresidential buildings. Do not import the nonresidential cooling description into every single-family replacement request.

The altered-cooling descriptions explicitly encourage heat pumps while allowing air conditioners with additional energy-efficiency measures. Ask which documented path applies. A sales statement that “the CEC requires a heat pump everywhere” is not an accurate substitute for the source.

05A source-first decision checklist

Bring the actual requirement into the conversation before making equipment or modeling commitments. The following checklist works even when the city does not appear in this snapshot.

• +Identify the real reviewing agency for the property; a postal city is not always the permitting authority.
• +Obtain the AHJ-recorded application date and governing statewide edition. The 2025 Energy Code applies to applications on or after January 1, 2026.
• +Ask whether the city has a current applicable local requirement, and request the ordinance/citation and implementation instructions.
• +Match its scope to the project: building category, addition/alteration, affected cooling system and any other documented conditions.
• +Separate CEC approval from local effective-date and transition questions; ask how this application and any later amendment are treated.
• +Coordinate the selected path with the drawings, model inputs, installation responsibilities and required verification before finalizing documents.

06What absence from the list does—and does not—mean

San Francisco and other cities should not be added to this CEC 2025 approved table unless the official source actually lists them. A historical program page, a staff proposal or an older-cycle ordinance is not proof of inclusion in the current edition-specific list.

Absence is also not proof that a city has no local requirements of any kind. Local all-electric renovation provisions, CALGreen measures or other adopted rules may exist alongside the CEC energy reach-code process. Their current status and applicability must be confirmed with the responsible agency.

This distinction matters for both homeowners and contractors. An energy consultant should not promise that no local layer exists merely because a quick table search returns no city. Ask the reviewer for the actual source and keep unresolved legal or adoption questions with the appropriate authority and advisers.

Part 6 versus CALGreen Part 11

07Illustrative comparison: the same equipment question in different scopes

ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY: one owner alters cooling in an existing single-family home in Mountain View; another applicant alters cooling in an existing nonresidential Santa Cruz building. The CEC list identifies different jurisdiction/ordinance and building-category contexts. It does not supply a complete project-specific compliance determination.

Each applicant asks the AHJ which current local path applies to the recorded application, then supplies existing/proposed equipment and the applicable drawings. The team should not copy a residential certificate into the commercial project or assume the same measure package applies.

The useful outcome is a defined scope and a documented selection, not a slogan about electrification. If the design uses an allowed alternative with additional measures, those measures must be supported and coordinated; they cannot be omitted from the drawings because the equipment order was already placed.

Altered-cooling reach-code guide

08City references and an intake packet for the local layer

Our city pages describe service availability and useful preparation—not local offices. Use them to assemble questions and then confirm current requirements with the city. Provide the application record, existing/proposed plans, equipment schedule, any scope/valuation information actually requested by the AHJ and the written local comment.

Do not invent a local climate-zone assignment, fee, processing time or ordinance effective date to fill a form. Use the CEC exact-location map and actual agency records. Preliminary model options should be labeled provisional until the applicable local scope and final design are confirmed.

Corte MaderaEncinitasMenlo ParkMoreno ValleyMountain ViewOjaiPalo AltoSan RafaelSanta CruzClimate-zone reference limits

09Six reach-code questions

10Turn the question into a scoped documentation request

Title 24 Lab is a provisional brand for design-phase energy-document preparation. Field testing, acceptance testing, registry fees, CALGreen documentation and AHJ fees are excluded. This is educational information, not legal advice; confirm the application date, classification and requirements with the AHJ. Review the shared published pricing, then upload the current plans and identify unresolved inputs. Submission is not payment, production acceptance or permit approval.

See published residential and commercial pricingWhat to send with the plansGet a quote / upload plans privately