I am sure the ICF crew will correct me in my theoretical response and i will follow up with a 2nd post if the response is contradictory to mine...  i would have to say this seems to be a typical reduction if your builders have been riding the same building specifications for years, the incentives will only remain the same if the improvements to the overall efficiency of the home remains equal to the market efficacies of the average home. I suspect this is why the PA’s and as an industry, we have been promoting , "Strategic Electrification" of homes going forward in attempts to both maintain a consistent incentive to the builder and reduce the over all load demands of new homes to the grid. we are entering into a new space where the incentives can no longer be the driving force to hire a HERS rater. the owness must be placed on the municipalities enforcement as well as the salesmanship of our HERS raters to sell the product and thew value added service that make it all worth while. 

great topic to possibly discuss at the 1/4ertly or not. this could easily become a pandoras box at a rater meeting… I suspect if the rater panel feels it may be a major concern with builder, rater relations in the near future, a separate letter could be drafted to discuss options and suggest a path for raters to open that discussing individually with their clients. Talking points are always valuable for new discussions...

hope this helps 

John, Yes we have discussed that exact issue at previous Rater meetings both panel and quarterly. it has been a concern of the program for some time and they have asked on multiple occasions for examples of builder how have opted out of the rebate program to go with just the heating and cooling rebates. Will D is very active in this and if you have examples please forward those on to ICF support