Your Title 24 energy model may have run on expired software

Here's a failure mode that has nothing to do with your R-values, your glazing, or your HVAC sizing: the energy model is right, and the submittal still bounces. Not because the numbers are wrong — because the software that produced them was no longer approved on the day the permit application went in.

If you run Title 24 energy compliance, this one is worth four minutes.

The date that decides the code — and the software

California doesn't ask when you designed the building or when you'll break ground. It asks when the permit application was filed.

The 2025 California Energy Code (Title 24, Part 6) took effect January 1, 2026. Its own scope section ties applicability directly to that filing date.

Verified against 2025 California Energy Code §100.0(a): Part 6 applies to buildings "for which an application for a building permit or renewal of an existing permit is filed (or is required by law to be filed) on or after the effective date of the provisions."

That's the same permit-application-date rule that governs the rest of Title 24 — your permit application date decides which edition applies. For energy, the Energy Commission says it plainly: permit applications made on or after January 1, 2026 must use approved 2025 compliance software.

"Approved" includes the version number

Here's the thing: the performance path doesn't just require the right code cycle. It requires software the Energy Commission has actually approved. Compliance software is only valid when it's approved under California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 1, §10-109 — and those approvals carry version numbers and expiration dates.

That last part is the trap. Versions roll, and older ones stop being valid for new permit applications.

CBECC 2025.1.0 — the first approved 2025-cycle release — was approved June 11, 2025 and expired January 6, 2026. The Energy Commission's approval schedule is explicit: a listed version is "valid for new permit applications through end of listed date." After that, it is not an approved tool for a new application.

Verified against the CEC "2025 Energy Code Compliance Software Approval and Expiration Dates" document (rev. 04/14/26): CBECC 2025.1.0 approved 6/11/25, expiration 1/6/26; CBECC-Res 2025.1.0 the same.

Notice how narrow that window was. The 2025 code turned on January 1, 2026; CBECC 2025.1.0 aged out on January 6. A report generated on 2025.1.0 was only good for permit applications filed in that first six-day sliver of the new cycle.

How a good model lands dead on arrival

Picture the ordinary case. An energy consultant runs the CF1R — the Certificate of Compliance — in the fall on the version that was current then, 2025.1.0. The project sits in design through the holidays. The application finally reaches the counter in February. The model is fine. The version that produced it is not — it expired weeks earlier — and a plan checker doing energy intake can flag it on that ground alone.

So this isn't about running the model "late." It's about which software version is approved as of your application date. A report from an expired version is a report from a tool that is no longer authorized for a new application.

What to check before you submit

• Open the compliance report and find the software name and version. The Certificate of Compliance identifies the program that produced it.
• Confirm that version is currently approved. As of July 2026 the currently approved CBECC releases are all in the 2025.2.x line, and CBECC 2025.1.0 is expired. New point releases get added over time, so confirm the exact set against the Energy Commission's live list rather than any single number here.
• Check the live list on the day you file. Version numbers and expiration dates move; the Energy Commission's approved-software page is the source of truth. Don't trust a number in a blog post — trust theirs.
• Re-run stale models on a current approved release before filing. If a report was generated months ago, regenerating it on the current version is cheap insurance.
• When your filing date is close to a cycle boundary, confirm with your local jurisdiction what they treat as the application date and which versions they'll accept. This isn't legal advice — it's a nudge to check before the counter does.

What CrossBeam does with it

CrossBeam reads the energy compliance documents in a submittal against the code cycle the permit application date actually triggers — including whether the software version that produced the report is one still approved for that filing. It surfaces an expired-version report at intake, so a correct model doesn't get held up over a stale tool.