Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is Vermont's largest city, with a population of over 44,000 residents. The Burlington Electric Department (BED), Vermont’s largest municipally-owned electric utility, serves all of Burlington and has delivered innovative energy efficiency programs for nearly 30 years. In 2014, Burlington became the first city in the country to source 100% of its electricity from renewable sources and has committed to a goal of achieving Net Zero Energy by 2030.
Burlington Programs, Policies, and Strategies
Burlington has been a leader in innovative building decarbonization policies. To support Burlington’s program and policy development efforts, BEI has partnered with the City since 2017 and has developed foundational research, including an assessment of cold-climate policies, existing building policies, and a customer economics analysis for new construction typical to the region. This work has underpinned Burlington’s long-term building decarbonization strategy and recent policies.
In 2021, Burlington enacted the Thermal Energy Charter Change, approved by both Burlington voters and the state legislature, enabling the City to develop policies and fees to reduce fossil fuel use in buildings. Using this ability, Burlington enacted the Carbon Pollution Impact Fee (“Carbon Fee”) in late 2023, which requires all newly constructed buildings, existing commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet, and municipal buildings to install equipment powered by renewable energy, which includes local electricity, at the time of system replacement or pay a fee based on the lifetime emissions of the fossil fuel-powered equipment. A portion of the revenue from the Carbon Fee helps fund programs for under-resourced buildings, supporting an equitable transition away from fossil fuels in Burlington. In 2025, BEI supported Burlington as it began exploration of a building performance standard to require decarbonization planning and energy performance improvements for large and mid-sized commercial buildings.
Burlington also has been a national leader in implementing clean heating programs. In 2017, Burlington became one of the first cities in the country to launch a cold-climate heat pump rebate program, including enhanced incentives for low- and middle-income customers and coordination with complementary weatherization programs. BED has continued to expand the incentive program, and as of December 2025, BED has supported the installation of over 3,200 residential heat pump systems across Burlington.
Statewide Programs, Policies, and Strategies
Since 2023, BEI has collaborated with statewide partners in Vermont to build on Burlington’s progress and advance equitable building decarbonization initiatives across the state. This included collaborating with partners to develop a suite of equitable design and implementation recommendations for the Vermont Affordable Heat Act, which is one of the first statewide clean heat standards proposed in the country. Although the Vermont Affordable Heat Act has not moved forward due to changing political dynamics in the state, these recommendations will help inform the development of future market-based electrification policies in Vermont and other states across the U.S.
BEI is also committed to advancing Thermal Energy Networks (TENs) as an equitable building electrification solution in Vermont, partnering closely with the statewide nonprofit Vermont Community Thermal Networks and VGS, Vermont’s investor-owned gas utility that is committed to transitioning to clean energy. In 2025, BEI and several partners released a report, Thermal Energy Networks as Key Infrastructure in Vermont, examining the positive impact TENs can have on electric grid efficiency and energy affordability. BEI expanded on these efforts in 2026, releasing Equitable Building Electrification with Thermal Energy Networks (TENs), which includes planning recommendations and case studies to show how TENs can serve as a replicable model for transitioning away from fossil fuel utility infrastructure and increasing energy democracy.
By combining innovative municipal programs and statewide partnerships, Vermont and its largest city, Burlington, are creating a comprehensive framework to spearhead the utility transition toward building decarbonization and ensure no residents are left behind in achieving ambitious climate goals.