This March, the California Energy Commission (CEC) promulgated regulations implementing the energy “benchmarking” requirements of AB802 (2015).  Subject to limited exceptions, owners of commercial buildings 50,000 square feet or larger must submit building energy use data to the CEC.  The owner must submit the data using an ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager account.  Data for 2018 will not be made public, but data for 2019 and thereafter will be publicly available.

While some building owners may be in a position to timely provide the data the regulations require, many will not.  Compliance challenges are:

• the short time between promulgation of the regulations and the submittal deadline,
• the novelty of what the CEC is requiring;
• the need to coordinate among building owners, building occupants (where not the owners), utilities, and others;
• the relative lack of publicity these regulations received compared to, for example, the CEC’s new solar rooftops regulations; and
• the sheer number of buildings covered by the regulations.

In light of these concerns, we anticipate significant compliance challenges for many building owners.  Should you have questions regarding the building benchmarking requirements of AB802 and related CEC regulations, please contact Todd Edmister.

References:

• The CEC building benchmarking regulations
• Full bill text for AB 802