Building Energy Benchmarking Program

Program Overview

Assembly Bill 802 (Williams, 2015) directed the California Energy Commission to create a statewide building energy use benchmarking and public disclosure program for buildings larger than 50,000 square feet. The Commission's regulations require building owners to report building characteristic information and energy use data to the Commission by June 1 annually, beginning in 2018 for buildings with no residential utility accounts, and in 2019 for buildings with 17 or more residential utility accounts. Building owners will complete their reporting using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, a free online tool provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Assembly Bill 802 also requires, effective January 1, 2017, that energy utilities provide building-level energy use data to building owners, owners' agents, and operators upon request for buildings with no residential utility accounts and for buildings with five or more utility accounts.