AB 802 California's Benchmarking Law

CEC Link to AB 802

EnergyStar Benchmarking Now Required for California Buildings

Benchmarking can help building owners and managers understand if operating expenses are out of line for their buildings. EPA’s EnergyStar Benchmarking platform can help assess your building, or portfolio of buildings, to understand where operating expenses can be trimmed. Oftentimes cost reductions can be achieved with low cost or operational changes.

By June 1, 2019, all commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet, and multi-tenant buildings with 17 or more units, must submit an EnergyStar Benchmark to the California Energy Commission (CEC). The benchmark is a relatively straight forward process if you have access to your utility data (many utilities can provide a direct feed to EnergyStar for continued updating). The EnergyStar Benchmark will produce a score from 0 to 100, from least efficient to most efficient, for each building. The score compares your building with other similarly sized buildings from similar sector(s).

Failure to comply could result in fines. The CEC has stated that “The Energy Commission has the authority to issue fines for noncompliance,” though they have not disclosed specific fines. Other municipal benchmarking ordinances state they assess fines of $2,000 or more. Compliance is relatively straight forward and shouldn’t take more than a few hours. Have any questions about AB 802 compliance or need help complying? Contact us at compliance@quest-world.com.

QuEST and EnergyStar Benchmarking

QuEST consistently ranks in the Top 50 on the US Department of Energy’s Most Active Energy Star Service and Product Providers List. Using the Environmental Protection Agency’s EnergyStar Portfolio Manager, QuEST staff has benchmarked the energy performance of over 600 buildings in 20 cities. QuEST has interacted extensively with city staff and business owners, and leveraged partnerships with a major Investor Owned Utility and local nonprofit groups to reach such a milestone in this ongoing initiative. Our follow-through includes benchmarking training workshops to help clients determine next steps based on the benchmarking data received.