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What Happens If I Do Not Report Energy Benchmarking Data?
If you are the owner of a private commercial or multifamily building over 50,000 square feet, you are required to measure and report energy and water benchmarking data to the District by April 1st of each year. Failure to do so can result in fines of up to $100 per day of non-compliance.
How do I comply?
Step 1. Check the Covered Building List to determine whether your property is subject to the benchmarking law for any given year.
Step 2. Collect your data and enter it into Portfolio Manager. Consult the resources listed here if you have questions or need assistance along the way.
Step 3. Check your data for accuracy and report it to DOEE.
Done!
What should I do if I receive a Notice of Violation?
Once you have received the Notice of Violation, you have 30 calendar days to ensure that your energy and water data has been entered into Portfolio Manager and reported to DOEE. Follow the compliance steps listed above and consult the DOEE website for:
- Collecting data
- Reporting guidance
- Other assistance with benchmarking
- Or contact DOEE for assistance at [email protected] or 202-671-3300
If you believe you received the letter in error, please review the below and then contact us.
How does DOEE know if I complied?
When you submit your report to DOEE, you will receive an email confirmation from U.S. EPA confirming your submission. DOEE will get the submission in our database. As you report your properties in Portfolio Manager, DOEE will confirm via email within a few days that we have received your data. If any data errors or incomplete information is noted, DOEE may follow up to inform you that you need to make corrections to your dataset in Portfolio Manager. If you are asked to make any corrections, you will need to either justify the current submission, or make the corrections and affirmatively resubmit your report to DOEE within thirty days. After the April 1st deadline has passed, DOEE will run an analysis to compare the properties listed in the Covered Building List and the information reported in Portfolio Manager to confirm which properties have properly reported their energy and water data.
What happens if DOEE determines that I am non-compliant?
Any properties listed in the Covered Building List for a particular year for which complete energy and water data for that year has not been reported to DOEE by the April 1st deadline will be considered non-compliant. Once DOEE has determined these non-compliant properties, Notices of Violation will be sent out to the building owners for these properties. The Notice of Violation serves as a warning notice that informs the building owner that the Portfolio Manager data has not been received and provides corrective actions for coming into compliance. The building owner will then have 30 calendar days from the date of the Notice of Violation to report their energy and water data to DOEE. At the conclusion of 30 days, DOEE may issue fines of up to $100/day to any building owners that are still not in compliance.
What if I receive a warning notice or fine in error?
Reasons for receiving notices in error can include, but are not limited to:
- You have reported your data to DOEE but the report was not successfully matched with a covered tax lot, so DOEE could not process it
- Your property is actually smaller than 50,000 gross square feet, exclusive of parking space
- Your property fits one of the other exemption criteria and is not required to benchmark
- You are not the building owner for the property listed on the Notice of Violation
- Your property is listed erroneously in the property tax records
Please contact DOEE in writing at [email protected] if you fit one of the conditions above or note any other issues with the notices or fines that you have received.