AB-802 Compliance

Building Energy Use Benchmarking

Tools for applicable PWP commercial customers to benchmark their building energy usage and comply with Assembly Bill 802 (AB 802)

What is Benchmarking?

To benchmark the energy use of a building means to obtain information on the energy use in an entire building for a specific period in order to track or compare against other buildings.

When building owners enter energy use information for a building into a measurement and tracking tool, such as Portfolio Manager® developed by the U.S. EPA through the ENERGY STAR® program, building owners can learn how the energy performance of their building compares to other similar buildings. Metrics generated by Portfolio Manager® can help inform building owner decisions regarding energy efficiency improvements and retrofits.

What is AB 802?

AB 802 requires property owners with "covered buildings" that are 50,000 square feet or larger to disclose energy usage information to the California Energy Commission (CEC). PWP will provide the required information within 30 days of receipt of the Building Energy Use & Public Disclosure Program form.

The bill establishes a statewide building energy use benchmarking and public disclosure program. The legislation requires utilities to provide energy use data to the building owner or owner’s agent upon request, and requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to establish a benchmarking and public disclosure program.

Aggregated, whole-building data will be available to building owners of a “covered building” that is 50,000 square feet or larger under AB 802. Under the law, building owners (or authorized agents) are allowed to obtain the total energy use data (across all tenants) for their building, in most cases without obtaining authorization from their tenants. Individual, tenant-specific meter data is available to building owner who secure individual consent and authorization from each tenant in the building.

CEC Building Energy Use Benchmarking Program

The CEC is directed by AB 802 to establish a statewide building energy use benchmarking and public disclosure program. The agency developed regulations that govern how utilities provide energy use data to building owners, as well the information on building energy use that building owners will be required to disclose publicly.

A “Covered Building” is defined as “any structure used or intended to support or shelter any use or occupancy, other than a condominium development, meeting either or both of the following:

1. Receiving energy from a utility, with no residential utility accounts.
2. Having five or more active utility accounts of any one energy type, at least one of which is residential.

More information on CEC benchmarking regulations and programs is available here.

Getting Started with ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager

The first step to benchmarking a building is to create an account in Portfolio Manager, an online tool for measuring and tracking building energy and water consumption.

• Print the Portfolio Manager quick start guide for a handy, at-a-glance guide to the basic steps of using Portfolio Manager.
• Use the data collection worksheet to find out the data needed to benchmark a property in Portfolio Manager.
• Visit the training section for Portfolio Manager how-to guides, short videos, and live and recorded training sessions.

More information on the Portfolio Manager is available here.