Washington (DC)

Clean and Affordable Energy Act of 2008 (CAEA). Subsequently, the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018 broadened these requirements to encompass smaller buildings and introduced data verification stipulations.

Compliance Obligations

Under these mandates, building owners must monitor the energy and water usage of their building(s) using the US EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager and submit the data to the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) annually. The reporting deadline is April 1st of each year for the preceding calendar year’s energy and water consumption. Additionally, building owners are mandated to have their benchmarking data verified by a third party every three years, commencing in 2024 (with the calendar year 2023 data).

Applicable Entities

Privately owned commercial and multifamily buildings exceeding 25,000 gross square feet are compelled to measure and report energy and water benchmarking data to the District annually by April 1st. Furthermore, starting with the calendar year 2024 data (due April 1, 2025), all privately-owned buildings exceeding 10,000 square feet will be subject to benchmarking requirements.

Submission Deadlines

Benchmarking reports must be submitted by April 1st of each year for the previous calendar year’s energy and water consumption. For instance, energy and water consumption data tracked in Portfolio Manager for calendar year 2021 is due by April 1, 2022.

Reporting Procedures

Building owners are obligated to report their energy usage data to EPA’s Portfolio Manager platform to ensure compliance.

Penalty Structure

Initial non-compliance is addressed with a free 30-day notice period. Following this, fines of $100 per day are imposed until rectification is achieved. This penalty structure is implemented to reinforce compliance with regulatory requirements and promote timely adherence to benchmarking obligations.