HB379:

Energy benchmarking; access to data on energy usage in certain buildings, civil penalty.

Bill Summary:

Energy benchmarking; access to data on energy
usage in certain buildings; civil penalty. Authorizes a locality
to adopt an ordinance requiring utilities, upon request by the owner
of a covered building, defined in the bill as any building with one
or more utility accounts and a gross floor area of not less than
30,000 square feet, to provide the owner with aggregated measured
energy usage data for multiple utility accounts of customers receiving
service in the covered building. The bill makes such energy benchmarking
mandatory for a covered building with three or more active utility
accounts in which no single utility account amounts to at least
85 percent of the aggregated energy usage and optional for other
covered buildings. The bill provides that the building owner shall
only provide aggregated data received via the benchmarking tool
subject to ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager guidelines unless the Department
of Energy gives other guidelines. Violators of the ordinance are
subject to a civil penalty of not more than $2,500 to be paid into
the state treasury for the general fund. The bill requires the Department
to develop uniform guidelines for energy benchmarking with input
from stakeholders, with such guidelines finalized no later than December
1, 2022.