California Energy Commission (CEC) becoming proactive in enforcing AB 802

California Energy Commission (CEC) becoming proactive in enforcing AB 802

Published on February 26, 2022 by Charles Orr to

As of February 7th 2022, the California Energy Commission (CEC) is sending letters to property owners requesting the building owner comply with AB 802 for the years 2018-2020 by March 7th, 2022!

This comes as a surprise after years of the CEC being mostly passive. The March 7th compliance date is not realistic for many building owners, and the request for 2018 data is a stretch. Many property managers will have a hard time finding their 2018 energy-use data, and some of the utilities cannot provide data via "Data Exchange" that far in the past.

Here is the text of the letter:

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Beginning in 2018, the state of California requires owners of commercial and multi-family buildings larger then 50,000 square feet to annually submit energy usage to the California Energy Commission (CEC) by June 1 (Public Resource Code section 2540(d) and California Code of Regulations, Title 20, section 16983(a) and (b)).

The statewide building energy benchmarking program collects and publicly shares building energy information to allow building owners and occupants to compare their energy use to similar buildings and to be better informed when making choices to reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas and energy bills. As of today, our records indicate the energy usage information for the buildings listed below require submission. Program information and assistance with submitting information is found at https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/building-energy-benchmarking-progarm/gov. Please submit this information by March 7, 2022.

The CEC is authorized to enforce these requirements and may open an enforcement case if a response with the missing information is not submitted by the above date. Violations can carry a penalty of up to $2000 per day for each day the violation has existed and continues to exist.

If you have questions, please contact us at benchmarking@energy.ca.gov or 855-279-6460.

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The letter is unsigned.