Los Angeles EBEWE Frequently Asked Questions

• Total water usage
• Total electrical usage
• Total gas usage
• Energy generated by on-site solar panels (where are not part of an electrical bill)

The condominium homeowner’s association is responsible for benchmarking the building(s).

The building ID is a unique identifier assigned by the Los Angeles Department of Building Services to identify each building. The Benchmark Report must contain the Building ID.

Building IDs are provided in the Ordinance notification letter from LADBS. If you did not receive your notification letter listing your Building ID, you may look up the ID in the Building Information Online system (BIO).

Yes, the LADBS charges an annual registration fee of $64 per building.

Each building must be benchmarked separately using the associated Building ID, provided it meets the minimum footage requirements for reporting.  Each “building” must pay a registration fee.

The following buildings are exempted:

• Single-family homes, duplexes, residential hotels, sound stages and other TV and film production facilities.
• Hospitals Regulated by OSHPD
• Owned by the State or Federal Government
• Vacant for entire year, with no Certificate of Occupancy
• Vacant for a year due to renovation
• Demolition permit issued
• No energy or water service for entire year

• Summary statistics on overall compliance
• Summary statistics on overall energy and water consumption of buildings subject to the EBEWE Ordinance derived from aggregation of annual benchmarking reports; and
• Building address and property use type;
• The Energy Star® Portfolio Manager Energy Star score for the building, where available;
• The weather-normalized site and source energy use intensity (EUI) per unit area per year (kBTU per square foot per year) for the building;
• The site and source energy use intensity (EUI) per unit area per year (kBTU per square foot per year) for the building;
• The annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions due to energy use for the building as estimated by ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager;
• Indoor water use, indoor water intensity, outdoor water use (when available), and total water use; and
• The status of compliance with the requirements of the EBEWE ordinance.

The Department of Building and Safety has an 82-page instruction guide for sending benchmark data.  Basically the steps are as follows:

• Register your Building with LADBS
• Create an ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager account
• Add your property to Portfolio Manager by creating a Property Profile
• Add property details to Portfolio Manager
• Add utility meters to Portfolio Manager
• Manually upload your utility data to your Property Profile OR
• Request building energy use data from your utilities- this will require:
  • Proof of Ownership – an electronic copy of the current deed, title report or property tax statement
  • Building information – address, square footage, and Assessor’s Parcel Number
  • Tenant Consent form (to release tenant utility data) when:
  • Building has fewer than 3 commercial active utility accounts (per energy type)
  • Building has fewer than 5 active utility accounts and at least one of which is residential
  • A list of utility meters in the building
• Exchange the energy use data in Portfolio Manager with the utilities
• Run “data quality checker” to ensure that you have sufficient data downloaded from the utilities
• Generate a Response Preview in Portfolio Manager
• Respond to the Data Request to submit your data to the LADBS

Registering with LADBS, processing the payment, creating a Portfolio Manager account, adding your building and meter data is a multi-step process where you will need to wait for a response from the utilities. It cannot be done in one sitting, even when you have all your data at your fingertips.  You should likely budget 6-8 hours of data entry time over a two-day (minimum) period if you are not proficient with Portfolio Manager.  The Portfolio Manager software is a helpful tool, but it is not particularly user-friendly.  The step-by-step Benchmarking Guide provided by LA Energy and Water Efficiency Resource Center is 82 pages in length.  This may give you a clue as to the process required.

Contact Pegasus Energy Solutions. We have been using the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager for over 5 years and have generated hundreds of Energy Benchmark Report for clients throughout the state. Our experienced professionals can simplify the process and save you valuable time.

Call Chuck at 415-497-3090 or visit: https://www.ladbs.org/docs/def...