San Jose Building Performance Ordinance (BPO) Frequently Asked Questions

Exemptions include:

• Buildings owned by the State or Federal government
• Buildings zoned as heavy or light industrial
• Condominiums and individually-owned townhomes
• Financial distress - specific conditions must apply such as:
  • Building is on the City’s annual tax lien sales within the prior two years
  • Building has a court appointed receiver in control of assets due to financial distress
  • Building is owned by financial institution via default by borrower
  • Building has been acquired by a deed in lieu of foreclosure
  • Building has a senior mortgage subject to notice of default
• Building Use/Occupancy
  • Building did not receive energy or water services for at least 30 days during the calendar year to be benchmarked
  • The building did not have a Certificate of Occupancy for Temporary Certificate of Occupancy for any portion of the calendar year to be benchmarked
  • The entire building was not occupied due to renovation for any portion of the calendar year to be benchmarked
  • A demolition permit for the entire building has been issues and demolition work has commenced on or before the data benchmarking compliance deadline
  • The disclosure of the building energy or water use would result in the release of proprietary information that can be characterized as a trade secret or would otherwise violate a customer’s right to privacy under the California Constitution or other applicable law

To apply for an exemption, complete the form at sanjoseca.gov/benchmarking and submit to benchmarking@sanjoseca.gov.

Yes, buildings may be granted an extension of time up to 60 days. An additional extension of up to 180 days may be granted upon demonstration of a substantial hardship. To apply for an extension complete the form at www.sanjoseca.gov/benchmarking.

The ordinance applies to “buildings” not “properties”. So, if no one building exceeds 20,000 square feet the ordinance is not applicable. However, there is one important exception. If two or more buildings share a common meter (with no submeter) such that the energy or water use for a single building cannot be determined, then the square footage of the buildings sharing that meter are summed to arrive at the 20,000 square foot requirement. For example, if a 9000 square foot building and an 11,000 square foot building share a common meter, then the two buildings must be benchmarked as one.

In 2021, building 50,000 square feet and over: and in 2022, buildings 20,000 square feet and over will have “additional” requirements every five years:

• Buildings must verify that they meet key performance standards through their annual benchmark reports, by submitting a Performance Verification Report
• If a building is not able to meet the energy or water standards, they must perform an audit, retuning, or completed targeted efficiency upgrades to improve performance,

Proof of compliance must be submitted once every five years on May 1^st. The schedule is based upon the last digit of your building tax assessor parcel number.

A. The Property is new and has been occupied for less than five (5) years from its first compliance due date, based on its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy or Certificate of Occupancy; or

B. The Property has achieved one (1) or more of the Energy standards and one (1) or more of the water standards as set forth below for at least two (2) of the three (3) calendar years preceding the Property's compliance due date in Part 5:

• Energy Standards: The Property has a current Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance v4 Certification; or a California licensed engineer or architect, or Qualified Auditor or Retro-Commissioning Professional certified at least at least one (1) of the following:
  • The Property has received an ENERGY STAR® Score of 75 or greater from the US EPA; or
  • The Property has improved its ENERGY STAR® Score by fifteen (15) points or more relative to its performance during the baseline year; or
  • The Property has a weather normalized source Energy Use Intensity as calculated by the Benchmarking Tool that is twenty-five percent (25%) below the calculated mean for that property type; or
  • The Property has reduced its weather normalized source Energy Use Intensity by at least fifteen percent (15%) relative to its performance during the baseline year.=
• Water Standards: A California licensed engineer or architect, or Qualified Auditor or Retro-Commissioning Professional certified at least one (1) of the following:
  • The building has received a US EPA Water Score of 75 from the US EPA;
  • The Property has improved its US EPA Water Score by fifteen (15) points or more relative to its performance during the baseline year;
  • The Property has a Water Use Intensity as calculated by the Benchmarking Tool that is twenty-five percent (25%) below the locally calculated mean for that property type; or
  • The Property has reduced its Water Use Intensity by at least fifteen percent (15%) relative to its performance during the baseline year.
• If a Property has achieved both Energy and water standards, the Owner is only required to submit a Performance Verification Report for that reporting year. If the Property only meets one (1) of the standards, the Owner shall submit a Performance Verification Report for the satisfactory standard and shall comply with this Chapter by completing one (1) of three (3) improvement pathway options for the unmet standard.

• Buildings under 50,000 square feet may be fined $25 for each day of non-compliance, up to $2500 per calendar year.
• Buildings 50,000 square feet and over may be fined $50 for each day of non-compliance, up to $5000 per calendar year.

The instructions may be labeled as simple, however the EPA ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager software is anything but “user friendly” or easy to use. There is a rather long and steep learning curve exemplified by PG&E’s 35-page instruction manual (or Los Angeles’ benchmarking manual is 84 pages).

Most building owner’s find that is it not the most efficient use of their or their employees time to learn the software for an annual report. That’s where we come in. Pegasus has been preparing energy benchmark reports since 2012. We have made the process as simple as possible. You give us some basic information about your building - and we do the work! Give us a call at 415-937-5046.

The ordinance requires the audit to be certified by a California licensed engineer or architect, or Qualified Auditor or Retro-Commissioning Professional. If you have such talent in-house with the right skill set, you may have your licenses professional sign-off on the audit report. If you do not have that talent in-house or have a better use of their time, Pegasus can conduct your energy and water audit.