Benchmarking & BPS Policy in California

Under California’s Building Energy Benchmarking Program, property owners are required to report energy benchmarking for most buildings 50,000 square feet or larger to the California Energy Commission (CEC) annually for the previous year by June 1. This is also known as the AB802 Building Energy Benchmarking Program. Compliance and building performance are publicly disclosed unless a trade secret exemption is requested and granted.

The policy covers commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet (with no residential units) and multifamily buildings (including mixed-use) with 17 or more units or residential utility accounts. The policy excludes condominiums, industrial/manufacturing, and all buildings in jurisdictions with their own CEC-approved benchmarking programs.

Helpful resources:

• Program overview page (CEC)

• Program Resources Center – contains how-to guides, fact sheets and templates, demo videos, and links utility support resources.

• FAQ

For more details, click here.

Under Berkeley’s Building Emissions Savings Ordinance (BESO), owners of buildings larger than 15,000 square feet must submit an annual energy benchmarking report. Owners of buildings 25,000 square feet or larger must additionally submit an energy assessment report conducted by a registered BESO Energy Assessor every five years (buildings with and ENERGY STAR Score of 80 or above are exempted). For smaller buildings (850 – 25,000 square feet), the ordinance requires energy assessments when buildings are listed for sale. For single-family residential (1 to 4 units), new time-of-sale requirements go into effect on January 1, 2026.

The policy covers commercial and residential buildings fitting the size threshold above and not granted an exemption. Exemptions from the benchmarking requirement are available for Industrial/lab (>50% of gross floor area); residential buildings with 5 or fewer residential utility accounts with at least one refusing data authorization; and buildings with a demonstrated trade secret exemption.

Exemptions from the Large Building Energy Assessment are available for high performing buildings, buildings with long-term tenancy under rent control, and recently-constructed or renovated buildings.

Helpful resources:

• Benchmarking program overview page (Berkeley)

• Energy Assessments for Large Buildings program page

• BESO Municipal Code

For more details, click here.  

Under Brisbane’s Building Efficiency Program (BBEP), owners of buildings 10,000 square feet and larger must report annual energy and water use and demonstrate compliance with “Beyond Benchmarking” requirements by either demonstrating that their buildings are high performing or conducting an audit and making improvements to the building. The policy also covers city-owned buildings 2,000 square feet and larger.

Commercial, industrial, and multifamily buildings that meet the size threshold are required to do annual benchmarking and comply with “Beyond” requirements. Buildings that do not qualify for the Performance Path must perform an audit in year 1, create an improvement plan by year 3, and complete actions by year 5 (deadlines differ by building type).

Beyond Benchmarking Compliance options:

1. The Performance Pathway has a variety of compliance options, including: LEED O&M certification; ENERGY STAR score above 80; efficiency improvements over the baseline year; onsite solar or battery storage meeting; and more. See Brisbane’s Compliance Guide for details.

2. The Prescriptive Pathway requires: 1) an energy or water audit by a qualified auditor; 2) conduct retro commissioning OR undergo of one of the approved improvement measures, such as weatherization, lighting upgrades, appliance electrification, greywater systems, etc. OR adopt a green lease. See the Compliance Guide for details.

   Note that energy and water can take the same or different pathways.

Helpful resources:

• Brisbane’s Building Efficiency Program page

• The city’s covered buildings list and assigned building type

• A comprehensive “How to Comply Guide” developed by the city.

For more details, click here.

Under Chula Vista’s Building Energy Saving Ordinance, properties 20,000 square feet and larger have to report energy use data annually and demonstrate high performance or conduct an ASHRAE Level 1 audit every five years beginning in 2026. Larger buildings (50,000+ square feet) are required to perform retro-commissioning every five years. Buildings with a baseline Energy Star score below 66 must undertake cost effective energy conservation measures to improve EUI 10-15% by 2031.

The policy covers commercial, residential, and city-owned buildings.

BPS Compliance targets (Starting in 2031): Every 10 years beginning in 2031, all properties must achieve a minimum level of improvement in EUI from the baseline. Improvement requirements of 10-15% are based on the ENERGY STAR score (or EUI if no ENERGY STAR score is available) in the baseline year. Buildings with an ENERGY STAR score of 66 (EUI of 19) or greater in their baseline year do not have to demonstrate any improvement.

Compliance Pathways (begins in 2026):

1. High Performance: Demonstrate high performance via one of the following: ENERGY STAR score of 80 or more or, if building type is not eligible for an Energy Star score then an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 18 or less; Energy Star certification during preceding year; LEED Existing Building Certification 3 of 5 preceding years.

2. Minimum Improvement: Demonstrate a minimum EUI improvement from the baseline year. Improvement requirements are based on the ENERGY STAR score (or EUI if no ENERGY STAR score is available) in the baseline year.

3. Energy Audits: Buildings between 20,000 – 50,000 square feet that have not met the performance requirements can comply by conducting an ASHRAE Level 1 audit every five years beginning in 2026 and submitting a report that identifies information about the energy conservation measures that can be done to improve the performance of the building.

4. Retro-commissioning: Buildings with more than 50,000 square feet of conditioned space that have not met the performance requirements can comply by conducting the Energy Audit as described above plus Retro-commissioning every five years beginning in 2026.

5. Multi-family Prescriptive Upgrades: Multifamily residential properties constructed prior to 2006 with separately metered units paid by tenants must demonstrate completion of a set number of prescriptive measures, from a list provided by the city. The number of required measures is based on the age of the building and the climate zone it is located within.

Covered buildings (Energy Audits – begins in 2026): Buildings that do not demonstrate high performance via one of the following: ENERGY STAR score of 80 or more or, if building type is not eligible for an Energy Star score then an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) score of 18 or less; Energy Star certification during preceding year; LEED Existing Building Certification 3 of 5 preceding years.

Covered buildings (Retro-Commissioning – begins in 2026): Buildings with 50,000 square feet or larger of conditioned space. Buildings are exempted if they have demonstrated high performance as described above or if they have major changes in operation in the past six months or planned during the next year.

Helpful resources:

• Chula Vista’s BESO program page

• Benchmarking Exemption orExtension Request Forms

For more details, click here.

Under the City of Los Angeles’s Existing Buildings Energy & Water Efficiency (EBEWE) Program, buildings 20,000 square feet or larger must report annual energy and water use by April 1 and conduct audits and retro-commissioning (A/RCx) every five years, unless they demonstrate high performance.

The policy applies to private buildings that are 20,000 square feet or larger and city-owned buildings 7,500 square feet or more (15k square feet for A/RCx) and covers only base building systems (no tenant subsystems or industrial applications). The policy also exempts hotels and film and television production facilities.

An Energy A/RCx is not required if:

• The building received ENERGY STAR Certification for the year of the building's compliance due date or two of the three years preceding the building's compliance due date (for buildings not eligible to receive an ENERGY STAR® score, a California licensed engineer or architect may certify that the energy performance of the building is at least 25% better than the median energy performance of similar buildings).

• A California licensed engineer or architect certifies that the building has reduced its weather normalized source energy use intensity as calculated by the benchmarking tool by 15%, when compared to five years preceding the building ’s compliance due date

• A building which does not have a central cooling system and where four of the following six measures were completed within the five-year compliance cycle being reported: common area and exterior lighting; pipe insulation; cool roof; demand response; solar thermal; domestic hot water

• The building is new and has been occupied for less than five years

A Water A/RCx is not required if:

• The building has reduced its water use intensity by at least 20% when compared to the five years preceding

• Two of the three following measures have been installed within five years of the due date: (all) low flow faucets and shower heads; washing machines; (all) water closets and urinals;

• The building ’s water use conforms to the requirements of the Los Angeles Municipal Code and the California Building Standards Code (California Code of Regulations, Title 24) in effect at any time during the five-year compliance cycle

• The building has been occupied for less than 5 years

Helpful resources:

• The city’s EBWEBE program page.

• LADWP’s Building Benchmarking page

• Retrofit.LA EBEWE Resource Center

For more details, click here.

Under San Diego’s Building Energy Benchmarking policy, benchmarking requirements are very similar to the state’s. Most commercial and residential buildings over 50,000 square feet in size must report energy use to the city annually.

Helpful resources:

• The Planning Department’s benchmarking program page.

• The BEAM help desk for San Diego contains a detailed explanation of the policy and a list of Benchmarking Resources

• Recorded benchmarking webinars

• Covered Buildings List

For more details, click here.

Under San Francisco’s Existing Buildings Energy Ordinance, non-residential buildings with 10,000 square feet or more of conditioned space are required to submit annual benchmarking and conduct energy audits every five years or develop a strategic decarbonization assessment. The largest commercial buildings are also required to obtain all electricity from renewable sources by subscribing to a qualifying service. Multifamily buildings with 50,000 square feet or more of conditioned space are required to conduct annual benchmarking.

Privately-owned commercial buildings 10,000 to 49,999 square feet in size are required to perform an ASHRAE Level I or above energy audit, while commercial buildings 50,000 square feet and larger are required to perform an ASHRAE Level II audit.

Commercial buildings 250,000 square feet and larger are additionally subject to the 100% renewable energy requirement. Buildings between 50,000 and 250,000 square feet need to comply by December 31, 2030.

Helpful resources:

• San Francisco’s Existing Buildings Energy Ordinance program page

For more details, click here.

Under San José’s Energy and Water Building Performance Ordinance (BPO), owners of nonresidential and multifamily buildings that are at least 20,000 square feet or larger much report energy and water use annually. Under the city’s Beyond Benchmarking program, buildings are also required to meet energy and water efficiency standards on a rolling five-year basis, or perform improvements. Beyond Benchmarking compliance timelines are assigned based on the overall Gross Floor Area (GFA) and ending Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN) of the covered building, and listed in the city’s Covered Buildings List. The first year of Beyond Benchmarking implementation was 2023.

The policy covers privately-owned nonresidential and multifamily buildings. Buildings with industrial zoning, or in which more than half of the gross floor area is used for scientific experiments requiring controlled environments, or for manufacturing or industrial purposes, are eligible for a permanent exemption from the ordinance.

Beyond Benchmarking Compliance Pathways:

Note that a property can take the same or different pathways for energy and water.

• Performance Pathway (Energy): The building has achieved one or more of the following standards for at least two of the three calendar years preceding it’s Beyond Benchmarking deadline, as verified by a properly licensed professional:

  • LEED™ Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance Certification

  • An ENERGY STAR Score of 75 or greater

  • Has improved its ENERGY STAR Score by fifteen points or more relative to its performance during the baseline year

  • Has a weather normalized site Energy Use Intensity as calculated by the ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® that is twenty-five percent (25%) below the calculated mean for that property type

  • Has reduced its weather normalized site Energy Use Intensity by at least fifteen percent (15%) relative to its performance during the baseline year.

• Performance Pathway (Water): The building has achieved one or more of the following standards for at least two of the three calendar years preceding it’s Beyond Benchmarking deadline:

  • Has a Water Use Intensity that is 25% below the locally calculated mean for that property type

  • Has reduced its Water Use Intensity by at least 15% relative to its performance during the baseline year

  • (Multifamily Only) Has received a US EPA Water Score of 75 from the US EPA

  • (Multifamily Only) Has improved its US EPA Water Score by fifteen points or more relative to its performance during the baseline year.

• Improvement Pathway: Implement one of three actions for each unmet standard, and submit a corresponding report authored by a licensed professional:

  • Audit conducted by a Qualified Auditor

  • Retro-commissioning (RCx) conducted by a Qualified Retro-commissioning Professional

  • Two Targeted Efficiency Improvement Measures, selected from a pre-approved list. Each action must have been completed no earlier than five years prior to the building’s Beyond Benchmarking deadline. At a minimum, the action must be planned, and a service provider selected, by the building’s Beyond Benchmarking deadline.

Helpful resources:

• San José’s BPO Benchmarking program page includes an overview of the policy, the Covered Buildings List, and a Benchmarking FAQ.

• San José’s Beyond Benchmarking program page includes an overview of the policy, and a helpful Beyond Benchmarking FAQ.

• San José also maintains a List of Qualified Service Providers that are qualified to perform performance verification, ASHRAE Level II energy audits and/or retro-commissioning for compliance with the Beyond Benchmarking Ordinance. The city makes no representations about the providers on the list, and property owners may also use non-listed providers that meets the qualifications required by the Ordinance.

For more details, click here.

West Hollywood adopted an Equitable Building Performance Standards ordinance aimed at improving energy performance and reducing GHG emissions in existing buildings 20,000 square feet or larger on December 1, 2025. Building owners will need to benchmark from 2026 and meet escalating performance milestones—either through upfront compliance or through structured retrofit plans—culminating in an 80% emission reduction target by 2035. Interim performance targets begin in 2027 (reporting deadline in 2028) and every four years thereafter.

Residential condominiums are exempt from performance targets.

Many details, including the metrics (energy use and/or greenhouse gas emissions) and alternative compliance mechanisms would be ironed out in a rule-making process.