As a manager, resident, or service provider for a multifamily building, you are receiving this communication because you may have recently received a letter from the NJ Board of Public Utilities, stating that your building is required to benchmark its energy consumption for the 2022 calendar year. Recently the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has been sending notifications to buildings on their Covered Buildings List that was released on July 1st of 2023. Buildings included on this list, or buildings that receive notification in writing, may be required to complete the benchmarking process for 2023, unless certain exceptions are met. If you have received a letter, please ensure you keep an electronic and physical copy of the letter, as it contains critical information required to proceed with NJ’s benchmarking requirements, including a unique building ID required to be used when bringing your property into compliance.
Over the course of the last week, Falcon has received many phone calls and requests for assistance and clarification from our multifamily client base throughout the state of New Jersey. As a trusted advisor, property managers, board members, and residents have reached out to us to seek direction, and some may be surprised to learn that their communities may now be required to benchmark the energy consumption of their buildings located throughout the state of New Jersey, if the building’s square footage meets or exceeds 25,000 SF. We wanted to provide some background on the latest energy benchmarking requirements in the State of New Jersey which may apply to your community.
What is the New Energy Benchmarking Requirement in NJ?
The 2018 NJ Clean Energy Act requires that all commercial buildings ≥ 25,000 Square Feet complete annual benchmarking of their building or campus’s Energy and Water Consumption on an annual basis, beginning in 2023, for the prior calendar year (2022).
Under the 2018 NJ Clean Energy Act, NJBPU defines a commercial building as “a building with a tax assessment classification of Class 4A (Commercial) and Class 4C (Residential)”. “In addition, “commercial” is determined by your building’s property tax assessment business class – Class 4A Commercial and Class 4C Apartments are the covered classes currently required to benchmark their 2022 annual energy consumption by October 1, 2023.
What is Energy Benchmarking?
Benchmarking is a process where the energy performance of a building or a campus of buildings is input into the US EPA Portfolio Manager tool.
Aggregate electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, propane, water and sewer consumption, and green power are sources of energy whose monthly or annual utility consumption is entered into the EPA Portfolio Manager tool.
EPA’s Portfolio Manager tool analyzes the energy consumption of your property by calendar year, compares your building’s type, size, geographical location, and age against buildings with similar characteristics, and provides an energy performance rating for the building on a scale of 1 to 100 – 1 being the lowest performing, and 100 being the highest performing. For most building types, including multifamily buildings and communities, the building is eligible to proceed with Energy Star Certification if the building or property earns a score of 75 or higher from the EPA.
By benchmarking and tracking the building performance over time, you can start to understand how to save on operational costs, attract tenants and owners, and increase the overall property value of the building long-term. This process of rating the building’s energy performance can help property managers, community associations and residents in identifying the energy performance metrics of the building, and enables your community to begin the process of making improvements to reduce energy and water consumption.
I received a notice in the mail that my community is required to benchmark. What does this mean?
2023 is the first year that this requirement takes effect with a deadline of October 1st for completing this process.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has mandated that commercial buildings ≥25,000 SF benchmark the energy consumption of the building on an annual basis, with the first required benchmarking deadline of October 1, 2023 for the 2022 calendar year.
If your building is on the covered buildings list, or you received a notification in recent weeks advising you that your community must comply with the new energy benchmarking requirement by October 1, Falcon is here to assist. Falcon’s team of NJ BPU certified Energy Benchmarking professionals can help you navigate the exceptions to the covered building list, and are certified to perform energy benchmarking services for your community.
The Falcon Group has been performing Energy Benchmarking services for over a decade in the regions we serve, where it has long been required. Our Certified NJ Benchmarkers on staff are ready to begin this process as the State of New Jersey implements it’s clean energy and emissions reduction programs.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to The Falcon Group regarding this information.
