NJBPU requires energy and water benchmarking for large commercial buildings

TRENTON, NJ — The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has issued an order requiring the owner or operator of every commercial building of more than 25,000 square feet in the state to benchmark energy and water use using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Portfolio Manager tool, as required by the New Jersey Clean Energy Act signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2018.

“This is the next important step in implementing a best-in-class, statewide, energy efficiency program which will help us achieve Gov. Murphy’s goal of 100-percent clean energy by 2050,” NJBPU President Joseph L. Fiordaliso said in a Sept. 7 press release. “Creating a system of benchmarking allows us to measure the use of energy — electricity and gas — and water by the state’s biggest buildings and support building owners in reducing energy and water usage and operating costs.”

This board initiative is also directed by goal 3.3.2 of the Energy Master Plan, which calls for transparent benchmarking and energy labeling to spur market-driven energy efficiency improvements. The program helps commercial building owners and operators measure and analyze their respective facilities’ energy and water usage and compare it to other similar buildings. Building owners and operators can use this information to make informed decisions about taking advantage of financial incentives for energy efficiency improvements through state and utility programs.

In particular, the program will enable building owners to obtain aggregated, building-level energy and water data from their utility companies through a data access service. The board will also establish a “help desk” to assist building owners as they measure and analyze their respective buildings’ energy and water performance. The first benchmarking submissions are due on Oct. 1, 2023, for energy and water consumed in 2022.

This program will also protect individual ratepayers’ energy and water use information by requiring utilities to securely provide aggregated, building-level data. Building owners are required to obtain their tenants’ affirmative, written consent for the utilities from which they receive services to provide building-level energy and water data to the building owner in certain situations to protect individual energy and water use information. Consent will be required only when there are fewer than four tenants in a building or if one tenant exceeds 50 percent of the energy or water consumption.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program also offers assistance to building owners to benchmark their buildings. This service is available to building owners who are not required to benchmark under the Clean Energy Act. 

More information about building benchmarking through NJBPU is available at tinyurl.com/4pu95e7c.

  New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Phil Murphy