Philadelphia Building Energy Benchmarking Law
By: Marian Kornilowicz
On June 21, 2012, the Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed the Building Energy Benchmarking Law, Bill No. 120428-A, requiring owners of nonresidential spaces of 50,000 square feet or more to track and report energy and water use. This past summer, the City sent compliance notices to owners/operators of such buildings advising them of the compliance deadline of October 31, 2013 (the original deadline was June 30, 2013.) Owners of buildings that fail to disclose their energy and water data are subject to a $300 fine the first month their data is late, and a $100/day penalty following the initial 30 days.
In short, beginning this month, owners of Philadelphia buildings with 50,000 sq. ft. of indoor space are required to annually submit information relating to energy and water usage to the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability (MOS), which will compile and analyze the data and make the results publicly available beginning in about June 2014. Owners must compile and submit their energy and water use data on-line at http://phillybuildingbenchmarking.com/.
For more information, please contact Marian A. Kornilowicz, Chair of the Business Practice Group at mak@cohenseglias.com or 215.564.1700.
