Washington DC Energy Benchmarking
What the Law Says
Clean and Affordable Energy Act
Benchmarking requirements were originally signed into law through the Washington DC Clean and Affordable Energy Act of 2008 (CAEA). The Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018 expanded the benchmarking requirements to cover smaller buildings and added data verification requirements.
Under these mandates, building owners are required to track the energy and water usage for their building(s) using the US EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager and report that data to DOEE on an annual basis. The annual reporting deadline is April 1st of each year for the previous calendar year’s energy and water consumption. Building owners are required to have their building benchmarking data verified by a third party every three years, starting in 2024 (with the calendar year 2023 data).