The Building Energy and Water Scoring program (Ordinance 2018-144) requires transparency of energy and water efficiency of commercial and multifamily buildings 5,000 square feet and above. Comparing the energy and water performance of one building against another in the same sector allows commercial real estate stakeholders such as building owners, operators, and tenants, to evaluate the highest-performing, lowest-operating cost option, and to monitor their performance in the market place.
Benefits:
- Improve your building’s net operating income (NOI)
- Identify and prioritize future building improvements
- Advertise your building’s performance and differentiate yourself in the marketplace
- Retain tenants and improve occupancy
Each year, owners of covered buildings are required to benchmark energy and water use, and report to the City using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.
Want to learn more? Find program details here and see an example of how benchmarking can help you track and plan efficiency improvements here.
- Do I need to comply?highlight_off
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Your Building ID is your building's unique identifier and is necessary for reporting through ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The list of Building IDs is updated annually and available here.
Compliance Timeline#
![Compliance Timeline]()
Commercial covered buildings are defined by ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. Multifamily buildings include apartments and condominiums three stories or more in height above grade and representing multifamily structures defined by a typical R-2 occupancy by the International Building Code. Row homes and townhomes are excluded.
- How do I comply?highlight_off
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Comply with the Benchmarking Ordinance in 5 quick steps.
Step 2 – Review Data Needed#
- Determine your property use type.
- The Portfolio Manager Data Collection Worksheet can be used to start collecting your information.
If you are reporting a multifamily property, you are only required to report at the campus level. Find your building ID here. A campus of buildings that is eligible for an ENERGY STAR score may be reported as the "parent property" only and does not need to report individual "child" properties. Additional guidance on how to benchmark a “campus” can be found here.
Step 4 - Request natural gas information#
Xcel customers can find information on requesting natural gas data through their Benchmarking Tool.
Step 5 - Report#
Find your Building ID to report usage to the City.
2021 reporting for 2020 usage: here.
2020 reporting for 2019 usage: here.
Be aware you must be signed into your Portfolio Manager account to follow the above link.
Before submitting your REPORT to the City
- Enter all energy, water, and space use information in Portfolio Manager. Data should be entered from January 1 - December 31 for the calendar year being reported for each covered building.
- Ensure that you run Portfolio Manager's tool to check for possible data errors prior to submittal to ensure that you have no errors in your data submission. The Data Quality Checker time frame should align with the calendar year being reported.
- How do I apply for EXEMPTION?highlight_off
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The Ordinance includes exemptions to the requirements based on capabilities of Portfolio Manager and unique building characteristics. Covered building owners who do not submit a report are required to apply for one of the following exemptions:
- Building with average physical occupancy of less than sixty (60) percent
- Building with demolition permit
- Building with financial distress
- Building used for industrial or agricultural processes
- Building with confidential business practice
- Building with unique circumstances, if approved by the City Manager’s Office.
The City will review exemptions that are submitted by September 1 prior to the reporting deadline, and will respond to inquiries within 90 days after the September 1 deadline.
To apply for an exemption, please fill out the Exemption Request Form.
- Building Definitions and Scenarioshighlight_off
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Building owners are required to report if the building footprint is equal to or greater than 5,000 SF. Building owner includes any person or entity including common interest ownership groups that have a legal or equitable interest in real property and the associated asset features of the building(s) located on the parcel. Review Fort Collins Building Scenarios to learn if you are required to report.
- Violations and Non-compliancehighlight_off
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The Building Energy and Water Scoring program is enforceable under Sec 12-207 of the Fort Collins Municipal Code (including a $1,000 fine for each year of noncompliance), and the failure to comply in any calendar year shall constitute a single violation in that calendar year. Fort Collins staff will send out a Notice of Need to Comply letter followed by a Notice of Violation to any building owner of a covered building who does not comply within 30 days following March 1 of each year, and citations will be issued March 1 of the year following the required reporting year.
Note that Fort Collins staff is available to provide technical assistance and resources to any building owner to help them comply with the ordinance. Contact Buildingscoring@fcgov.com or call 970-416-2733 for additional questions.
Compliance
Additional Compliance information, including reporting link and exemption requests.
Resources
Resources available from Fort Collins Utilities, including ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager support and Data Requests.
Data Requests
With the MyData portal, Utilities offers a direct feed of building energy usage data into ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.